Kpop club is a new club that is sweeping into the school this fall. Only, before it can officially do that, it has to be recognized by Liberty.

Like all clubs here at Liberty, in order to be recognized, kpop club has to reach that special number of 10 members. At the first couple of meetings, the numbers have been lower than the goal, but the club hopes for growth, and can see themselves becoming bigger in the future.

The club was started by Vanessa Ascencio. She approached Ms. Gehrke, asking her to be the sponsor for the club. Kpop club, a club that Liberty has no experience with, is all based around music sung in Korean. Kpop, the k standing for Korean, and the pop standing for pop music, has slowly been gaining popularity outside of Korea due to Korean artists promoting in countries like the United States or Britain, where the music industries are recognized world wide. Kpop club will involve a lot of talk about kpop as a genre, discuss Korean culture, and have a Korean word of the day, to build vocabulary.

“Lot of people are listening to it, so why not make a club?” said Ascencio.

Last year Ascencio tried to find a sponsor but came up short. Some teachers felt uncomfortable with sponsoring a club they don’t know much about. Ms. Gehrke, also not familiar with kpop, decided to sponsor the club, because she likes sponsoring clubs that branch off from the typical clubs and allow for a place where students can indulge in unusual interests.

“The last school I taught at was Hazelwood East and they had a kpop club that was close to 30 or 40 members, and it was really popular,” said Ms. Gehrke. “And so I think anytime that you have a club that encourages you to look beyond your own culture is a positive thing.”

“There is so much more out there kids can learn,” said Emily Sanders, another member of kpop club who also agrees that kpop is a window of opportunity for kids hoping to experience other cultures.

“[Vanessa had] shown me this group called BTS and at first I was just like okay, sure, I’ll listen to it, and next thing I know, I’m on the ground crying my eyes out thinking, Oh my gosh this is beautiful,” said Sanders.

Her first experiences with kpop were pretty typical, because when people first listen and discover the genre, it can be mesmerizing due to the bright colors and synchronized dancing. Both of which tend to leave viewers feeling pretty entertained or impressed.

Kpop club meets in room 214 from 2:25 to 3:25 on Wednesdays after school. If you have any interest, the club is more than welcoming and encourages anyone with even the slightest bit of interest to stop by and try it out.