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Written by: Maya Paddon
“Get involved!”
“Join sports teams!”
“Join clubs!”
Whether it is during Grade Eight Orientation, Raider Camp, the Clubs Fair, or within the first few weeks of school, almost all Raiders hear at least one of these phrases as a piece of advice to carry with them during their high school journeys.
KCI offers numerous extracurricular activities to the school community; from lunchtime clubs, to several sports teams, to leadership opportunities. To kick off the school year, connect with new peers, and discover new interests, many students are eager to join a handful of extracurriculars.
However, some KCI club leaders have found that as the school year progresses, the number of members actively involved tends to gradually decline. Does this result from a lack of interest? Less advertising for KCI clubs and activities? Stress amongst the student body? The Edge set out to find some answers.
Jazzlyn Ring, a grade twelve student and one of three presidents of KCI’s Think, Act, Change (TAC) club, has noticed a common theme of club sizes decreasing over the course of each school year. She noted, “I think a lot of people join in the beginning and they’re really excited about it, but they realize it’s a bit of a commitment. And then there’s school going on, and sometimes the numbers go down a little bit.” She added that, on average, TAC meetings typically consist of “around ten members. And that’s including our three club leaders.”
Jazzlyn continued by discussing some of her personal experiences with extracurriculars at the beginning of her high school career. She mentioned that school stress is her prediction to be the primary contributor to smaller club sizes as the school year goes on: “I know personally, in my grade nine year, I think I joined every single club that I could - not realizing that it would take up so much time. And then I had school work on top of it,” Jazzlyn explained.
Karen Tang and Shruthi Prabhu, two of KCI’s Law Club leaders, communicated similar thoughts on their club’s size. Shruthi noted that “it is very common for the numbers to go down as the year progresses.” She added that Law Club typically sees “about seventeen regular attendees. Once the club turns into a team, we only have team members attend meetings - ten people this year!” Each spring, Law Club competes in a mock trial against other schools in the region. Thus, the club leaders must select the members that will represent KCI at the competition.
Karen stated that one reason all club sizes likely tend to decrease is a lack of interest, explaining, “Law Club and the clubs that I'm in tend to have a lot of people at first, mainly grade nines, who go to the first few meetings to see if they like the club or not. If the clubs don't pique their interest, which I observed tends to be quite a few people, then the overall club size decreases.”
Meanwhile, Shruthi thought that the commitment to an extracurricular like Law Club could also play a role in reducing the club size: “Law club is quite demanding, and it is usually a bit of work outside of school, and so, it leads many to make the decision to quit,” she said.
The Pros and Cons to Smaller Clubs
When asked about the benefits and drawbacks of having smaller clubs, both Jazzlyn from TAC and Karen from Law Club concurred that there are certainly some downsides. Jazzlyn explained that having numerous members in a club is often helpful because it allows for multiple perspectives to be shared: “With having a bigger club you get to have a lot of ideas. And you get everyone to collaborate and meet lots of new people.” Karen noted that it can be disappointing when only a handful of students attend club meetings: “It can sometimes be disheartening when the amount of people we expected don't show up.”
On the other hand, Shruthi revealed that having a smaller club is not always a bad thing: “I think a smaller team is better because you get to make much more meaningful connections with each other, and you have better interpersonal connections within the team,” she shared.
How Can KCI Increase Student Engagement With Clubs?
Jazzlyn stated that increased advertising dedicated towards the particular activities clubs partake in could boost club involvement, saying, “I think that will help people pick and choose, and know what they’re interested in. And people will be more involved throughout the school year.” Jazzlyn added that offering a detailed look at what each club does would make students “more aware” of the specifics behind each club.
Karen thought some strategies that are already in place to engage students in various clubs are also helpful: “Having another clubs fair in semester two really helps to refresh the extracurricular spirit right after exams, [along with] the morning announcements and posters around the school,” she discussed.
Meanwhile, Shruthi argued that having a singular source of information on all clubs would benefit the entirety of the student body: “Right now, there is no one space to get all information about all the clubs in our school. Many of them go unknown to so many with interests just because it is not talked about as much.”
All in all, Jazzlyn, Karen, and Shruthi agreed that, while finding the time to participate in clubs all while managing school work can be difficult, club involvement can also offer great opportunities for growth, collaboration, and fun.
If you are interested in joining a KCI club but do not know where to start, joining their Google Classrooms and talking with peers can be a great start! Feel free to also check out The Edge’s ‘Club Spotlights’ linked below!
Muslim Student Association (MSA) Club Spotlight
Raiders On A Mission (ROAM) Club Spotlight
African Heritage Club Spotlight
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