HOW TO START A STUDENT CLUB AT ROCKVALE HIGH SCHOOL
Let’s Get Started
You many hear about all the different student clubs at Rockvale High School and wonder where they all come from? This guide will show you how to start a club from beginning to end including the things that will help it being approved and successful!
If you’ve considered what RVHS clubs have to offer and found nothing that truly excites you, you may want to consider forming your own.
Starting a new club is a great way for students to forge friendships over common interests. However, it requires you to follow rules and procedures including having a faculty sponsor, submitting a proposal and demonstrating significant interest from students.
High School Club Ethics
Extracurricular activities are a portion of your applicant profile that admissions officers are always curious to learn about. Getting involved in clubs, both inside and outside of school, allows students to explore and develop interest that they may want to pursue in college and beyond.
“The 1984 Federal Equal Access Act imposes national rules on the formation of high school clubs. The law states that if the school receives government funding, it must provide equal opportunity for meeting places and access to facilities for all religious or political clubs. Meetings would be student-run, refrain from any disruptive activities and have faculty advisers that act only as supervisors for religious clubs, not participants.”
Identify Your Interest
The first step is the most important- coming up with a good idea. After you figure out what you’d like to do, find students to help you with the club. It’s best to gather a variety of students 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. The next point is to decide upon a meeting time and place. The most convenient place is obviously at school using a classroom or the auditorium for gatherings.
Plan a date to meet with your fellow officers to make posters and flyers. Hang posters in designated areas assigned for club announcements.
Define the Club’s Goals
Once you have all of the details worked out, it is time to approach school administration and discuss your plan. There is a formal process that clubs go through to be recognized on campus and there might be some logistical or planning details you’ve overlooked. If you can raise faculty support, you will easily obtain a meeting room or an advisor to help with details.
Getting the Right People on Board
Find responsible friends. You can’t start a club with only one member. Every club has certain positions that need to be filled by responsible people, defined as loyal, intelligent and hard working. A club containing people like this will succeed. Also, starting to talk with responsible friends will help in the planning of the club so that one will not have to do it by oneself beforehand.
Find a faculty adviser… a trusted mentor who would take an interest in the club and who would love to be involved making the club more active and prosperous.
Running the Club
Make sure there is a high level of communication between club officers. Without good communication, there will infinitely many problems occurring. Associating with others beforehand makes it easy for an alternative or a solution.
Persuade others to join. Once the club is approved, all of the work rests in the hands of the club’s officers. Prepare a speech. On the first day of your club’s start, make sure that students in your club acknowledge the motive of your club and different requirements needed in the club. This will provide a clear view for the club members.
Stay organized. Now that a club has started, it is not over yet. All of the hard parts may have passed, but there is still the maintenance of the club without which the club won’t stay viable.
What's next?
Once a teacher has been approached to sponsor a club, the teacher will fill out the online form in the faculty Teams site. Once filled out, they can have an interest meeting with sign-ups in Flex. At the first interest meeting, club permission forms will need to be passed out to potential members. For students to be part of the club, they will have to turn in a permission form to the club sponsor. Students may not stay for meetings unless the form is on file with the club sponsor.