Carlmont school clubs give students a sense of belonging and community with other students while simultaneously allowing them to discover their interests.
With school already almost a semester in, school clubs bring many students together, creating tight-knit communities with students of similar interests together. The overall process of creating and managing these clubs gives students a chance at leadership opportunities and a way to connect to students with like-minded curiosity.
Conrad Hsu, a sophomore and vice president of the Allgorithm AI Club, explains how his club has given him this opportunity.
“The AI club fosters a sense of community among all those who are interested in this field. It’s nice seeing people showing a genuine interest, and it’s great how we have a diverse amount of grade levels participating. In our club, we even have people who aren’t planning to major in AI, but they realize that understanding this field at a basic level may open up endless possibilities for them,” Hsu said.
Like Hsu, Chloe Chun, another sophomore at Carlmont and vice president of the Self Defense for Girls Club, sees her club as a way to build both a sense of community amongst the people in her club and her leadership skills.
“As vice president of my club, I have to plan many meetings and the curriculum. I also have to lead the meetings alongside my president. In the past, I did not know how to organize meetings and such, but after being a club leader, it taught me useful skills that I need in the future,” Chun said.
The process of starting a school club is relatively easy. To start a club or renew an existing club, find a teacher to agree to be a club advisor before Sept. 1 of the current school year. Upon deciding on the day the club will meet, have the advisor email James Kelly, Carlmont’s Associated Student Body (ASB) advisor, to receive and complete the club charter request.
However, potential hurdles may also occur.
Luci Herrera-Set, a sophomore, explains how she wanted to start a feminist club this year but could not make the deadline to submit the club application.
“Making the club was spontaneous, my friend Lauren and I didn’t really know when the last day to start the club was, and as a result, when emailing Mr. Kelly, he basically said no. I really felt like they could have done a better job publicizing the whole process,” Herrera-Set said.
However, Herrera-Set looks to the future optimistically.
“In the end, there’s nothing I can do about it now; I just hope that when I create the club next year, students who want to learn more about feminism will come to my club, creating a close-knit group of students all interested in the same topic,” Herrera-Set said.
