Student Groups & Clubs

Student Leaders: Sophia King & Gaby Thornton
Faculty Sponsor: Margaret Bahe
Mission: To provide an opportunity for all students who have an interest in learning about anatomy and physiology through speakers, videos and possible dissections.

Student Leaders: Keerthana Madireddi, Phoebe Philip, Vinya Reddy & Penny Zheng
Faculty Sponsor: Deena Goran
Mission: To allow students to learn about potential careers and opportunities to further their understanding of different areas of the biomedical sciences through speakers and facility tours.
 

Student Leaders: William Dong, Ben Dubinsky, Dylan Fox, Cristian Perez & Ben Stettin
Faculty Sponsor: Jim Holmes
Mission: To educate Burroughs students on business ideas and topics.

Student Leader: Andrew Wang
Faculty Sponsor:Tim Baker, Mark Smith & Alex Wu
Mission: To grow the love of the game and to compete in the Gateway Chess League.

Student Leader: Arushi Katyal
Faculty Sponsor: Avery Springer
Mission: To share the Classics with the wider school community and provide students of the Classics with enriching activities.

Student Leaders: Angelo Benoit, Eli Front & Rohan Kumaran
Faculty Sponsor: Rob Bisch
Mission: To provide a place for exploration and understanding of computer science topics for the student body.

Student Leaders: Ethan Kalishman & Isa Rosario-Blake
Faculty Sponsor: Mark Smith
Mission: To inform the student body about current events and to discuss the issues of the day.

Student Leaders: Ollie Brown, William Dong, Max Kellaher & Michael Turza
Faculty Sponsor: Jud Dieffenbach
Mission: To give an additional chance for students to participate in and not just watch a debate in a more relaxed setting than debate class. 

Student Leaders: Henry Baur, Angelo Benoit, Lola Fernandez & Maya Kaslow
Faculty Sponsors: Tracy Walther
Mission: To foster an appreciation for the environment by organizing events within and around the JBS community and helping JBS to become a more sustainable community.

Student Leaders: Janie Shanahan & Grace Thompson
Faculty Sponsor: Jamie Wagner
Mission: To educate and engage the JBS community in film culture and its impact on society.

Student Leaders: Jack Garritano, Julius Hollander-Bodie & Chris Perez
Faculty Sponsor: Jason Taff
Mission: To allow high schoolers to do math in a unique way outside the classroom via math competitions and general exploration.

Student Leaders: Lylah Ali & Evelyn Ziaee
Faculty Sponsor: Carrie Dodson-Ching & Aaron Dowdall
Mission: to promote an understanding of the operations and mission of the United Nations by drafting resolutions, researching countries and their concerns and voting on sample resolutions. Model UN works in coordination with the Greater St. Louis chapter of the United Nations Organization and Civitas Associates and participates in a middle school program with eighteen other schools - public, private and parochial.

Student Leaders: Court Hyken, Ethan Kalishman, Jon Sky & Carrie Zhang
Faculty Sponsors: Shannon Koropchak 
Mission: To find currently-existing initiatives at JBS and the outside community and connect them to the Sustainable Development Goals set forth by the UN. 

Student Leaders: Andrew Wang & Ben Wei
Faulty Sponsor: Chris Lubniewski 
Mission: To participate in the FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC) robotics competition. FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology. It provides unique opportunities for students to apply science, technology, engineering and math-related concepts and skills by competing in the FTC robotics program.

Student Leaders: Adina Cazacu-DeLuca & Michael Tu
Faculty Sponsors: Martha Keeley, Marina Smallwood & Tracy Walther
Mission: To participate in competitions similar to academic track meets, consisting of a series of 23 team events. Each year, a portion of the events are rotated to reflect the ever-changing nature of genetics, earth science, chemistry, anatomy, physics, geology, mechanical engineering and technology. By combining events from all disciplines, Science Olympiad encourages a wide cross-section of students to get involved. Emphasis is placed on active, hands-on group participation.

Student Leaders: Adina Cazacu, Court Hyken, Emma Petite, Jon Sky, Carrie Zhang
Faculty Sponsor: Jon Bang
Mission: To have students engage in a role-playing activity based on the operation of the United Nations by drafting resolutions, discussing assigned topics on current world events and voting on proposals. Participants will hear guest speakers and become knowledgeable about writing resolutions and planning debate procedures. Students from St. Louis area schools engage in three sessions of this Model UN at which time resolutions are heard, debated and voted on.

Student Leaders: JD Downes, Rahul Jasti, Isaiah Knispel, Sophia Park & Hallie Williams
Faculty Sponsors: Dan Barton, Eric Knispel & Kerri Rowe
Mission: To design, build and test energy efficient vehicles. By combining all four aspects of STEM, the JBS SMVC will allow current and future JBS students to be exposed to eco-friendly engineering.

