Table after table of neon poster boards and shouting girls make Club Fair one of my most looked-forward-to events of the school year. Students flit from club to club, observing the signs up close and deciding whether or not they want to fish through the pile of candy strategically placed right next to the sign-up sheets. Some girls take the liberty upon themselves to carry their own pencil around, writing their names down on almost every club list without hesitation.

It seems that Hockaday students have started every club under the sun: Music Business Club, Dumbledore’s Army, Wilderness Club and Relaxation Club. So it is completely natural to want to sign up for three, four or eight. The problem, however, lies among the girls who choose to drop a club without notifying the leader. They simply stop showing up.

And this is not a new problem. As many of my friends start up clubs of their own this year, I am reminded of my own troubles as a club president dealing with running a club.

Girls often overestimate the amount of time they can allot for each club. When they realize they don’t have the time to dedicate to each club they signed up for, rather than notifying the president of the club, they keep their name on the roster simply for college resume fodder. To this girls, it’s nothing more than an activity on a common app, but to the club leaders, it’s one more person who just doesn’t contribute to the club, making their jobs that much harder.

As freshmen, we are told before the club fair not to put too much on our plate so as not to overwhelm ourselves. But we don’t listen and become entangled in a slew of meetings and bake sales. There is a simple solution to this entanglement: Stick to one club.

Club leaders work very hard, I know from experience. My sophomore year, a friend and I started a community service club. We trekked out to Farmers Branch to meet with the head of the organization we were partnering with and created a prototype for the project. We planned activities and made a couple hundred flyers. The Club Fair went wonderfully. My freshly baked cookies were gone in an instant as chatty throngs of girls came up to scribble their names down on our sheet of paper. After the crowds cleared, 108 names sat proudly on our sign-up sheet.

My partner and I, keeping the momentum going, called a meeting in Tarry House. Of the 108 students that signed up, five were present at the meeting. Thinking we just planned it at an inconvenient time, we attempted a Round 2. We sent another email out. Of the 108 students that signed up, zero were present. The club members were sent a pretty passive-aggressive email soon after.

What I’m trying to say, if anything, is to be aware of all the stakeholders in this situation. Club leaders invest so much time (and sometimes money) into creating clubs that they are passionate about. So when they are presented with people who are anything but committed, it is frustrating. My club never picked up, so we disappointingly decided not to continue offering it anymore.

I encourage you to rethink your decision. Don’t sign up for a club just so you could momentarily indulge in a pink-icing sugar cookie or just to better your resume. Before the club commitments pile up and you start deleting club leaders’ emails before you even read them, ask yourself whether or not you are willing to amp up the commitment or if you should just quit. There should not be an in-between.

– Sydney Yonack