Starting Your Own High School Club
If you have considered the clubs and organizations your high school has to offer and found nothing that truly excites you, you might want to consider forming your own group. It's fun and can be very rewarding -- if you are willing to put in the time and effort needed to get it up and running.
The first step is the most important - come up with a good idea. Try to find something you're passionate about. Love old movies? You could have a movie club. Like to make YouTube videos? Start a YouTube Group.
After you figure out what you'd like to do, find people to help you with the club. Start talking with friends and see who's interested. It's best to gather a variety of people who will bring to the club a plethora of interests, experiences and perspectives. This is also the time to establish offices and delegate the responsibilities of handling money, planning activities and developing leadership.
Next, decide what your club will do for the first semester. It is a lot easier to recruit people to your group if you have fun activities and good guest speakers planned in advance. While all the planning doesn't have to be done at this point, it helps to have some sort of idea of what topics you will cover before you get started.
The next point is also very important - you need to decide on a meeting time and place. The most convenient place is obviously at the school, but if a bunch of your friends want to meet at the local pizza place, that works too. Most schools will allow a student group to use a classroom or meeting room for its gatherings, but a simple outside meeting can fit a certain mood. Timing is important as well because lunchtime meetings might not allow enough time for what you want to do, but Monday morning meetings might not appeal to members that like to sleep in.
Once you have all of the details worked out, it is time to approach school administration and discuss your plan. There is usually a formal process that clubs go through to be recognized on campus and there might be some logistical or planning details you've overlooked. Furthermore, if you can raise faculty support, you will easily obtain a meeting room or an advisor to help with details.
Now, with a little bit of effort, you can create fun advertisments for the club and draw in members. Perhaps plan a date to meet with your fellow officers to make posters and flyers. Hang posters in classrooms, quads, eating areas or other common places around campus and make sure to pass out stacks of flyers before or after your classes. If your school has a newspaper or an e-mail announcement list for students, try to get an article or advertisement. This is a good time to have a kick-off fundraiser or other event to get things rolling.
High school can be a lot more fun when you're involved and starting a club is a great way to do just that.
