Ashley Manger, a NAHS social studies teacher for 23 years, is the new sponsor for the Anchor Club. After having everything sort of thrown at her, Manger says she is eager to get into business with the Anchor Club.
“Let’s just say, it was almost like a tidal wave crashing over my head,” Manger said. “I had a little bit of prior knowledge, but not to the extent where I would be comfortable. It’s a learning process, but I have some really fabulous Anchors that are helping me more than I’m helping them at the moment.”
This is Manger’s first year just became a sponsor for the club. She expressed some interest last spring when the last sponsor, Mrs. Lone, announced she was leaving NAHS.
Manger says she didn’t want the club to not have a sponsor and liked the idea that students provide community service so she offered to help. Her assistance then blossomed into primary sponsorship and she’s now the top dog.
“I believe we are somewhere around 135 applicants. That’s a fairly good number,” Manger said. “We may see more, it could turn into something like 200 kids, but I’d say it’ll probably be around 150 kids that will go through the selection process. We don’t necessarily have a cap, but we could end up needing one, it just all depends on how many people commit to their service. So ultimately, if someone is accepted and they don’t commit to that service piece and perform their hours, they actually are removed from the club. So towards the beginning we have a lot, but it sort of tapers off as people realize they don’t have time in their schedule or whatever their case is.”
Prior to COVID-19 Manger led the NAHS Key Club for five years, a very similar club that also performed community service and other activities outside of school.
As the new school year is getting started, Manger says she is really looking forward to making some changes to the things the Anchor Club does as a whole. They’ve been keeping the same workload since the club formed, but Manger plans to take that to the next level.
“I’m relying on the executive board right now, our president and the varying officers,” Manger said. “They’re kind of telling me what they’re used to doing and we may try to tweak things a little bit to see if we can broaden the scope of our projects or our service pieces to add a few things in. I know we’re going to work closely with the Student Council in a more harmonious fashion so we can balance the activities out between the two clubs. Ms. Carson and I have already spoken about that because there are some things that may fit the Student Council that don’t really fit the Anchor club and vice versa.”
Despite this year being her first year with the Anchor Club, Manger says she is ready to get started and is excited to see what they can do for the community.
