By: Isabelle Yang, Sports Editor
Mills High School has around 70 official clubs organized by students, teachers, and staff members. Clubs offer the Mills community a place to socialize and interact with others who share similar interests, creating spaces to foster relationships and experience fun activities. Whether it’s giving students opportunities to develop life skills or a chance to destress at school, club culture relies on student participation.
Recently, some students have noticed changes in club culture. To some students, clubs feel less present and have infrequent events and meetings. Other club organizers have observed that members aren’t attending consistently. Does this mean club culture is slowly fading away?
Zurine Cheng (12), co-president of Card Express and United Nations Association, reasons there may be too many clubs for the student population. Her clubs hold meetings weekly; Card Express focuses on handwriting cards to deliver, while the United Nations Association hosts workshops to partner with refugee organizations.
With only about 1100 students and over 70 official clubs, events often conflict with other clubs’ activities. “There are so many clubs that operate every day – over 15 clubs that operate every day and have lunch meetings,” Cheng states. “It is hard to recruit members and make them consistently come to our meetings just because there’s a variety of clubs and not a lot of students.”
Noelle Young (11), president of Karaoke Club, realizes that the attendance for her club has been less this year. As her club is purely a fun distraction for students, she believes students have found other clubs more important. “Most of the people who used to come last year that aren’t able to come this year had their own clubs they started, or they have other clubs the same day that they prioritize now,” Young says.
Additionally, Collin Chen (11), president of Caring for Cancer, explains how school is ultimately more demanding than clubs, which means students may not prioritize club events over school assignments. “I think [clubs and school] are about the same [priority], but one is school, so sometimes – like assignments – you can’t be missing those because you get punished.” Unlike schools, clubs are built off students’ drive to be involved in their community, meaning there won’t be consequences when standards aren’t met.
As classes graduate and members change, the environment in clubs shifts as well. “If you have a club and you have this group of people that show up, you have fun with them every time. But then they graduate, or they stop coming, and the spirit of the club kind of dies if you don’t have the same people bringing the same energy,” describes Young.
To persuade students to keep coming to meetings, club organizers must market and engage their members properly. Caring for Cancer, Card Express, and the United Nations Association give members community service hours to attract students and encourage participation. Karaoke Club occasionally incorporates themed meetings to add structure and make activities more engaging. Lastly, providing food can entice members to attend and enjoy their time at the events.
Overall, all interviewees strive to provide an open and welcoming environment for others. “Having a really open and inclusive environment is really helpful to ensure that students feel welcome to come to your club rather than being forced,” Cheng concludes.
