It is approaching the end of the school year, and yet many clubs still have not held any events.
This lack of activity is a problem that many clubs have. Though a club may plan to meet monthly, that hardly ever comes true. As a result, many students become averse to joining any clubs in the first place.
However, this should not be the case. Students should not be discouraged from joining clubs—joining a club is an opportunity for students to bond over shared interests. Unfortunately, many clubs suffer from inactivity, leaving many students unable to exercise their interests at school.
A club’s inactivity can be attributed to several factors. Money is a big one. Hosting some club events is not cheap, and clubs are paying out of pocket to fund them a lot of the time. Even hosting a fundraiser or participating in Club Food Day could be devastating to a club’s budget. Because of this, smaller clubs that cater to niche interests will often be unable to stay active. After all, it is hard to build a stable club if you do not have the money to fund it.
So when clubs do not have enough money, there is not much they can do. If they do not even have the money to fundraise, then they likely will not be able to hold any meetings and will go inactive. At that point, clubs need support from the school. Even a little help, whether it relates to finances or not, could go a long way.
Another factor that could be causing a club’s inactivity is a lack of members. It is easy to be discouraged from arranging any club meetings if you know only five people will show up. In order to combat this, clubs should do their best to publicize themselves.
One way clubs can do so is through the annual Club Rush. Club Rush serves as a great way for clubs to draw in members, as club cabinets can advocate for their respective clubs in person. Furthermore, attending Club Rush can be a lot of fun and a great opportunity to hang out with friends.
However, Club Rush’s one glaring issue: it only occurs once in the entire school year. After that, clubs receive little to no publicity, and whoever joins at Club Rush is most likely all the new members a club is going to get. And for clubs that did not see a lot of foot traffic during Club Rush, that could be the end of its development.
“After Club Rush, I have heard almost nothing about clubs. [Not only that], but I have also seen many of my friends who did join clubs slowly losing interest over time,” Alisha Rivero (11) says.
But it does not have to be that way. If one Club Rush was not enough time for students to explore all the available clubs, then there should simply be more Club Rushes. By increasing the number of Club Rushes held in the year, more clubs will be able to recruit more students.
“I myself would join a club if they promoted themselves more, and maybe talked more about upcoming events, like on posters or on the daily announcements,” states Rivero.
And clubs do not have to limit themselves to recruiting only on Club Rush. Hanging up posters or publicizing their club online, whether on the daily announcements or otherwise, could help greatly with garnering more members.
Still, that is not the only reason many clubs are inactive. In fact, the most common reason clubs become inactive is a lack of motivation, both on the club’s part and its members’. This can usually be attributed to the hectic schedules students are swept up in, especially as the school year goes by.
But even so, clubs are a great place for students to get together and bond over their interests. They encourage interaction among students of diverse backgrounds. That so many clubs are inactive or simply unable to compete with bigger clubs is unfortunate. Hopefully more clubs are able to keep up regular club meetings in the future.