Throughout the years, many clubs residing at EHS have withstood the harsh winds of time: academic clubs such as NEHS and Medical Occupations and language clubs such as Spanish and German. One other club, however, has existed since the school’s opening in the 1990s and is still going strong. This club is none other than Anime Club.

Anime Club has been dedicated since its creation to being a “safe place” for everyone who joined.

“Ever since freshman year I’ve really enjoyed the positive and inclusive energy we try to project,” said senior and president of anime club Lauren Camp.

Senior Caleb Britton said that he loves the community in Anime Club and that it was one of the main reasons he wanted to finally join in his senior year.

And he isn’t the only one who joined this year.

“The first couple of years [I was here] the club kept having less and less people, so it appeared the club was dying, but this year we have about 10 or 12 freshman who joined us,” said senior Alecea Dees.

The president of the club, Camp, attributes this to the new approach that she and her co-president, senior Noah Martinez, have taken with the club this year.

“(Martinez) and I have tried taking the club in a new direction, running meetings based on rotating genres as well as keeping up an active social media presence,” Camp said. “That way people are informed on local events and know what to expect next meeting.”

Keeping up on local events is another thing that Camp and Martinez have focused on this year, even spending meetings talking about what to expect in out of school meet ups and conventions, as well as how to stay safe.

Camp said that she expected leading the group to be difficult due to the time constraints, but has ended up having a lot of fun with the group.

“It feels pretty awesome that I went from a shy little anime fan to becoming a leader in what I consider a safe place,” Camp said.

The theme of safety is something that almost all Anime Club members say is the reason that they come back every Thursday.

“I always feel comfortable here,” Dees said. “We are all weird, so no one really judges others in the club, and even if we’re not friends, we can still have fun because of something we mutually enjoy.”