Clubs and organizations are an important aspect of the Williston experience. They allow students to pursue their interests outside of a classroom setting and are also a good avenue for new students to meet other students with similar interests. This year, Williston offers a wide selection of thirty three clubs.

Although many clubs get a lot of sign-ups during the annual activities fair held on the Quad in the fall, the number of students who actually show up to club meetings during the school year is typically much smaller.

Morgan Fogleman ‘16, one of the founders of the Society of Super-Secret Things (Conspiracy Theory Club), says, “Our first meeting, we had about thirty people. Although, it is fair to note that over seventy people signed up for our club so not quite half of the people showed up.”

Ava McElhone Yates ‘17 says, “I’m signed up for a lot [of clubs] but I don’t go to most of them… Lots of clubs start out strong at the beginning of school and then don’t meet as much later on in the year.”

Another problem faced by clubs is decreasing membership as the year progresses. This is often because of conflicting and busy schedules.

Fogleman ‘16 says, “It’s difficult to find time, especially in the winter because of the rotating practice schedules. But any time of the year, because people are really busy. If you have a free hour, you don’t want to spend it at a club. It’s hard if there’s no specific time to get people to want to go to club meetings.”

Natalie Richard ‘17, president of the UNICEF club at Williston also says, “My club hasn’t really been that active over the past few months mostly because there’s never enough time for us to meet… but hopefully [by the end of the year we would] have done at least one fundraiser and one or two assembly announcements explaining the goals of UNICEF.”

Many students have provided feedback that having an allocated time to meet with clubs would help to resolve this issue. Some suggestions offered include replacing an assembly period with a club meeting period.

Mr. Matthew Spearing, the Director of Student Activities at Williston says, “I think this is an interesting proposal… There has been discussion about this among students and faculty. I encourage students to speak with their Student Council representatives.”

He adds, “We are a well-rounded institution that provides as many opportunities for our community as possible. Taking time from one area of the schedule to allot to another areas needs much consideration by students and those who have the students’ best interests in mind.”

Richard ‘17 says, “I think that [using an assembly] would be really helpful because it would offer a lot more structure for our club and we would be able to meet a lot more frequently because we wouldn’t have to work around as many obstacles in order to meet.”

Mr. Spearing and the Activities Committee are devoted to improving club participation at Williston and are willing to get more feedback from the community to achieve this goal.

Mr. Spearing says, “Schedules are usually determined nearly a year in advance, so I encourage students to speak with their advisors and student council representatives to voice their opinions [now]… [So that we can] make changes to fit our entire school program [in the future].”