The clubs are dying and it’s our fault
By Kallen Idlewine
Clubs have been a huge part of the school environment longer than most of the teachers have been alive. Ask one of the teachers what high school was like for them and they would probably go into some of the clubs they did, the sports they tried out for and got in, and they might even mention how they were president of the yearbook committee. However, something that I noticed while being at AHS for roughly eight months was that the hype for the extracurricular activities is severely lacking. Students don’t really hear about the fun opportunities AHS offers other than D26 or sports such as Varsity Football or boys/girls Basketball. There are many factors for this and one of them is the pushback for the clubs.
I will give credit where credit is due. The Tribecast does a good job of trying to let people know where and when certain clubs are and giving you the best information with the material they are given. In fact 71.4% of club sponsors and supervisors who voted on a google form I created, believe the clubs are well marketed by the school and Tribecast. The
marketing isn’t perfect, though. The Tribecast Instagram page is a good example since the last time they marketed a club was on Jan. 16 with D&D club. They have made posts about other activities like the Winter Color-Guard and YLA. But Winter Colorguard is more of a sport than a club and YLA isn’t an AHS organization. It was founded by Leadership Academy of Madison County.
It’s also important to note that the other 28.6% of club sponsors believe that the advertisement of the clubs isn’t very good and should get better. Traci Gossett, the club supervisor of the bowling club, believes one of the reasons for the lack of marketing is because of money. “It is only a club,” she says,
“No funds come from the school due to it being a community based club.” Chief Scaramazzo who runs NJROTC and Girls Wrestling didn’t even hear about Esports until the raffle tickets were first announced. Even D26 teacher Colleen Millen has trouble with marketing FCCLA (Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America). “Since I teach at D26,” she said, “it is hard to advertise the club at the high school.” However she does give credit where credit is due when it comes to advertisement. “My FCCLA students have done a good job of putting it on social media this year though.”
Despite my strong opinions on the marketing, to me it’s not the biggest reason as to why the clubs are dying. The reason as to why the claim got started in the first place. It’s because of the students of AHS. Some can advertise something so many times to the point it becomes repetitive. Others can advertise something so little most people don’t even know it exists. Then there are those that can market something just right and they’ll still have people not interested in clubs. I should know, I was one of them. I ignored the daily Tribecast episodes where they would market clubs such as culture club or film club. Then I actually started going to the film club and I realized how fun it actually was.
I also looked into other clubs like the bowling club and the D&D club and the community it has. It’s amazing to watch the students laugh together and share a common interest with each other. But it’s unfortunate to see how small some clubs are despite the push-back from people to join. Especially since I’ve been told by my own friends that they feel like they feel like outcasts and that they don’t belong. The school needs more people to join clubs not just because it’s fun, but because if no one joins something that can be a good way to make connections with others then what’s the point in joining anything else?