Student Leaders: Luna Aramburu, JD Downes & Isaiah Knispel
Faculty Sponsors: Dan Barton, Eric Knispel & Kerri Rowe
Mission: To gain experience before high school by learning basic engineering, design and sustainable skills. Our club builds upon the ideas and principles taught in the 7th and 8th grade curriculum and allows freedom for middle schoolers to design and build their own project.

Student Leaders: Nathaniel Doty & Megan Li
Faculty Sponsor: Drew Battles
The JBS TED Club aims to promote the exchange of ideas and stories in the JBS community through engaging talks, meaningful discussions and new learning opportunities.

Participants: Applications due in October 
Faculty Sponsors: Shannon Koropchak  
Mission: To promote the debate of and collaboration around complex international issues in accordance with the United National and the Sustainable Development Goals. We hope as well to work toward the resolutions of these lofty goals at the local level.

Student Leaders: Sriya Bandi, Will DePlanty, John Woodruff & Penny Zheng
Faculty Sponsors: Jon Bang & Paul Knight
Mission: To foster a sense of curiosity and an appreciation for learning (and random facts). Also to form a competitive team to compete in the MSHAA Scholar Bowl.

Student Leaders: Udonne Eke-Okoro, Yara Levin, Diya Krishnan, Abby Philpott, Lily Walther & Carrie Zhang
Faculty Sponsor: Donya Allison
Mission: To parallel the UNICEF mission to empower youth to be effective global citizens and help the world's most vulnerable children. JBS UNICEF will educate, advocate and fund raise to help at-risk children around the world.

Student Leaders: Ainsley Heidbreder, Max Kellaher, Max Nicolais & Phoebe Philip
Faculty Sponsor: Peter Tasker
Mission: To discuss conservative views and issues both specific to JBS as well as the US and world and to possibly present and help the JBS community get a better perspective on what we believe. We will hold meetings with both specific and open discussion topics. 

Student Leaders: Tina Chen, Vivienne Lu, Rekha Morgan, Claire Pan, Anyi Su, & Katie Xu
Faculty Sponsor: Susie Lim 
Mission: To increase awareness of Asian culture, country by country, through the study of the history, language, art, religion, music and food, and to help students gain a better understanding of how race and ethnicity inform identity.

Mission: To instill the joy of living through the advancement of community. We believe that it is an integral part of education during these formative years to cultivate character and compassion by productive interaction. Welcoming all, regardless of background or opinion, Diversity E.T.C. strives to serve as a clearinghouse for ongoing, open discourse, with the goal of encouraging affinities within the Burroughs community. Functioning to enhance learning through formal meetings, informal conversations and planned activities, we are always striving to promote awareness and enrich consciousness.

Student Leaders: Hugh McKelvy & Carrie Zhang
Faculty Sponsor: Babeth Dyer
Mission: To educate and engage the John Burroughs community on the breadth and beauty of Francophile history, culture and politics.

Student Leaders: Madeline Dornfeld, Leila Fischer & Kate Smith
Faculty Sponsor: Jessica Hunt
Mission: To promote gender equity, spread awareness and work to create solutions to prevalent gender issues in our community through public outreach and events within Burroughs.

Student Leaders: Thomas Dobbs & Ali Zolman
Mission: To deliver transformative educational programs that foster global pluralism, collective leadership and environmental care that help students and teachers become fully engaged citizens of the world.

Student Leaders: Adina Cazacu & Isa Rosario-Blake
Faculty Sponsor: Maria Cohen
Mission: To educate our community and have students experience and embrace the Hispanic culture.

Student Leaders: Rafi Brent, Dylan Fox, Cristian Perez, Jon Sky & Ben Stettin
Faculty Sponsor: Michael Haveman
Mission: To teach and familiarize students with Jewish culture through programming relating to Jewish life and holidays as well as spreading Jewish culture through Tikkun Olam (repairing the world). In wake of the many recent anti-Semitic actions throughout the U.S., we wish to cultivate an acceptance of Jewish culture (and religion) through understanding and learning. Members do not have to be Jewish, nor have a knowledge of Judaism or even know a Jewish person. The club is open to all.

Student Leaders: Lylah Ali, Dalton Pace, Aarnavi Paduru & Ryan Sieve
Faculty Sponsor: Jennifer Kinney
Mission: To spread awareness and knowledge of diversity to the middle school.

