Many new clubs have been emerging at Carlmont, thanks to the enthusiasm and interests of a few students.
Students who take on the responsibility of being a new club president or vice president find that a small group of members attend their meetings. Even though club officials regularly promote their activities, students are still unaware of their existence.
Clubs provide a variety of activities for various interests, but students often choose not to come because of their lack of interest in the topic of different clubs.
“Gaining popularity is extremely hard because [students] just do not care about our club and its activities,” said Noland Sheetz, a past member of the Fantasy Sports Club.
Although some students do not share common interests with smaller clubs, members still promote their clubs through their friends. Despite the pressure they give, they still have not been able to gain new students. Those who choose not to join often say that they are preoccupied with other tasks, while some do not even have the intention to participate.
“I’ve had a few friends reach out to me and invited me to a few clubs. I’ve been meaning to go, and they keep pressuring me, but I do not have the time. To be honest, I’m not interested in going,” said Geoffrey Wang, a sophomore.
While some members believe they can gain popularity through pressuring their friends, others believe that clubs should host events that directly benefit students. By appealing to student interests, they would have more motivation to attend meetings.
“I think it’s hard for them to gain popularity because they have very specific goals that benefit Carlmont but not its students. Clubs should start offering students activities like stress-relieving arts and crafts,” said Camille Erskine, supervisor for the Dream Volunteers Club.
People don’t want to go to a club where they don’t have any friends with them, so we have to recruit whole friend groups, and that’s tough.
— Nolan Scheez
Minor clubs attempt to advertise themselves through their events. However, they have not existed as long as some of the more popular clubs, so they have not had the chance to participate in more significant events. While larger clubs have the advantage of hosting school-wide activities, smaller clubs do not share the same privileges.
Without these advantages, enthusiastic members of smaller clubs take advantage of every opportunity they get to promote their clubs. Despite the rejection, some members remain optimistic that their club will gain more popularity when enough time has passed, and more students have learned about their club.
“It’s hard to find people with interest in baseball nowadays, but we just haven’t found our voice yet,” Baseball Statistics Club Co-President Zachary MacLaughlin said.
