The Persian club has been an active extracurricular club here at Aliso Niguel High School especially this school year. The 2024-2025 Persian club officers are Ava Menhaji (11) as president, Atrisa Taghizadeh (11) as vice president, Soushia Moghadam (12) as secretary and Rose Tabatabaei (12) as treasurer and publicity manager. These leaders educate and bond with other students in the school through Persian culture.
The club ensures to create a safe space for Persian students that want to feel a sense of belonging to the school. They also welcome students outside of the Persian community to have a good time in the club, so they can get a feel of their culture. In such a diverse community, it is important for all individuals to have other students to connect with, and a common source of connection with others is culture.
Tabatabaei shares, “I joined the Persian club in my freshman year and have been a member since. I love how meetings are just like a hangout with other Persian students in the school. I’ve formed strong friendships through the club and always have a great time with the club members.”
The Persian club was initially created at the start of the 2022-2023 academic year to highlight issues occurring in Iran through their Instagram: @anhspersianclub. Members also attended protests, such as the Mahsa Amini Protest at UCI, and had dinners together, displaying members’ close relationships with each other.
Through their various efforts, the ANHS Persian club strives to keep in touch with Persian culture and traditions outside of Iran. Living here in the United States means being away from one’s mother country, which makes it difficult to truly enhance cultural identity to its fullest extent. Luckily, the Persian club does a wonderful job keeping the Persian culture alive at Aliso, celebrating important holidays and customs, and also expresses great support towards injustices as well as problems in Iran.
Meetings occur once a month on the second Friday of the month in Mr. Lihme’s room, room 310. A typical Persian club meeting consists of a powerpoint, sometimes about a celebration coming up or current events that need to be addressed. Shortly after the powerpoint, Persian snacks are offered to members as gratitude for attending the meeting.
Menhaji encourages joining the Persian club: “All ANHS students are welcome to the Persian club and get to know our beautiful culture.”
