There are about 100 clubs and 30-40 submitted club applications during one week at Lambert High School this year. With all of the different opportunities that are available to Lambert students, a major question arises: are these clubs created out of student passion and interest, or are they merely developed for resume-building purposes?

With colleges’ increasingly selective acceptance rates, students are pressured to discover innovative ways they can differentiate themselves. One of the most common ideas is to design a project to show leadership and the initiative to pursue their passions outside of school. One of the ways to do that is to start a club, which could be a possible explanation for the surge of clubs this year, especially coming back from the pandemic.

Coach Ferrer, the head of the athletic department and in charge of new clubs at Lambert, commented on the surge of these new extracurriculars. He explained that clubs are a good way to make a big school feel small, and how it was a really interesting thing to watch kids thrive in their element.

However beneficial it is to create more ways for students to get involved, this can create the issue of copycat clubs, or overwhelm people that want to get involved. Prior to this surge, Shaomin Kee, president and co-founder of the Psychology Club, started her club last year.

“I think it’s great that other people are trying to spread more awareness about mental health, and I think that’s a really good thing to do, it’s just that, I think with new clubs at Lambert I feel like they should be more um different from each other,” Shaomin said. “If someone wants to start something with mental health or psychology, similar to someone else’s club, then I feel like maybe they could join forces or maybe just become a member of the current club so that the current club can attract more people.”

There is also the issue of starting a club for the wrong reason – solely to put it on paper – which could potentially hinder the success of the club.

“I think if we are getting kids that are willing to serve, and want to try and raise money for others I think it’s all a good purpose, so in the end, it doesn’t really make a difference to me if it’s a passion project or if it’s just a club ‘cause they’re interested in and they want the school to be involved,” Coach Ferrer stated. 

Both Kee and Coach Ferrer encourage students to participate in school extracurriculars, whether it is a way to spread awareness, connect with other students or pursue their passions. 

“If you choose to start a club purely for college applications, that’s okay because that’s your personal decision, but I would not totally recommend it because there are definitely a lot of other options that you could do to further your college applications other than starting a club,” Kee advised. 

The general consensus seems to be that starting a club is a good way to get involved and make friends that are like you and that you can relate to. Even if you’re doing it to represent yourself as a leader to colleges, as long as you have a passion and are willing to work hard, it can only be beneficial to our school.