Children’s Chess Club starting Feb. 3

A new children’s chess club is set to begin meeting Feb. 3, providing Ponca City area children a safe place to learn and play chess with other students.

The First Lutheran School Chess Club will begin meeting each Wednesday morning from 7:15-8:10 am in the First Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall. The hall can be accessed through the double red doors at 4th Street and Liberty.

Jennifer Vaughan, local Ponca City resident and mother to four small children, decided to start the club when her oldest son Wesley started showing great interest in chess.

On deciding to start the chess club, Vaughan said “I’ve discovered that it’s easy to be supportive of a child’s passion for sports, but intellectually-focused activities take more strategy and planning. It’s important to me to provide all my children with the tools that they need to succeed in whatever area they choose to invest in.”

The club is open to all students in Ponca City, grades 1st through 12th. The mission of the First Lutheran School Chess Club is to develop and improve chess skills in a supportive environment, to encourage each student to their full potential, and to nurture the specific chess-related skills including strategic thinking, problem solving and self-confidence, and to promote the value of chess throughout the community.

All skill levels are welcome, from beginners to advance. The meeting format will be informal as the club gets established and will primarily be a safe place for students to get together and enjoy the game. Students are welcome to bring their breakfast and encouraged to leave at whatever time is necessary for them to make it to their own school on time.

The club will continue morning meetings through the end of the school year, but will switch to an evening meeting or find another meeting time that works for the majority of students at the beginning of the 2016-17 school year.

Students are required to submit a one-time $35 membership fee. The fee will help cover the cost of chess sets and clocks for the club as well as the student’s own scorebook. Membership is required to participate; however, there are limited scholarships available if needed.

Please call or text Jennifer Vaughan, FLS Chess Club Coordinator, at 580-716-1931 or email [email protected] with any questions, to receive the necessary sign-up form for students, or to volunteer to assist with the club.

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Wesley Vaughan, left, FLS Chess Club member, sits and waits for his next chess match at the Ida Freeman Elementary School chess tournament in Edmond on Jan. 16.