Groups of Unalaska students gathered around desks in a math classroom after school on a Friday afternoon this winter. The room was fairly quiet except for some background noise from a basketball scrimmage in the gym and some light chatter and a few giggles. Among the voices was a soft, frequent clicking from chess timers or clocks.
The students, mostly sitting hunched over their boards, were gathered for a popular new after- school chess club.
Kyle Holloway, who’s been teaching math and science with the district for about a decade, said the program started coincidentally, after he pulled out an old chessboard for his son to play with after school.
He said they left a couple boards out for students and then the club just naturally formed around those.
“Almost every day at lunch, there were different kids, or more and more kids showing up to watch or play a little bit,” Holloway said.
But Holloway isn’t the only one to thank for starting the new club. Unalaska newcomer Aeisha Bacalzo took an interest in the boards and helped lead the effort.
“I was about to talk with Mr. Holloway about something in math, and then I saw the chessboard from across the room, and I asked him if he plays, and he said, ‘Yeah,’” Bacalzo said. “And I started sharing my chess journey [with] him.”
Bacalzo moved to Unalaska from the Philippines at the beginning of this school year. She said she was required to learn the game for a PE class in second grade.
“And after that, I just started loving it,” she said.
Bacalzo, who is a senior now, has been competing since she was in the fourth grade.
“Until last year, I've been playing tournaments in the Philippines,” Bacalzo said.
She said she’d won some of those tournaments, too.
While she doesn’t have the opportunity to compete in Unalaska, Bacalzo said she’d like to see the group hold some competitions. But since she graduates this spring, she’s just enjoying the chance to play with other people in person, rather than online, where she plays lately, and helping mentor some of the other students.
Bacalzo hadn’t been beaten in a match in Unalaska yet, but she said there was some promising talent among the group.
Senior Harbor Ray Herring was playing his younger sister Honor Rae Herring, a freshman.
The siblings said they’ve played chess at home a little, but not as much as they have at the school’s new after-school club.
Honor said she likes having options for extracurricular activities at the small school. She’s also a fan of the laidback environment.
“I think that an activity like this where everyone can come and participate — and it's not a very like set in stone thing, you don't have to have the commitment, you don't have to go every week — it’s like … more enjoyable for students,” she said.
The new club started around the holiday break this academic year. And so far, Holloway said it’s been well attended, in part because of the laidback atmosphere, he said.
“I'm not great, but I'm learning a lot, and just even playing a slow game here with Karina, like we're talking about the moves, and it's helping both of us get better,” Holloway said as he sat atop a desk playing a match against a student.
Holloway has headed a few other clubs and activities, but he said this one has sparked quite a bit of participation — and from kids as young as fifth grade. They usually get students from sixth through 12th grade, and often have as many as 20 kids in attendance.
Holloway said he hopes he can continue to foster interest and participation.
“It's really fun to start a program and see like real excitement sustained and be able to grow it,” he said.
The club is planning to pick back up again next year, and students are already hoping to hold a community-wide tournament next year, Holloway said.
Unalaska’s reigning champ, Bacalzo, is graduating soon and won’t be in attendance. But she said she hopes she can find a new chess community at college in the fall.
