Photograph by Calliope Arkilic
The smell of tea and quiet conversation fill the room. There’s a calmness to the club. It’s not uptight or stuffy and serious. The two co-presidents stand at the front of the room making a couple of announcements with cheery smiles — they don’t mind the little side conversations here and there. The steaming tea is served in paper cups — this is Berkeley High School’s (BHS) Tea Club. When you first hear the name, you may be confused. “Tea? Just tea? Like the beverage?” you may say to yourself. The short answer: yes, and also no. There is tea, though the club is also a spot to make friends and hang out.
Dylan Fields, one of Tea Club’s two co-presidents, described the club as “a super relaxed club where people can come talk and enjoy free tea. It’s become a community building space for everyone to have fun and de-stress.”
Tea Club started “as a joke,” in the words of Fields. However, something funny happened after the club was started up: people seemed to like it. So, co-founders Fields and Laurence Randall decided to keep it going. “It started gaining traction so we’ve been putting more time and effort into the club, and it’s evolved into a fun environment with weekly challenges, mini prizes, and more of an emphasis on self care through tea,” said Fields. Long time member Hera Wetzel has seen the club grow from the very beginning to the present. “There weren’t more than five members [when the club first began] … now there are more than twenty people at the club any given week,” said Wetzel. The club has also tried to become more active in the Berkeley High community. Wetzel mentioned getting involved with “the Holiday Meal and advocacy for trans students.”
At Tea Club’s weekly meetings, students from all different backgrounds, small learning communities, and grades come to relax and socialize in a welcoming environment. For some, this club has become quite important. Fields said, “Tea Club has been a great experience for me.” Through leading the club, Fields also said they’ve really learned a lot. “I’ve developed my leadership abilities, presentation skills, and have generally improved at management. I look forward to meetings and really value the experience of leading a club. The Tea Club is very important to me,” Fields explained. Fellow co-president Laurence Randall felt much the same. “Personally, the Tea Club to me means a lot because it started out as a space for me in freshman year where I could really be myself and express myself in,” said Randall. Wetzel had similarly positive sentiments about the club, and joked about the fun games, prizes, and music at the club, which makes it “a good time” for everyone.
Many clubs at BHS serve as places to make friends who share similar interests. Tea Club is perhaps the first club at BHS to do away with the idea that a club need be anything else other than a place to make a friend. BHS is a school full of wonderful people, but there’s so many that it can be hard to figure out who you’re going to vibe with. Every Tuesday, Tea Club provides a place for Berkeley High students to relax, play games, and appreciate friends who surround you — all while drinking a hot cup of tea.