At the beginning of last school year, no student would have predicted the extent to which the backbone of student extracurriculars, clubs, have undergone change. Clubs are a place where students can not only find a passion or interest in a particular activity but take place in a smaller community. They are a good way to meet different students, master a skill, or try something for the first time.
Returning high school students can recall the warm fall days where we gathered in the Otis Courtyard or outside the science wing after assembly. People from different clubs would show off their posters and talk to each other while bribing them with candy. However, this year those spaces sat empty while candy-less students watched videos on clubs that interested them.
In the new hybrid system, it is harder for clubs to meet and for students to develop a wide range of interests. In the past, the weekly schedule was set, so it was easy to schedule a club meeting and rely on it meeting that same time every week. The hybrid model completely changed the way that looks. With the new 6-day rotation, students have a much harder time keeping track of their daily schedules and activities.
This common lack of awareness causes club leaders to scramble to find a meeting time each week. Not only does this add stress to the organization of the club, but it makes it hard for club members to plan out what other clubs they might attend that week. Furthermore, the new schedule has severely limited the possible times that clubs can hold meetings. Although blocks throughout the week warrant ample time for these meetings, a multitude of assemblies, surveys, and speeches detract from those designated times. I hope that as the year goes along, these times can be relied upon for club meetings to regularly occur.
The irregularity of meeting times and the scarcity of them detract from the student’s experience the most. If there are only one or two times when clubs meet, then students may be forced to pick between clubs, resulting in one of their activities or passions diminishing. There needs to be more structure to the club meetings so that both club leaders and members can depend on a regular meeting time. Otherwise, students will only be able to participate in one club, shrinking their passions, and doing away with the sense of community that clubs have always held.
