A few years ago, North Springs High seniors Clara Peres and Felipe Camargo co-founded the Students Helping Achieve Real Kindness Club (SHARK), hosting various activities at events to fundraise for creative community service initiatives.
The Sandy Springs Rotary Club invited North Springs students in the SHARK Club to its April 27 meeting to learn about how the organizations can work together in the future.
Clara Peres, president of the SHARK Club, said she wanted to start a club in the summer of 2023, and her friend Felipe Camargo jumped at the opportunity to help.
“We ended up having a meeting at our local McDonald’s, and that’s where SHARK Club was born,” Peres said. “And the funny thing is, originally, Shark Club was supposed to be a marine biology club. That went out the window … we wanted to help out the community, everyone around us.”
Camargo said the club’s mission shifted to promoting the spirit of kindness and giving back. Rotary International and the North Springs SHARK Club share a motto, “Service Above Self.”
“We’re dedicated to cultivating a passion for service and community involvement among students at North Springs by organizing fundraising efforts,” Camargo said. “We support vital initiatives and community engagement projects. We’re very committed to giving back and fostering kindness.”
Founding a kindness club
The students give credit to The LINK at North Springs High School, part of the Community School Initiative that provides free “wraparound services” for students, parents, staff, and community members. North Springs introduced the program in 2023.
Camargo said the SHARK Club did a slime-making activity at its first officer meeting, and reintroduced the annual activity at The Link’s Community Cookout with the help of club sponsor and North Springs teacher Diane Fulwider. Slime remains popular among high schoolers.
“We successfully raised about $200,” he said. “This was our first time out in the community, and it really just showed us the value of what it meant to put ourselves out there.”
The club spreads kindness to Sandy Springs residents of all ages with two holiday campaigns, “Cards for the Elderly” and “The Rose Project.” Students met with the North Fulton Improvement Network to discuss homelessness and volunteered at the Mary Hall Freedom Village, a nonprofit recovery center.
North Springs students also worked with Sandy Springs Events Vendor Manager Erin Cianciolo to set up an area for kids’ activities and arts and crafts at the city’s weekend farmers market at City Springs.
Rotary in the community
Sandy Springs Rotary President Megan Harris, who couldn’t attend the April meeting, has helped the SHARK Club with some of its community events, including the rose sale.
Students said she taught them about sales and marketing during the club’s larger events, which has helped them make the kindness club sustainable with fundraisers.
Next fall, club secretary Nina Joshua, historian Jamie Masker, and president Clara Peres are attending the University of Georgia. Camargo, who is vice president, is attending Mercer University and planning to major in public health.
Confounders Camargo and Peres said SHARK Club is their baby. In a few months, they’ll join club alumni and their classmates in college.
“When I was a sophomore, I knew that I wanted to create something that would make a change at North Springs, I just didn’t know what,” Camargo said. “Doing that with my best friend has been a very, very joyful experience.”
“Leading this club along with my best friend was a learning process for me,” Peres said. “There are lessons that I’ll have for the rest of my life. I got to learn how to work with other people, while also leading them in a way.”
North Springs junior and club treasurer Kara Hutton is tasked with leading the SHARK Club next school year with the continued help of the club sponsor, Diahann Fulwider. Hutton said she already has many ideas and wants to collaborate with Sandy Springs Rotary.
“Shark Club just opened up so many new doors for me,” Hutton said. “I just really appreciate getting out to the community and the community giving back to me.”
