LM is a high school known for its academic excellence, talented sports teams, and variety of clubs and activities available to students. While the significant amount of options for students is certainly something that our school should be proud of, there is a fine line between clubs dedicated to bettering the student body, and clubs that were founded solely to bolster a college application. There are clubs that have been at LM for over ninety years and some that were started recently that have the potential to become successful in the future. StartUpLM is a prime example of a brand new club that is set up to be very helpful and impactful for students moving forward. On the other side of the spectrum, there are clubs that have seemingly forgotten that they exist.
There are “clubs” that were advertising at the activities fair back in September and haven’t sent out an email since. In addition, some clubs have not had a single meeting, printed out a single flier, or made any move to contribute to the LM community. For these reasons, LM needs to rethink the criteria necessary to start a club. When completing the application to start a new club, founders should have to design a rough outline of their plans for the year that provides goals for each month. Along with a plan, clubs should have to give their sponsors and Activities Director Jason Stroup bi-monthly updates on what they’re working on. This way, clubs will make progress that is easily trackable. If students struggle to meet this criteria, they should then seek assistance from the club sponsor or Stroup.
Community service is undoubtedly an important part of high school and something that students should become involved in, however, it is not necessary for there to be an International Action Club, the LM Kindness Project, the Ronald McDonald House Club, and the Starfish Club, when they all fall under the umbrella of what BuildOn accomplishes. If these clubs were to combine and all function under the same organization, the club would have more members, more resources, and more opportunities. For example, last year, CHOPPED Aces Nation absorbed the Culinary Arts Club because it conveniently provided the club leaders with a sponsor and eliminated an inactive club. Clubs that struggle to fill their rosters because they’re competing with virtually identical organizations should simply expand, possibly rebrand, and merge in order to be more successful.
Aside from the structural issues with clubs at LM, the lack of legitimate dedication is one that must be addressed. It is no secret that students often join clubs because it will look good on their college applications. While it could be argued that that’s a valuable way for club leaders to increase membership, students should join clubs because they want to participate, not because they need a resume boost. Four extremely dedicated club members are way more valuable than twenty members who don’t attend meetings or assist in any way. If a student is truly passionate about something and wants to share it with the rest of the student body, then there could be merit for them to start a club. An organization designed to appeal to colleges should put more energy towards bettering their club, rather than bolstering their resume.
This is not to say that students should not attempt to join or start new clubs at all. It is, however, important that the clubs and organizations at LM are effective, efficient, and goal-oriented. Modified criteria for starting clubs will weed out the students that are not as committed to starting an organization as others and provide club leaders with a plan of action for the school year. Consolidating LM clubs is also an effective way to better the club system by increasing membership and resources. This strategy additionally eliminates the inactive clubs at LM, maximizing the opportunities for active clubs. The notion of starting a club just to better one’s chances of getting into college is fundamentally lazy. LM doesn’t only have too many clubs; it has too many clubs whose founders have forgotten to care about their clubs.