Student Leaders: Jacquelyn Harris, Kami Lou Harris, Jillian Mays & Okafor
Faculty Sponsor: Andranique Harrison
Mission: To support discussion of issues relevant to the intersection of race and socioeconomic status, engaging in "revealing" activities that highlight inherent privilege, or lack thereof, by virtue of one's race of socioeconomic status.

Student Leaders: Claire Harkins, Tamar Kreitman & Lindsey Steinkamp
Faculty Sponsors: Jennifer Jones & Megan Zmudczynski
Mission: To represent the Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA) community in an effort to increase awareness of and safety for Gender and Sexuality Minorities (GSM) in the Burroughs community. This is done by spreading information about various gender and sexuality identities through meetings, assembly speeches and events, as well as promoting response to any issues which may infringe upon the rights of those who identify as a GSM.

Student Leaders: Nathaniel Doty & Rahul Jasti
Faculty Sponsor: Carrie Dodson-Ching
Mission: To promote religious literacy on campus and challenge assumptions on religion through talking about experiences and engagement with other clubs.

Student Leaders: Eleanor Hohenberg, Jenny Kanzler, Ava Kennard, Grace Thompson & Gaby Thornton
Faculty Sponsor: Sally Killbride
Mission: To aid and ease the navigation of kids under twenty-one through the world of middle/high school and the stress and/or mental obstacles that may be encountered along the way.

Student Leaders: Sally Arneson & Jennifer Kanzler
Faculty Sponsor: Kim Bouldin-Jones
Mission: To provide students with the necessary information and techniques to be a safe and responsible driver for the sake of their own safety and the community's.We will also create a safe space to talk about and past events behind the wheel.

Editors-in-Chief: Emma Petite & Lucas Willey
Faculty Sponsors: Mike Gesiakowski & Sorsha Maness
Mission: To have students work together from the beginning of the school year through March to produce a traditional yearbook called the Governor. Under the direction of the senior editors-in-chief, students are responsible for page layout, design, writing, editing and photography. Students work together during open meeting times and individually to complete these tasks.

Editors-in-Chief: Rafi Brent, William Dong, Ian Gillanders, Cristian Perez & Ben Stettin
Faculty Sponsor: Jim Lewis
Mission: To humorously engage the student body.

Editors-in-Chief: Adina Cazacu & Ann Zhang
Faculty Sponsors: Andy Chen & Megan Zmudczynski
Mission: To promote visual arts and creative writing while collecting pieces for the annual publication of the student literary magazine, The Review. We host regular meetings to review nominations, which are open to all grade levels. In addition, The Review sponsors the annual Review Preview, a music and spoken word festival.

Editors-in-Chief: Sriya Bandi & Vinya Reddy
Faculty Sponsor: Maggie Ervin-Doyle
Mission: To create a publication in the 'zine" style, focusing on creating meaningful and respectful conversation among members of the JBS community on the topics of diversity and inclusion. It is a publication that is submission-based and includes all types of artistic expression.

Editors-in-Chief: Earth Gira & Mimi Taff
Faculty Sponsors: Jill Donovan & Shannon Koropchak
Mission: To nurture and help showcase the creative writing and art of middle school students. Participants support each other as writers in after-school creative workshop gatherings, and they help to edit and lay out the literary and art magazine Works in Progress: An Anthology of Middle School Creative Work at Burroughs.

Editors-in-Chief: Gabe Fleisher & Hallie Williams
Faculty Sponsors: Margaret Bahe & Maggie Ervin
Mission: To be the eyes and ears of John Burroughs School as we strive to report accurately and fairly about the events and people that concern JBS and the larger world around us. We will be a forum for the opinions and views of the entire Burroughs community to be shared openly and freely and for ideas to be debated respectfully and honestly.

Faculty Sponsor: Meridith Thorpe
Mission: To welcome students from any grade who have an interest in being a leader and friend to students who attend Aim High. Our mission is to provide assistance and leadership through monthly planned activities.

Student Leaders: Phoebe Philip & Hallie Williams
Faculty Sponsor: Davey Desloge
Mission: To raise awareness support for all branches of the United States military, their families and veterans from raising money for the greater St. Louis Honor flight, hosting current and veteran military men and women and making cards for servicemen to striving to honor those who have sacrificed so much for their country. 

Student Leaders: Sophia King & Amy Phillips
Faculty Sponsor: Donya Allison
Mission: To promote the welfare of animals through engagement in local volunteer opportunities and animal education.

Student Leaders: Ayah Hamed & Yara Levin
Faculty Sponsor: Marni Dillard
Mission: To provide assistance to people living with ALS throughout the St. Louis area. While in the homes of patients, students perform household chores that are difficult for people living with ALS. The club also raises money to help fund ALS research and participates in community-wide events that raise ALS awareness.

