Stephanie Xia ’25 hopes the musical theater club will provide musical theater lovers with a low-pressure, fun environment to bond and perform. Photo by Katherine Xu.
A vibrant sight greets you as you walk through the high school’s cafeteria on club fair day: rows of club booths organized neatly along the cafeteria walkway, decorative poster boards showcasing exciting opportunities, and sign-up sheets filled with signatures amidst a colorful array of candy. An amalgamation of voices fills the air, calling out to attract prospective club members: “Join our art club!” “Join our student union!”
This year, the high school offers between eighty and ninety clubs that cover a variety of different interests. From academics to recreation, students have a wide range of opportunities to choose from — maybe even too wide. Many clubs have seen low enrollment rates, some operating with as few as five students or less.
Various factors contribute to this under-enrollment, the first being athletics. More than eighty percent of students at the high school participate in one of the 38 sports offered. As a result, many students struggle to find time in their busy schedules to participate in clubs.
“I’m on the field hockey team, which is a big commitment. There are a lot of clubs that I really wanted to join, but I just wasn’t able to find enough time in my schedule,” said Francesca Grossetti ’27.
Passion is another deciding factor in club enrollment: some clubs have a greater enrollment simply because the subject of the club appeals to a more common interest among the student body. For instance, one of the more popular clubs at the high school is the Medicine club, with around 25 members. The club focuses on medical-related research projects and services.
Meghan Wang ’27, a new member of the Medicine club, said she joined the club because of her interest in pursuing a career in psychology in the future.
“I think that many other people joined the Medicine club because a lot of them also want to study something related in the future, and medicine covers some of the most popular career paths,” said Wang.
The main reason for the low club enrollment, however, is the overwhelming number of options available at the high school. With so many clubs to choose from, it becomes challenging for enough students to commit to each club given their other extracurricular activities commitments and academic responsibilities.
So why are students starting so many clubs?
Assistant Principal Collin Shattuck explained that while some students start clubs out of a genuine passion and a desire to make certain subjects more accessible at the high school, others form clubs to strengthen their college applications.
“I will never disparage anyone for starting a club for college application reasons, but I hope it’s not the primary driver,” Shattuck said.
Shattuck explained that clubs created for the sake of college applications often lack passionate members behind them. As a result, these clubs tend to have an unclear vision, causing them to meet inconsistently, which Shattuck believes is not ideal.
Mr. William Harrington, one of the high school’s counselors, says that the same applies to many club members; some students join clubs they may not genuinely be interested in because they believe participating in these clubs will improve their applications. Thus, academic-based clubs at the high school tend to attract higher attendance, as students believe that involvement in these clubs will appear more attractive on college applications compared to clubs focused on non-academic areas.
“Clubs such as Key Club or National Honor Society are usually more popular because they are ones that you can get volunteer hours for, and some students think that these hours will look good on their college applications,” said Harrington.
Students who join clubs for college admission purposes often attend clubs irregularly because they lack genuine interest in the activities, another reason that factors into club under-enrollment.
Nevertheless, there are still many students who start their clubs out of passion.
The Science Journal Club, founded by Denise Pan ’25, was created out of a passion for scientific research. The club provides students with a chance to enter the competitive field of research that, for many, requires experience early on. Pan seeks to provide opportunities for students to practice the scientific process by examining and writing about various scientific events, allowing them to gain valuable exposure and experience in the field.
Pan said that her club was inspired by a research-based internship at the Broad Institute over the summer.
“In that internship, we read a lot of different scientific papers to familiarize ourselves with the current research that is going on. Reading those papers I thought ‘Wow’, there is so much going on outside of our school, so I wanted to bring that knowledge into the high school,” said Pan.
Despite the varying motivations behind club creation and membership, the essence of a successful club remains the same — a genuine enthusiasm that fosters an environment for students to explore their interests.
“I want people to start clubs because they have an interest that they’re excited about, they want to enhance our extracurricular programming, and they want to create welcoming and exciting spaces for students of similar interests,” said Shattuck.
