The start of the year means the start of many new service clubs alongside the return of many old ones. Adopt a Grandparent, We Wear the Ribbon With You, Student Environmental Aquatic Activists (SEAA), and Birthdays Without Borders are four of the many impactful student-run service clubs active on our campus this year.

1.  Adopt a Grandparent

“By spreading multicultural holiday cheer, we aim to brighten the days of senior [citizens] and bring smiles to their faces,” Logan Wang (‘25), the club’s founder, explained. 

Adopt a Grandparent was established in 2020 during COVID-19 and has come a long way ever since. However, its mission remains the same: write cards to reduce social isolation among seniors. 

“More than half of all senior home residents have no living relatives, and social isolation is a primary factor in the decline of seniors in assisted living facilities,” Logan said. Through the heartfelt gesture of holiday cards, he and his co-leaders, Emma Liu (‘27) and Angela An (‘27), hope to help seniors feel more integrated in the community. 

A Pen-Pal program between seniors and volunteers in the United Kingdom inspired the leaders to create this club. In hopes of having a similar program in San Diego, Catholic Charities, a senior resident home, expressed interest in receiving greeting cards for their seniors. This initial relationship inspired the club’s creation, which still exists today.  

Since then, the club has written and distributed cards to over 700 low-income senior home residents in an attempt to bring smiles to their faces. Within the first four club meetings this school year, 74 themed cards — including cards for Halloween and Thanksgiving — have already been made and delivered. Throughout the rest of the year, the club hopes to continue creating cards for the upcoming holidays and eventually establish “a one-on-one student-to-senior pen pal program,” explained Logan. 

If you are interested in joining Adopt a Grandparent, head over to Spanish Teacher Señora Nicole Uhland’s classroom (Scripps 205) for card-writing sessions every A-day during lunch!

2. We Wear the Ribbon With You

“We started this club because we both play softball and it’s our favorite thing to do. We always wear bows when we play, so we wanted to share them with young athletes while helping a cause that’s important to us. It’s a win-win!” said We Wear the Ribbon With You co-leader Sydney Mafong (‘26), speaking for herself and Jayla Stafford (‘25). 

We Wear the Ribbons With You is a new club on campus founded by Sydney and Jayla The club meets twice a month to make colorful hair bows from ribbon. Once a sufficient quantity is created, they plan to attend youth sports events, where they will sell the bows and donate the proceeds toward cancer research. 

In their first meeting alone, this club has already made significant progress towards their goals and made around 100 bows. “We plan to continue making bows at meetings, and we really hope that selling them is a success!” said Sydney. 

If you are interested in making cute bows or attending sports events to sell them, follow the club’s Instagram, @tbs.wwtrwy, or reach out to [email protected] and [email protected] to learn about the next meeting!

3.  Student Environmental Aquatic Activists (SEAA)

“Moana and I have always loved surfing and the ocean, and we thought it was a super cool way to give back to something we love,” explained SEAA club co-founder Reese Newlin (‘26). Reese and Moana Peterson (‘26) established the club during the 2022-2023 school year. It is sponsored by Surfrider, a non-profit organization that works to preserve the world’s oceans. Since 1984, Surfrider has focused on protecting the oceans in various ways, specifically on beach access, quality of water, and plastic reduction.

Both SEAA and Surfrider have the aligned mission of helping to conserve our world’s oceans, beaches, and marine life for all people and creatures through impactful community work. According to Reese, through hands-on volunteering, art events, petitions, fieldwork, and educational workshops, the club strives to “promote awareness about the ocean’s vitality and further the conservation efforts in the San Diego community.” 

In addition to beach clean-ups and pH testing water for Surfrider’s international database, Reese added that the club “[has] also begun coordinating with Surfrider to host a fundraiser surf competition at the end of the year.” 

So far this year, SEAA club members have handed out spray-painted reusable bags at the La Jolla Farmers Market, with posters informing people on how to “reduce the use of single-use plastic,”  Reese said. Besides continuing to distribute the bags, this year, SEAA plans to put together a small book in the school library that highlights the animals they’ve photographed during their visit to the local tide pools. 

If you are interested in helping conserve the Earth’s marine life, SEAA meets in the science presentation hall on some E days, or you can reach out to [email protected] or @[email protected] for further questions!

4. Birthday Without Borders (BWB)

“Everyone deserves to celebrate their birthday with desserts and presents, so we are trying our very hardest to make this possible,” explained Maya Krishinan (‘27), co-leader of Birthdays Without Borders (BWB). 

BWB was started last school year by Maya, Logan Yockey (‘27), Hudson Yockey (‘27), and Lily Ferguson (‘27). Their mission is to spread joy to those who are less fortunate by holding birthday celebrations for refugee children. Maya runs a separate club at Bishop’s called Nova Spero, which tutors refugees in different school subjects. The concept of her club is what inspired her co-founders to start BWB and help refugees in another way. Maya explained that they “created Birthdays Without Borders to reach a separate part of the children’s lives: their birthday.” 

This year, they officially established the club as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. This means that they went through the formal process of applying for nonprofit status and were approved. Doing so establishes credibility for the club and gives business tax exemptions when they are given donations. 

The first birthday celebration of the school year took place on November 2nd. Refugees were gifted bikes, goodie bags, and a cake. According to Maya, the leaders hope to “reach more children across San Diego,” as they truly believe that “every child deserves the joy in being recognized on their birthday.” 

If you are interested in helping make a kid’s birthday dream come true, then make your way over to Mr. Luna’s Classroom (Scripps 206) on (most) E days to learn more about the club! 

Adopt a Grandparent, We Wear the Ribbon With You, SEAA, and BWB are just a few of the many Bishop’s service clubs that contribute to the diverse atmosphere and overall compassion of the Bishop’s community. We hope you check all of these clubs, and the many more, out for yourself.