On October 19, the annual BHS Club Fair took place. On Tuesday, The clubs partook in tabling where the clubs introduced themselves to students at lunch and tried to encourage students to become members of their clubs. On Wednesday, clubs competed against each other in a scavenger hunt, in which each club had to hunt down certain items around the school. The winners received prize money for funding their club endeavors. On Thursday, clubs submitted a poster design for their club, with the winning posters receiving prize money; students can now see the posters hanging around the BHS campus. Finally, on Friday, each club sent a member to participate in the dance-off, with the winning club receiving $100.

Austin Soohoo (Center), captain of the BHS Robotics team, tables at the Club Fair with Katherine Mohr (Left) and Ryan Cheng (Left-Center). Photo taken by Jason Rundle

Sophia Shapiro, vice president of ASB, organized the Club Fair expressing her motives for event saying, “I’d say that above all, [the Club Fair] was meant to gain new members. It was meant to express clubs, and showcase themselves for students.”

The Club Fair was meant to be an opportunity for clubs to raise money and gain new members, but some club leaders question the success of the event. Austin Soohoo, a team captain for the Robotics team at BHS, partook in the tabling day on Tuesday, and the results were not what he had hoped.

“I mean, it helped get our name out there. We passed out flyers, and let people know. But as for new recruits, we didn’t get any. To be honest, our table didn’t get many people there, whereas clubs like the Red Cross club got a lot of people… To be fair, we got a bad spot at the fair, because the music was really close, making it hard to communicate,” he said.

While many clubs like the robotics team did not see much benefit from Club Fair, other clubs experienced a substantial gain in popularity, which led to new members.

Aidan Platkin, Treasurer for DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) business club, got an extremely positive reaction from tabling at the fair.

He explained that “All of the people who came to our table liked the idea of a business club. I’d say that because of the Club Fair, we got at least 20 to 30 new members, which is a triple in our numbers.”

Although some clubs were more popular than others, most of them had new ideas, logistics wise, for Club Fair next year.

Platkin suggests new ideas for the Club Fair next year by giving the fair greater importance. He said, “Maybe skip a period for the fair. I think that right now, there are a lot of people who skip the fair, due to eating lunch, doing homework, talking to teachers, etcetera, so I think that if we force students to go, it would be more effective.”

Soohoo voiced his concerns regarding the event organization, saying, “We were told on Friday, so it was pretty late. Also, I would relocate the tables so that they are farther away from the music.”

While multiple clubs around campus had complaints with Club Fair, however, no one can deny that it is overall a well-needed event.

Soohoo said, “I think club week is pretty great in general, it really allows people who are ambitious to search for things to do.”

Although some clubs benefited more from Club Fair than others, it is clear that many clubs enjoy the event, and no one would like to see the event go.