Clubs serve as a great extracurricular option to get involved within the school. They are student-based organizations that offer students a place to develop new skills, form new relations and express their interests with others who share common ideas.

Although BV West offers an abundance of clubs for students to get involved in, new clubs are established each year. However, these new clubs do not appear out of nowhere. Dedicated students commit much time and hard work to create beneficial and effective clubs for the future members of the club. To start a club, these instructions should be considered.

HAVE AN IDEA FOR THE CLUB. All clubs need an idea behind them. However, this idea should not be vague; it should be planned out well enough to know that the club has a chance of becoming real. Within the brainstorming process, one needs to figure out if other students at BV West would take interest in the club. Also, other students who would be committed to the club should be recruited as possible board members and several teachers should be considered to become the club’s sponsor. It would also be good to define an overarching goal or mission for the club.

DETERMINE THE PROCESS TO START A CLUB AT THE SCHOOL. All schools have a different process that is required for constructing a club. At BV West, after there is a fairly solid plan for the club, the idea of the club should be proposed to the school’s administration office. If the school administrators, including the principal, are interested in the idea of the club, they will hand out some paperwork to complete the application process. Once the paperwork is filled out and signed by the administration members and principal, the club becomes officially approved.

FINALIZE THE DETAILS. When the idea of the club becomes secure, the details of the club must be completed. The funding and budget process should be figured out and carefully estimated to know how the money should be made to last the school year. Also, the club sponsor and board members should be determined. The teacher to sponsor the club and the students to be the board members should be committed to the club and interested in what the club is about. Moreover, the place for the meetings should be decided on before the right space is taken.

ADVERTISE THE CLUB. By this point, the club should be official and the details should be figured out. Now, the club should be publicized around the school to attract future members. A good way to do this is to post flyers up around the school and have the first club meeting be announced on the announcements.

HOLD AN EFFECTIVE FIRST MEETING. The first meeting of any new club is always very important. It should be clear, effective, and informational. The club and its mission statement should be explained, along with how the club is going to be run. The required activities or events should be outlined and depending on the club, the point system should be clearly explained. It would be a good idea to hand out papers with all of the information in case some of the spoken details of the meeting were missed.

These tips are to help those interested in starting a club. Once the club is started, the student should focus on managing the club to improve it and keep it alive for future years.