The very first chess club meeting was on Sept. 15 after senior Fionna Pillow collaborated with sophomore Madeline DeGraw and band director Robert Stegeman to bring people together and form a club.

“It kind of started as a joke,” Pillow said. “Our marching band show [was] chess themed. I was joking that we didn’t even have a chess club and I asked Mr. Stegeman if he would sponsor it. He said yeah, so I figured I might as well go through with it. Now we’re having fun.”

This year, the marching band’s show was called “Just a Pawn” and had a chess and Alice in Wonderland theme. Since the band was already thinking about the game, they decided to start a club for it.

The group provides an outlet for anyone whether they already know how to play chess and want to improve and compete or don’t already know and are interested in learning.

“It’s another outlet for kids to be involved in something,” Stegeman said. “When you have something to do and you have a network of people it makes the high school experience easier.” (Brief by Mackenzie Pugh)