On Thursday, September 8th, Berkeley High School students had the opportunity to register for clubs during the annual club fair. The fair took place in periods one to three and advertised a diverse range of clubs.
The club fair allows students to learn about a variety of extracurricular activities they can participate in to meet new people and gain new experiences.
Students could also form their own clubs and exhibit at the fair.
For many clubs, the Mass is the primary way to spread the word and attract new members.
According to Evelyn Chou, a junior and a member of the BHS Women’s Student Union, the club fair is a chance for students to learn about new clubs.
“Other than that, we don’t really do much other marketing, so it’s a good way for us to meet new people and introduce new people to our club,” Chou explained. According to Chou, the BHS Women’s Student Union works to create a safe environment for women while trying to address inequalities at BHS. “We really want everyone to feel safe and accepted, and we want to make this school a better place,” Chou explained.
Senior Adele Motamedi, a member of the Ultimate Frisbee Team, agrees that the club fair is the most important way for clubs to reach people. According to Motamedi, many games in the girls’ league last year didn’t go particularly well due to the lack of players.
Sophomore Katelyn Burmester attended the club fair to check out the clubs and receive the free candy.
“It’s great fun getting to know different clubs and opportunities that I wouldn’t have otherwise known about, and it’s nice that the fair isn’t taking place during the lunch break like last year,” said Burmester. The clubs at the fair represented a wide range of activities, including sports, politics and hobbies.
The political clubs also included the BHS Green Team, a club committed to sustainability and the environment. Senior Naomi Nickolaus, a member of the BHS Green Team, said the club organizes projects to make the community more sustainable and educates people about the environment. These projects include garbage collection and elementary school classes, and they plan to partner with other environmental groups in the future.
“Our goals this year are to build a stronger climate coalition and hopefully take a little bit more climate action and maybe political action as well,” Nickolaus said.
Another club at the fair was Amnesty International. According to junior Amelia Monagle-Olsen, a club member, he is dedicated to human rights and raising awareness of community issues.
Amnesty International has worked to call representatives about gun violence, write letters to free prisoners wrongfully detained and advocate for reproductive rights.
“A lot has happened in the news this year,” said Monagle-Olsen. “I just want to give people an opportunity to take action and act on whatever anger or feeling they have.”
