High school provides a plethora of new opportunities for all students to explore their interests. Many students want to be involved in their school and be a leader, but it can be difficult to know where to start. There are two primary routes that you can take: starting your own club or leading and bettering an existing club.
Starting a club at your school is a great way to be involved and become a leader. The first step to starting a club is to find something that is missing at your school that others enjoy, such as gardening or making origami. Make sure there isn’t another club like yours at school, and talk to the person in charge of clubs at your school—this could be a teacher or an administrator. From there, you can ask about your school’s specific club protocols.
Being a leader of a club involves a lot of work. You have to find a club sponsor, who may be a teacher willing to host your club in their room, come up with meeting plans and fun activities, get people involved, and get the word out.
If you are passionate about a cause or activity that already has a club to address it, you can still become a leader! You can attend meetings for the club that interests you, complete the tasks they give, and take initiative by suggesting ideas. You don’t have to be in charge of the club to be a leader. Showing up and getting involved is very important too.
Being a leader means overcoming tough challenges you might find while running your club. Problem-solving is key, as sometimes it can be stressful being in charge of a group of people. You want to create a welcoming environment that makes people want to come to explore your club and join it. You have to stay committed to your club, come in on time, plan ahead, and take initiative. While running a club may be time-consuming, and may take a lot of work, the reward of seeing students get involved and express their passion about your club is worth it.
Being a leader of a club is a very important task, but it’s also great to just get involved and participate in clubs at your school. There are so many different types of clubs at your school that you can get involved in. You can ask around or contact the club’s leaders to learn more about specific clubs you may be interested in.
Written by Isabella Silver of Winston Churchill High School.
Photo courtesy of Natalie Weger of Richard Montgomery High School