Although Richland Collegiate High School’s shutdown left little behind other than an empty office, packing boxes full of merchandise, and pictures of its graduating classes through the years, the social scene for dual credit students on campus seems to be as energetic as ever.
The Dual Credit Club is a new organization that is aiming to replicate a traditional high school experience for students spending their junior or senior years at Richland.
Jillian Hunter, the club’s co-founder and a member of Richland Student Media’s outreach team, said the club was created to foster a community in response to RCHS’ closing.
“With RCHS gone, we wanted to talk about senior events like Senior Sunrise and having hangouts so we can, like, make Senior Jeans and do all this fun stuff,” said Hunter.
And although the Dual Credit Club is a student organization open to any interested students, its founders envisioned a much smaller purpose.
“It was originally not even going to be a club and was just for the seniors,” Hunter said. “But then we were like, ‘what if we create a whole thing?’, and it’s something we can leave behind and all that.”
As Hunter mentioned, the Dual Credit Club will host high school traditions like gathering to watch the sunrise for Senior Sunrise or creating personalized class jeans for Senior Jeans. The club will also host weekly study sessions, game nights, and is in the planning process of organizing prom and homecoming. Jackson Norlin, a Richland student and Dual Credit Club member, described the organization as being more a community than a club.
“One of the nice things about Dual Credit Club is that it’s not exactly a club that you have to be active in,” said Norlin. “It’s a club that’s there for you if you want it, but you can join and it’s not like you have to go to a meeting every week.”
Currently, the Dual Credit Club is seeking more students before it starts organizing events for the Fall semester.
While events will be structured around dual credit students, the organization is open to all. Interested students can email Jillian Hunter at [email protected].
