The chess club is an activity done every Thursday during lunch that allows cadets to interact with each other by participating in a game of chess. This room may be filled, but only a handful participate in this game of strategy. These few cadets interact with each other to improve their skills in the game and as Mr. Eagle, the club advisor puts it “The more people you have the more you can rotate or have tournaments… you can practice and learn so I would really hope more kids would come.”

This calm atmosphere allows students to relax after a day of schoolwork and can lead to conversations about a game that helps students with skills like memory and cognitive skills. Students improve themselves but a small group of people can only go so far. In chess, the strategy used can vary depending on the person. With such a small group of students, they only have a limited number of opponents and in turn, a limited number of strategies.
Mr. Eagle wants to conduct a competition by March of this year. That won’t be possible if only six cadets — some of who only started recently — participate. The club needs cadets of all types. Experienced and inexperienced players would benefit both the new additions as well as the existing members.

This club has the potential to encourage friendly competition between cadets and you might be interested in participating. While this club is restricted to only high school students, it is better to help a few than none at all. Participating can also help the highschoolers get into colleges. Colleges look at what activities you have participated in during your four years. Even if you are not talented in the game, it still shows that you participated in an extracurricular activity.
The kind of person that colleges look for is the “well-rounded” type. As the saying goes “a jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” It is better to try different activities than to focus on one. It is up to you to choose what activities to battle in but the benefits of chess should at the very least be considered.

Chess Club Advisor: [email protected]