Barrons Social Hour is a new, after-school club at Woodbridge High School that is advised by Ms. Cruz and gives students the opportunity to work on their conversational skills.The club meets most Mondays from 2:30 P.M. to 3:45 P.M. in room D19. It typically has eight to ten regular attendees.

Ms. Cruz founded the club to provide students of all ability levels with the opportunity to learn about and practice listener-speaker responsibilities in a social setting. Their mission is to empower students from all backgrounds to make and keep healthy peer relationships. 

Ms. Cruz is a speech-language pathologist and is also the advisor of the Barron Steppers and the Black Student Union at WHS. While observing other clubs, she saw that communication breakdowns would occur between students.

Students would not realize or not know how to handle the breakdown so that their intended message would be received successfully. Which inspired Ms. Cruz to create Barrons Social Hour. 

The students lead the club and they explore themes and topics picked by themselves. Video games, friendships, and dating are some examples of the topics and themes that interest the students.

Typically Ms. Cruz acts as a facilitator of social interaction. The members speak about their day, a special event, or future plans. 

After their discussion, they engage in a structured activity such as conversational Jenga or charades. 

During the initial meeting of Barrons Social hour students had a conversion to practice their social skills. The members identified different types of social skills, such as active listening, maintaining eye contact, initiating conversations, and conversational turn-taking.

From there they figured out what each members’ strengths and weaknesses were. With doing that, students had the opportunity to learn from each other as well as receive feedback. 

Because they are a new club, they have no formal or official leadership positions currently. However, one particular student that stands out as a leader is Regina Prila.

Regina is an incoming freshman and Ms. Cruz first met her during freshman orientation. By the first official meeting of BSH, she had independently created an extensive slideshow about the club’s mission and vision. 

Students learn better ways of communicating with each other in Barrons Social Hour. They are also succeeding in its mission to empower students to make and maintain healthy peer relationships according to Ms. Cruz.

More information on the club is available in their google classroom. Flyers placed around the school have a QR code that allows students access to the google classroom.