At SCH students have the opportunity to participate in clubs and activities every Tuesday and Thursday. However, most students struggle to squeeze in a club because it feels like an extra class. Students around the school have full schedules due to the requirement that they take five classes. If you do not participate in a club or activity, the forty-five minute block then turns into a free period, which most SCH students try to take advantage of. Students around the school have claimed that they need the block to relax and get work done due to the heavy dose of work SCH challenges students with.
Jack Larkin, a senior at SCH, expressed his opinion about clubs. Jack stated, “I think most students don’t join clubs because they need the free time to do their work. I’ve been president of investment club for two years and some days I wish I could take a break and get my work done. Most of my work during my junior year was done during lunch or free periods but never usually during activities.” When asked if the workload at SCH is rigorous, Jack added, “I do think SCH gives a lot of work. I often find myself stressed out about the workload, so having that freedom to relax or get work done is super beneficial.”
Student Hayes Schreiner, senior at SCH, has never been in a club during his time at SCH. Hayes said, “I have never been in a club before because of the immense workload at SCH. I would love to join a club but I never found the time to do so.” Hayes’ comments support Jack’s argument.
Some people think that SCH needs to do a better job promoting the clubs. Hayes remarked: “I do not think SCH does a great job promoting clubs. I don’t even know where to begin if I decided on joining a club. Who do I talk to? A student or a teacher?” Hayes offered the idea, “SCH should do a quarterly club fair to get kids more involved, maybe even get social media involved as well.”
Ms. Palmer, dean of tenth grade, voiced her opinions about the activity block: “I think our students are exceptionally over-scheduled in their lives. I think many of our student athletes sometimes compete not only in athletics at school, but also outside of school. So, oftentimes students are making a decision to worry about it at night and some of them don’t get home until 9:00 and 10:00 at night from athletics.”
Ms. Palmer elaborated on the variety of clubs SCH has to offer: “Our clubs and activities program is the most student-centric program I’ve ever seen. If you want to start a club or activity, we will hear you. I also think we have students, who are some of the most over-scheduled students, and it tends to be hard to start a club for them. Some of the clubs like model UN or mock trial are some clubs that are very time consuming.”
Ms. Palmer went on to compare the workload at SCH to that at other inter ac schools. “I think that if I were to put our program and expectations next to our peer inter ac schools I think we’re on par. I don’t think we’re asking more than our peers schools are asking, but I do think that our students are, percentage wise, more involved in athletics so I think that is a huge time draw and I think it’s very real. I’m not diminishing the fact that SCH’s not to use that. I think that if you know you’ve got a certain amount of energy and you know you’re going to be playing Lacrosse or you’re going to be doing whatever for four hours after school, you may not have the time to get that work done and that is where the activity block can be beneficial.”
In conclusion, Ms. Palmer noted, “Any grade level can start a club… It doesn’t matter if you’re a freshman or senior, we will hear you out.”
While Jack agreed the rigorous workload can deter students from joining clubs, Jack noted the variety of clubs at SCH: “The club variety throughout SCH is unique. There is a good variety of clubs to be associated with. I know people have said they want a sports club. During middle school we had a club called Backyard Sports which was very popular. I think this school could add more variety of sports clubs though.”
