For many Logan students, one of the best parts of coming back to school is Club Rush week. Remember that? Walking through Colt Court – tables all around. Students selling food and drinks all the while promoting a cause, an interest, or an organization. Sure, getting to know your teachers and classmates are important, but connecting with friends over common interests makes school more meaningful. 2020 is certainly different than any previous year, but Logan’s Leadership class and this year’s Club Commissioners are doing everything in their power to keep Logan’s clubs alive and well.
This year, clubs are moving online. At the end of August, students received new Virtual Club Guidelines for the 2020-2021 school year outlining new rules and procedures for clubs due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Subhania Ali and Kathy Chau, club commissioners at Logan, are overseeing the changes and have high hopes for the new development.
“As club commissioner, I remain confident in our clubs for the remote school year,” Ali says. “My co-commissioner ,[Kathy Chau], and I have implemented heightened restrictions and expectations in regards to club activities. We remain optimistic and are in regular communication with clubs: James Logan administration and the Leadership department.”
Subhania and Kathy are hard at work, making sure the club experience this year will be amazing. In addition to implementing these changes, they are making sure clubs are safe, organized, and maintained, often providing answers to the students’ concerns over club issues.
As many have said before, these are unprecedented times. Logan, other local high schools, and high schools across the nation are feeling the impact of COVID-19. Logan has adopted distance learning, and students have been attending classes off campus, away from friends and peers. Despite all these obstacles, Subhania stays positive.
When asked about the start of this school year, she commented that it was “distinct and exhilarating. This school year is my first term as Club Commissioner (…) My correspondences among various attributes of our school and the ambiguity of how clubs would be presented this year was absolutely exhilarating.”
Currently, some of the changes students can expect to see this year are as follows:
- Club meetings are being held online via Zoom, Google Hangouts, and other social media sites.
- Clubs are unable to meet outside of school.
- Extra-curricular field trips are unauthorized.
These are being put in place to ensure the safety of students by limiting physical contact and possible COVID-19 exposure.
A little over a month ago, the Leadership Team and Club Commissioners created a Virtual Club Recruitment website, allowing students to check out all the different clubs Logan has to offer.
There are over thirty clubs that are advertised on the recruitment website such as the Key Club, Film Club, Music for Charity Club, Spoken Club, and more. The abundance of clubs suggests that the student body is resilient, adaptable, and talented– finding creative ways to continue clubs off-campus.
Although there may not be students breakdancing and eating barbecue together in Colt Court, clubs are still vital for students more than ever, acting as outlets to connect the student body and giving new students some semblance of the high school experience.
