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It’s September, which means a lot of y’all have kids that are going back to school or in school already — and some of you probably have kids of the high school variety. I began my high school career as a new kid — I was transplanted from a small town with a class of around 100 to a gigantic school that had a class of 800. Talk about feeling lost!
I was pretty shy throughout my high school years, but something that really opened me up was joining the Newspaper Staff Club my sophomore year. And by “opened up,” I should say that I went from being the girl who didn’t speak to anyone to being the girl who made her teacher’s desktop background Sid Vicious’s death certificate (why? I STILL DON’T KNOW) and wore glitter all over my face. So, you know. Newspaper Staff brought something out of me.
I recently asked those of you who follow us on Facebook what kind of clubs you participated in high school — Newspaper is a pretty standard offering at a lot of schools, like Science Olympiad or something athletic (I was also a member of the Astronomy Club, but like 97% of the other members, I joined to get the t-shirt that had “Excuse me while I kiss the sky” on the back of it. JIMI!). I was looking for the good stuff, the crazy shit that you guys made up as clubs when you were teens that you actually loved participating in. Our Facebook folks did NOT disappoint, and now I’ve compiled an awesome list of club ideas for you to suggest to your bored-with-high-school teen.
Disco Preservation Society
After school we would learn the dances, speak the lingo and pretend we were living it up the 70’s. Groovy times! — Katrina Rivers Bean
You guys, I can’t even describe to you the magic that happened in my head when I read Katrina’s comment. I think Ariel and I were in the middle of discussing something important, and all of the sudden I’m all HOLY SHIT, ARIEL. DISCO PRESERVATION SOCIETY COMMENT. Can you imagine how awesome this club would be? You could have dress-up days without telling anyone, so all of the sudden twenty or so 11th graders would be sauntering down the hallways decked out in their finest 70s duds. If everyone learned The Hustle you could have a flash mob in the middle of lunch. The best thing about this idea is that it’s not limited to the 70s at all — kids can GO CRAZY with it.
Teen Court
We had Teen Court. Teens who got minor tickets (speeding, loud music, fighting) could opt to have their case to go to Teen Court to avoid costly regular court. We acted as the jury and lawyers. The final say was ultimately up to the judge, but we still threw some pretty legit arguments out there. You could also choose to be an aide of some sort as a class. You could be an office aide, teacher’s aide, counsler’s aide or library aide. Of course, I chose to spend my time in the library. — Sarah Harman
Um, hello BRILLIANCE. This could easily be some kind of detention alternative, and really brings reality to the idea of a “jury of your peers.” I’m all about empowering teens to make their own decisions and own up the consequences, and I think something like Teen Court would be both less intimidating than a “real” court and also teach them a thing or two. Who knows how many future lawyers were born after an after-school activity like this?
Lumberjack Club
I was in Anime club and the lumberjack club. I went to a weird high school. — Jack McKee
I’ll be honest: I threw this one up here just so I could make sure everyone saw it. LUMBERJACK CLUB. And also so I could link to this.
There are a ton of other ideas that were mentioned that are awesome — knitting club, anime club, and LARPing club. (Ok, no one mentioned that last one but I keep bringing it up whenever I talk about this post… perhaps I have a LARPer in me who’s dying to get out?) What kinds of alternative clubs did you guys participate in? What are your teens talking about doing?
When I was in high school, we had a Lumberjack Club. We met every tuesday morning before school and wore flannel as we ate pancakes+maple syrup. Needless to say, it was an awesome club.
Roller Derby brat league. My itty-bitty school had debate (which was frigging awesome), ballroom dance club, and the unofficial sci-fi/fantasy club to which most of the school belonged. Admittedly, it was no large feat– my graduating class had 15 kids.
I was such a nerd. We started a Bridge club in my Junior year (yes Bridge as in the card game played by old farts in retirement homes) and I was in it. I learned Bridge. My fiance gives me no end to it when I get on him about being 36 and still playing D&D with his fellow nerds. Also, I was in the Marching band (however that was not so nerdy since one of our drum majors was also a cheerleader) and I was in Academic Decathlon my Senior Year. Our school had Model UN, various ethnic type clubs (Latino Club, etc.) and I think we did have a Mock court…maybe? I know I’ve heard of it, and it is available up here in Anchorage, AK. I know a girl who used to babysit for us who was a prosecuting attorney for the Teen Court. She loved it.