For 9th grader Eamon Bakker, choosing a club was a last-minute decision. In advisory, on the first day of clubs, Bakker’s advisor handed him the color-coded and alphabetically organized list of clubs and affinity groups. He skimmed the list past the affinity groups until something finally caught his eye: Aviation Club.
For the past two years, Bakker has aspired to become a pilot: “I realized that it would be really cool to be flying above the clouds and also getting paid to travel a lot.”
Although Eamon knew what club he wanted to join at first glance, many ninth graders needed a little more motivation. Of the 105 ninth graders polled, with a 38% response rate, all 40 went to a club on September 12, for the first meeting of the year. Popular clubs among ninth graders were Dots and Doodles, Fashion Club, Ping Pong Club and Outdoors Club, according to the poll. When asked in a multiple choice question how they chose which club to go to, 47.5% of respondents clicked on the “Clubs / Groups Fair Info” button, and another 47.5% selected “current member invited me to go with them”.
Sophomore Ann Li created Dots and Doodles this year with ninth grader Zoe Wagner. Li wanted to start the club because of her love of bullet journaling.
“It’s like a planner and sketchbook combined. People start with a blank journal, and they draw calendars, daily spreads, mood trackers, and sleep trackers.” Li said. “It’s pretty good for people’s mental health, and it’s a lot of fun, especially if people like drawing, and I do. I spend hours on it. So I thought, everyone at SPA is so stressed, maybe this will benefit them.”
Ann could not make it to the club fair, but her co-leader Zoe got new members involved by handing out homemade stickers and tossing out candy to the crowd.
Oct. 3 brought the second meeting of clubs, and many decisions for ninth graders and club attendees to make. 65% of ninth graders reported going back to the same club for a second meeting.
Junior Echo Dayton’s Fashion Club meets at the corner table of the art wing and likes to start off their meetings with a fashion-related go-around to get to know each other.
“So we’ll be like, what’s your favorite brand, or do a fit check, or something like that,” Dayton said, “We are trying to make it a community space as well as a club,

So we’re trying to all get to know each other while also, sewing or working on mood boards.”
Dots and Doodles meet in the Math Center, where they sit around a table to draw and chat. “We’ve been printing out bullet journaling pages, providing markers and just a space for people to chat. And, of course, snacks. People love the snacks,” Li said. She brought a box of chips to the first two meetings that had already finished. “All of those lasted two club sessions. I’m gonna have to get more,” she said.
Of the 40 respondents to the poll, 44.8% recorded community as one of the reasons they came back to a club.
For many club leaders, future plans are a big source of excitement that they hope will pass over to aspiring members. Fashion Club Leader Echo Dayton says she is excited about a possible collaboration with the Community Action and Service Club, which will focus on fashion sustainability. Dayton also mentioned a clothing drive coming up in the spring.
Wagner looks forward to the club meetings heading up to the new year, where the club is already planning to make goals and trackers for the upcoming year in their bullet journals. The club ordered new journals for members who were interested in early October.
The fifty-six clubs in the high school are a result of the many unique passions that students share with their peers, and the club leaders are eager to share that with the first-years. As Bakker said, “I want to become a pilot, and so just knowing that there was a way to help me to do that, was really cool.”

The featured photo was updated 11/15 to correct information and AP style errors in the featured photo caption.