The Clubs that Shape ORCA’s Students
While academics rightfully serve as the centerpiece of a child’s education, extracurricular activities also play an important role in learning and development. For example, participating in school-sponsored clubs allows students to connect with peers and pursue common interests in a safe and relaxed environment. Through these activities, students can make friends and discover new passions independently.
The Oregon Charter Academy (ORCA) community has long embraced clubs as a way of building connections among our students. We currently offer more than 50 clubs, which are student-suggested and facilitated by ORCA teachers. The result is a thriving club community encompassing ORCA students of all ages.
A Variety of Clubs for a Variety of Interests
ORCA’s slate of extracurricular clubs covers a wide range of themes. Some are open to all age groups, while others offer more focused topics for elementary, middle, and high school students. Here’s a sampling of what our students can choose from.
Career Development Clubs
Many of our clubs help ORCA students explore career options that they can pursue after graduation.
Scrub Club: This social club offers a place where high schoolers can connect over their shared interest in medical careers.
Broadcasting Club: Students of all ages join the broadcasting club to produce our video newsletter, highlighting ORCA's amazing community.
Military Leadership Club: Middle and high school students in this club discuss career options within the military, explore leadership opportunities, and prepare to take the military aptitude test (ASVAB).
Community Involvement Clubs
Some of our clubs offer students an opportunity to connect with their peers or help their local communities.
ORCA Cares: Open to students at all grade levels, ORCA Cares encourages club members to positively impact their communities through random acts of kindness, community service, and social awareness.
Gamers R Us: These middle school club members connect once a week through their shared love of board games, video games, and word games.
Breakfast Club: This club is a safe space for ORCA's diverse LGBTQIA+ high school community to socialize and share their experiences.
World Experience Clubs
A group of ORCA clubs helps foster our students' interest in activities and ideas that may be either removed from, or similar to, their own lived experiences.
Garden, Farm and Homesteaders Club: Club members of all ages gather to learn about healthier ways of living through backyard homesteading, animals, gardening, plants, and food.
Spanish Buddies: Middle and high school students use club time to practice speaking, reading, and writing in Spanish while also learning about Spanish-speaking countries.
Philosophy Club: High school students interested in philosophy join this club to think deeply about complex topics while learning about historical philosophers. During meetings, members use Socratic dialogue methods to help develop their thinking and speaking processes.
Science and Humanities Clubs
Many of ORCA's clubs focus on scientific and technical subjects. Others foster our students' interest in reading, writing, and additional liberal arts topics.
K-8 Coding Club: Elementary and middle school students can get a jump start in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers like computer programming and video game design by learning to code in various programming languages.
Book Battle: ORCA students in third through twelfth grades who enjoy reading can join the Book Battle Club to broaden their reading interests, increase reading comprehension, and participate in cooperative learning and teamwork with fellow students.
NASA Club: Students in this club can explore careers in STEM fields by participating in live streams hosted by NASA staff.
Just for Fun Clubs
We also encourage ORCA students to participate in clubs focused on their interests outside of school.
Animal Club: ORCA's elementary students can gather to share animal read-aloud books, directed drawing activities, and animal-themed games.
Middle School Adventure Club: Middle school students bond over their love of adventure through activities like virtual escape rooms, scavenger hunts, arts and crafts challenges, and camp cooking and baking.
HS Runners: Our high school students share their passion for running, walking, hiking, and fitness during weekly HS runners meetings. They also play trivia games, chat about running, and discuss training for races.
There’s So Much More to Discover
This represents only a brief overview of the clubs ORCA students participate in every week. There are dozens of others covering wide-ranging topics like biomimicry, poetry and prose writing, photography, and drama. You can browse our club offerings for high school, middle school, and elementary school students to learn more about this vibrant community of motivated learners.
If you're an ORCA student, we'd love for you to join a club or two and share your interests with other students in our community. Our clubs thrive thanks to the passion our students bring to them, so we're always thrilled when new students add to this community and discover the amazing benefits club involvement brings to their lives.
Join Us for an Info Session
If you’d like to learn more about ORCA’s extracurricular clubs or our approach to virtual learning, join one of our virtual information sessions to connect with ORCA staff and preview our learning platform. We hope to see you there!