Interested in creating and roleplaying your own characters to go on an epic fantasy adventure with your friends? Well, for the very first time, North Park is hosting a Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) club every Monday after school in room 211. D&D is the world’s most famous fantasy tabletop role-playing game. Once a week, students can get together and embark on epic adventures together with others that share their interest.
Mrs. Chou started the D&D club at the request of one of her students from her Manga club. She is quite happy to host and supervise a club that can be a space for students to relax and have fun. D&D by nature helps people build a community as well as foster an environment for creativity and fun literacy learning.
During an interview, Mrs Chou mentioned how she wants her club to be a place where students can have fun and not have to worry about their academics. “My goal is, first of all, I want students to have fun because it is a game, right? And people should have fun when they play games. Personally I believe that D&D is very good. Like, I mean in school, we’re always talking about what are the values, what are the extracurricular values?”
Mrs. Chou also mentioned that even though D&D is a game, it can also help students build their skill in literacy and communication. “It builds community. It lets you meet people, it lets you talk with people. If you’re playing a game, you’re constantly interacting with people. You actually form a pretty big bond with others. But it is also literacy. Like you’re reading rule books, you have to understand what the rules are. You have to describe how your character looks and acts. And you have to tell a story while exploring.”
So far, Mrs Chou is still trying to figure out how to run a D&D club. As this is the first year of the club, she welcomes any and all feedback. Mrs. Chou mentioned that she was not expecting many students within North Park to be interested in the club. 30 students showed up when Mrs. Chou was only expecting around five students. She said that she is still trying to wrap her head around just how many students are interested in a game that was considered ‘nerdy’.
Even if she is quite happy with the amount of students in the club right now, Mrs Chou is delighted to welcome even more students.
Mrs. Chou has many future ideas that she wants for the D&D club. She wants D&D to be a place of creativity and excitement.
THE NORTH STAR 