A look at our school’s clubs in an online semester

Anime+Club+watches+Attack+on+Titan+during+their+first+meeting.+

Brendon Teth

Anime Club watches “Attack on Titan” during their first meeting.

Since Club Rush happened a few months ago, clubs have been active for a while in this online environment. Like other things, our school’s clubs have had to make some changes in order to adapt to the changing times.

Through some interviews with the vice presidents, presidents, and some teachers, we can see the actions clubs have been making and what challenges they have been faced with.

One common thing that was observed during all interviews was that many clubs have had to cancel events that were once common before the pandemic.

H.E.A.L. club vice president and senior Ivette Solorzano explained how their annual event had to be cut.

It is likely that we will be unable to do our annual Pro Pet Project or the mascara wand drive,” Solorzano said.  

With events being canceled, clubs have had to change their approach to activities and focus on other things to keep the club engaging despite the online limitations.

eSports Club advisor, Mr. Ramos stated, “The main focus is to have the eSports team participate in the Overwatch and Rocket League tournaments.”

With this new focus on eSports, there are currently no planned student events like student tournaments which were once common before the pandemic.

Changes can also be seen in Drama Club, who have been watching movies during some of their meetings, as going to a theatre or watching plays is not possible at the moment, as described by secretary of Drama Club and junior Ezekial Walker.

The recently launched Anime club has taken a similar approach with their activities like during its first meeting where everyone watched an episode of a show together and discussed their thoughts about it, which was well-received by club members.

Sadly, clubs saw a decrease in members compared to when the clubs were active before the pandemic.

Walker stated, “Back then the club had around twenty members regularly, but now it’s difficult to get twenty.” 

However, there is no definitive reason for this decrease in club membership and each club has different ideas as to why there has been a decrease.

Some clubs have changed their meeting times in order to conform to the compact school schedule. 

Solorzano said, “Our meetings went from twice a month to only once a month since we don’t want to overwhelm our club members.”

Some clubs still meet twice a month like Drama Club or Make a Difference, while some clubs still meet up weekly like Musicians Unite or Bring About Hope. 

As for plans for the future, most clubs are a bit unsure of what is to come as the possibility of either going back to school or staying online are up in the air as of right now.

All of the interviewees believe that the transition from online school back to regular school will be relatively easy and that they would just return to their prior club activities.

Regardless of what might come in the future, our club presidents, vice presidents, and teachers have adapted to the online environment to the best of their abilities and it really shows.