Military History Club revived by students

Tyler Nguyen, Staff Writer

After being “missing in action” for several years, the Military History Club has reemerged with senior Ryan Witter and junior Ted Colavecchio as its commanders.

Along with math teacher Robert Thomas and social studies teacher Joel Nick, the two advisors of the club, the club wants to spread their knowledge of military history throughout the school and encourage others to learn more as well.

The Military History Club was started in 2002 by Thomas and former social studies teacher Farrell Vogelhut because students were interested in military history and wanted to explore the topic further.

“Mr. Vogelhut and I had a bunch of students coming up and they were asking a lot of questions that were very interested in military history so they are the ones that came up with the idea to form the club,” Thomas said.

The club allows students to take a closer look at military topics they are interested in and explore at them at their own pace.

“I feel like I learn something every meeting whether it be from Mr. Thomas or the other club members. Listening to other people talk about something they care about is much easier to learn from rather than listening to a presentation that people are forced to give for school,” senior Danielle Gan said.

Most activities are self-directed as the members working with a fellow member to research a topic they are interested in.

“Basically, what we do as an organization is have students create their own unique and simple presentations or representations of a topic they are interested in, and then present to whoever is interested at meetings,” Witter said.

The club also uses the display case in the 700s to showcase military models along with relics of past wars such as helmets and barbed wire.

“Most of the figures I made. That’s been my hobby for a long time. That’s about a third of my collection, so at home I’ve got about two thirds more. I’ve been doing that now probably 30 to 40 years,” Thomas said.

The Military History Club is always looking for new recruits and plans to host a military history-related movie night later in the year.