Student Leaders: Owen French & Court Hyken
Faculty Sponsor: Casie Tomlinson
Mission: To honor and celebrate the lives of BJC Hospice patients and the people who love them through the support of programs intended to create and capture moments that matter.

Student Leaders: Owen French, Emma Petite & Gaby Thornton
Faculty Sponsor: Peter Tasker
Mission: To support basic human needs, projects and organizations around the world through fund raisers and raising general awareness.

Student Leaders: Diya Krishnan, Dev Nayak, Sydney Panagos, Sami Remis, Caroline Strahorn & Lily Walther
Faculty Sponsor: Laura Fogarty
Mission: To enable Burroughs student to help people in other countries by providing micro-loans to assist individuals around the world in growing small businesses. We focus on supporting single women build their independence. Burroughs students will raise money, then choose the people, causes and businesses they want to support.

Student Leader: Sophia Crowley
Faculty Sponsor: Paul Salomon
Mission: To serve as an interest group for students in the Burroughs community who like to create things, to increase interest and awareness about the MakerSpace and provide educational sessions and to provide disadvantaged students from the broader St. Louis area with the the opportunity to access the Burroughs MakerSpace.

Student Leaders: Each activity is chaired by a different set of student leaders
Faculty Sponsor: Meghan Rathert
Mission: To foster in students a more well-rounded sense of self and community through service learning projects both on and off campus. Click HERE to access our web site.

Student Leaders: Austin Isaak, Jackson Miller & Tej Sheth
Faculty Sponsor: Pete McKeown
Mission: To raise funds as well as awareness for a variety of charities.We aim to creatively engage with the greater JBS community. We also want to collaborate with other clubs to achieve these goals.

Student Leaders: Sophia Crowley, Jenny Kanzler, Isabella Koster, Tej Sheth & Sophie Sinton
Faculty Sponsor: Jamie Wagner
Mission: To engage the JBS community in various cloud/sky appreciation activities, creating a group setting for all JBS ages to convene and appreciate the world around us.
 

Student Leaders: Kami Lou Harris & Sophia King
Faculty Sponsor: Donya Allison
Mission: To foster a community of thoughtful creation, build a fun and creative space to make crafts and invite all members of the Burroughs community to create.

Student Leaders: Libby Hizar & Lindsey Okafor
Faculty Sponsors: Taylor Pietz
Mission: To perform routines during Spirit Week, football and basketball games, in order to promote school spirit and heighten the community’s awareness of choreographed dance.

Student Leaders: Jane Leavitt & Andrew Wang
Faculty Sponsor: Paul Salomon
Mission: To serve as a welcoming environment to promote awareness and increase participation in board games and a variety of other different media that are less popular. We strive to be inclusive in our activities, and, above all else, to simply have fun.

Faculty Sponsor: Joe Novak
Mission: To provide technical support for all assemblies and shows.

Student Leaders: Eavan Guirl & Janie Shanahan
Faculty Sponsor: Meridith Thorpe
Mission: To bridge the gap between grades by fostering a community of positive outdoor play, inclusivity and school spirit.

Student Leaders: Loch Dean & Harrison Pruett
Faculty Sponsor: Jud Dieffenbach
Mission: To increase attendance at sporting events in order to bring the school together through celebration of our sports teams. We believe that an organized club that promotes sporting events can quickly change the atmosphere and coming together of the community through sport.

Student Leaders: Loch Dean, Lola Fernandez & Julia Wykes
Faculty Sponsor: Drew Battles
Mission: To foster a better connection between the staff at JBS and the students.

Faculty Sponsors: Kate Grantham & Maria Russell
Mission: To direct student organizations and help establish an understanding between students and other branches of the JBS community. It creates an atmosphere and a forum for the open discussion of school problems. Congress helps define and implement the JBS philosophy and is the main student vehicle to initiate change within the school. Past activities include the Holiday Drive for the Hundred Neediest Cases, Dance Marathon, Movie Night, Commons Café and Field Day. All meetings are open to the student body. The Student Congress is comprised of the president of each class, Chief Justice of the Student Court, Student Body President and an appointed secretary.

Student Leaders: Hugh McKelvy, Emma Petite & Ann Zhang
Faculty Sponsors: Kate Ward & Pete McKeown
Mission: To hear cases arising from alleged violations of school rules. The Student Court is composed of ten students, including a chief justice, two seniors, one junior, one sophomore, one freshman, one eighth grader, two bailiffs and the court secretary. The Student Court offers the community unique opportunities for learning and developing fostered responsibility. The court meets every Friday morning to establish punishment for certain crimes, discuss and process more than 500 cases a year and demonstrate some sophisticated judgments and creative punishments.