On Wednesday this week, the high school student body set up and attended the annual club fair. Each year, this festival is held to showcase all the clubs our student body has to offer, from AAPI Club to Art & Crochet Club. This year, the club fair was held on the Pine & Octavia campus, and each club selected a table to set up their display.

Once the showcase was ready, students were given the opportunity to walk around and browse the different clubs and sign up. Many of the clubs also offered snacks at their tables to create a more welcoming experience. Depending on the club, some promote off-campus experiences, potlucks, on-school activities and service opportunities.

“I thought this year’s club fair was pretty fun, and I liked the organization of it this year,” senior Amy Gonzalez said. “I thought each of the clubs were more spread out, so it was a lot easier to see each club compared to last year.”

In the past years, our school has had designated club time for these groups to meet. In the 2024-25 school year, the school schedule had a club block that set aside time for students to regularly meet with their clubs. However, that schedule has now changed, and this year, club leaders are expected to assign their own club meetings outside of school hours.

“I felt like all the tables, or clubs, were competing with each other, but in a friendly way,” freshman Chloe Lee said. “I honestly thought it made the experience more fun.”

All of the clubs are student-led, each with teacher supervisors. Some clubs have designated roles within the student leaders, varying between each club. This means that the students are responsible for most of the organization, while the club supervisors are primarily there to guide and support the student leaders. As a result, these clubs provide good opportunities for students to not only gain new experiences as club members, but also to train leadership skills as club leaders.

 “I was impressed with the variety and enthusiasm that students presented on behalf of the clubs this year,” visual arts teacher Rachel McIntire said. “I look forward to seeing how they go in the school year.”

Overall, school clubs are designed to allow students to explore different passions or hobbies that they may otherwise not have the time for. Not only that, but they are a great opportunity for our school to build more relationships between the different grades.

“I think for the future, we should implement club time in the school schedule,” Gonzalez said. “Sometimes when clubs meet outside of school hours, not everyone can make it because of other extracurricular. It’s always more fun when more of the club members can meet.”