RAMONA, Calif. -- Most of the time, Tatjana Thorson's classroom is a place where kids who attend Steele Canyon Charter High School learn about fractions, story problems and decimal points.

But every Monday at noon, her math classroom becomes the gathering place for members of the CTR Club and any of their friends who want to drop by.

CTR Club? What's that?

Thorson laughs when someone asks because as far as she knows, there's only one such club.

This one was started after one of Thorson's students asked if she would be the adviser if the administration gave permission for such a club.

Thorson, a native Croatian who came to the United States on a basketball scholarship and mother of four -- including Marco Thorson, a BYU football player currently on an LDS mission and a daughter who is a BYU graduate in speech pathology -- said she'd love to help.

The club was approved and the Mormon students at Steele Canyon began having lunch together every week. They brought along their friends, and students who were curious about the club began to stop in. Everyone chatted and laughed and bonded.

"By the end of the year, we had 15 kids coming. We started with four," Thorson said.

The members of the "Choose the Right" club not only share lunch, they raise money to pay for outreach activities such as an open forum on friendshipping or dating.

This year they gathered aluminum cans to recycle and bought pizza for a school friendshipping event where students discussed what makes a good friend and how friendships are made.

"This is our first year and we only started midway through the year, so we only had one activity. Our goal next year is to hold an all-school activity once a month,"  Thorson said.

Because the club is part of a public school offering, the CTR Club cannot be LDS-centric but the members can discuss standards and moral guidelines they have in common.

They can encourage each other to value good grades and choices that help them stay free of drugs and gangs and violence.

They form friendships and support each other as they share their lunch hour.

Of the 2,073 students enrolled at Steele Canyon, only four or five are LDS, from different wards and stakes, Thorson said, so it's helpful for them to identify and know each other. One of the club members was the senior class valedictorian.

The club threw her a farewell party, something it hopes will become a tradition as the club grows.

Thorson said she tries to just stand back and advise rather than take charge.

"This is totally spontaneous. It was their idea," she said.

"We want to make a difference on campus. It's all about the kids and their desire to do what's right."

E-mail: haddoc@desnews.com