Clubs are student-led student organizations that aim to engage curious grade VII to XII students who are interested in learning and intellectual exploration outside of the classroom, in developing new skills, interests, and passions and in contributing to the school and community worlds they are part of as early as now.
If intellectually curious sounds like you, then keep reading!
Should I join a club?
Absolutely! Student clubs are open to all students from grade VII to grade XII.
What happens in clubs?
Students meet at least once a week, all student members are engaged in a long-term project that challenges them to conduct inquiry, to develop new knowledge, and to showcase that new knowledge in a showcase.
Why should I join a club?
- Opportunity for personal and intellectual growth
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- High school is one of the most transformative phases of a persons life — both in terms of character and identity development, and in terms of learning and skills’ development.
- It’s when one decides on potential academic and career paths — decisions that have life-long consequences
- It’s when one forges some of the closest lifelong relationships
- It’s when one forms opinions on personal and societal issues, opinions that determine one’s trajectory in life
- It’s when one develops the foundational skills and the perspectives that set one apart as an independent thinker versus a group thinker, a leader versus a follower, a lifelong learner vs a lazy thinker, etc.
- Pursuing a diverse set of opportunities both inside and outside the classroom positions you to develop knowledge, perspectives and attitudes that help you grow in all the ways listed above -:
- Form meaningful friendships around shared intellectual pursuits.
- Discover new passions and interests and use this knowledge to guide your decisions about what academic and career paths you will excel at
- Find opportunities that challenge your to overcome weaknesses and build new strengths, e.g. watch yourself gradually overcome stage fright to embrace leadership
- … the possibilities are endless
- Competitive colleges usually want an account of how one pursued opportunities that allowed personal and intellectual growth outside of the classroom
- Clubs are fun(if you join the right one!). The kind of fun that is good for you!
- High school is one of the most transformative phases of a persons life — both in terms of character and identity development, and in terms of learning and skills’ development.
Did you know?
Having many certificates does not help your college applications?
Participating actively in student clubs does not by itself lead to poor grades, and may in fact help you do better in school?
Holding a leadership position in a club is a good accomplishment to include in your college application, but it’s not enough?
The club you join and what you accomplish as part of it is more important for your college applications than the number of certificates, the number of leadership positions or the number of clubs.
College applications ask recommending teachers and counselors, and students to describe in detail the specific journeys and outcomes that resulted from their extracurricular engagement.
What personal meanings and motivations did students have for the activities they chose? How did those activities contribute to their personal growth and to the people around them? What kind of preparation — books read, skills learned, research conducted — did they undertake as part of their activities?
Join clubs where you have compelling answers to the questions above. Talk to a UPS counselor if you have questions.
Common Questions
The club I am interested in does not exist
The club I joined is not very organized and there are no projects for me to get involved in.
I would like the club I joined to work on different or more interesting projects
Students can submit founding proposals for new clubs in Jan/Feb. Talk to the Events’ Office.
Clubs that do not meet students’ learning needs are subject to a change in leadership or discontinuation. Talk to the Events’ Office to brainstorm solutions if the club you are interested in is poorly ran.
All students who join a club can propose new project ideas to the executive board and they can lead teams of other club members as project leaders. A club can have many concurrent projects with different meeting times.
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