Clubs, and more specifically, special interest clubs, are created to offer a platform for students’ passions. It is a privilege for high school students to be able to participate and create their own clubs. In middle school, clubs were generic and run solely by teachers. In contrast, high school clubs, ideally, are governed by the students, allowing creativity in execution.
In truth, club success depends on student participation, but there are some established clubs that will continue to exist, despite their lack of student interest. We, as an editorial board, believe that high school students should be more enthusiastic towards clubs in hopes of revamping the group for future members.
Over the past few years, Leesville students have grown more apathetic towards school-run activities. Events such as Winterfest no longer exist. Fewer students attend the Homecoming dance each year. Students run unopposed in student council elections. In the same way, students have shown the same apathy towards clubs: one would rather eat lunch with friends than pursue a passion.
As underclassmen, many students join a variety of clubs in order to build the beginning of their future high school extracurriculars. As high school goes on, students become bored with the club that they once found “interest” in. As enthusiasm fades, the student’s reason for attending a club changes: extracurriculars look good on college applications.
Colleges seek applicants who participate in extracurricular activities, and, even better, hold leadership positions in those activities. This motivates students to join school clubs and work hard to obtain leadership positions in said clubs. However, clubs should serve a greater purpose than being eye candy for colleges.
During junior and senior year, some upperclassmen are feeling the pressure of college applications and the rest are just trying to make the best of their last two years of high school. Both categories of students, however, don’t seem to have time to enjoy the privilege of student-run, special interest clubs.
A student who is busy constructing the perfect college application cannot devote time to one special interest club. However, these students will attend club meetings in order to be able to say they did it, which will, hopefully, show colleges how well-rounded they are.
On the other hand, the students who are enjoying high school and not feeling the stress don’t want to attend clubs either. Why miss out on a trip to Chipotle for some special interest club? Why miss another 55-minute SMART lunch to sit in on a club meeting?
This raises the question of why is lunch more appealing than a club meant for expressing one’s passion? When Leesville made the transition from a three part lunch to SMART lunch, clubs began meeting during lunch instead of after school. Students unwilling to give up their lunch period to attend a club, miss out on great opportunities to pursue their interests and find people with similar passions.
We see a problem with this discordance of priorities among students. Leesville students should continue to take advantage of special interest clubs for the purpose of pursuing passion, not just for college resumes; students should be willing to forgo the chance to eat off campus for lunch to collectively explore an interest they have.
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