The Varsity Club is a club that is restricted to varsity athletes. Run by physical education teacher James Soules, the club’s main focus is giving back not only to the Kinnelon community but to everyone around them.
“We are all so fortunate here,” says Soules. “As club advisor, I want us to focus on giving back during the school year, I wanna help out as much and everywhere we can.” Soules constantly continues to create new ideas for the club.
The Varsity Club has done numerous things for the community during the 2023 school year. Just recently, the club helped run a blood drive which took place at Kinnelon High School. Before COVID-19, Kinnelon High School did a blood drive nearly every year. However, once the pandemic started, it has not been back, until this year.
“I ended up giving blood, and it felt really good to help out,” says senior Riley Darlington, who is also a co-captain of the Varsity Club. “It was nice to see the club help bring the community together.”
The blood drive was run with Vitalant on Nov. 14 and over 70 students donated blood. The blood drive went from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and people went through it all day. Club captains(also known as presidents) were responsible for checking people in and helping out throughout the day.
The Varsity Club is also participating in a toy drive where members of the Varsity Club are encouraged to donate any toys to kids who may need them. This is one of the ways the Varsity Club is helping out people who need it.
“I have so many toys that are unused from either me or my sister,” says senior Derek Smith. “It feels good that I can finally not just throw away these toys but help those who need them.”
Another event during this year is what the club calls the “Colt Card fundraiser”(K-Cards). This is a huge fundraiser for the club where the club captains go out to different businesses in hopes they will offer a discount. The discount will be on the card, alongside other businesses, and will be reusable for one year.
“I love that we in the varsity club are helping local businesses, ” says senior and co-captain Greg Nascimiento. “These people work so hard and it will help these businesses attract more customers, plus the discount for us is nice, too.” Each member of the club is required to sell 10 K-Cards each which helps generate a lot of money, which also allows the club to do other fun activities.
Aside from just helping the community, there are some benefits to being in the club. This year the club is going to a New Jersey Devils Hockey game, but not everyone gets to go. Members must participate in two of the three group activities to be able to attend the game.
The Kinnelon Varsity Club is always looking for ways to improve their community and the people who need it. In past years they have also volunteered with the Special Olympics and may look to do that in the future. No matter what the club is doing, one thing is for sure,
he Kinnelon Varsity Club will be helping others.
