Navya Narayanan

Junior Ruby Krupinsky, president of the Live Music Club, promotes her club with a board and candy on Thursday during lunch on the Quad at Club Day. According to Krupinsky, the club’s main goal is to build community through shared concert experiences. “We want to connect people through live music,” Krupinsky said. “Hopefully, we [Live Music Club] can actually end up going to concerts together.”

From STEM to performing arts to environmental awareness, new clubs crowded at Club Day on Thursday and Friday during lunch on the Quad.

According to senior and Palo Alto Unified School District board representative Dylan Chen, this year’s Club Day was a much larger success than previous years due to an improved planning system and an increased number of clubs.

“This year’s club day was definitely more organized ahead of time,” Chen said. “We [ASB] posted digital versions of the club fair sheet and a map of the stands on Schoology, which helped a lot of people to find their way around on Club Day. In addition, we’ve had a record turnout this year in terms of the number of clubs, with around 150 clubs displayed.”

Junior Sophie Li, president of the new Classical Music and Composition Club, founded the club to give students a space to appreciate music composition outside of traditional music classes.

“There wasn’t really a place for composers and classical enthusiasts to come together unless you take a band or orchestra,” Li said. “This kind of club gives you a better foundation because you dedicate time to actually do this [music composition].”

Senior Harrison Lan said that this club offers him a space to enjoy and participate in music that he loves.

“I played a lot of classical piano growing up, and I really enjoy immersing myself in music,” Lan said. “I’ve always thought the composition part of music was really interesting, and this is the first time I’ve seen anything that focuses on it.”

According to junior Zoe Ferring, president of the new Eco Eats Club, the club hopes to utilize the increased resources Paly provides to create a space that fosters environmentally sustainable food choices.

“We really hope to create more sustainable and better food practices around the Palo Alto community,” Ferring said. “Even with all the resources that we’re very likely to have access to, a lot of food waste can happen. I thought this was super important for our community.”

Ferring said a typical meeting would be partnering with local sustainability organizations or doing activities that bring light to the topic. 

“When I do club meetings, we would be working on projects — whether that’s with local partners or school systems and hopefully we will be creating different activities that we can do to spread awareness and help people’s practices,” Ferring said.

Senior Chloe Chan is interested in the Eco Eats Club because of its compelling values that focus on student wellness and good habits.

“The Paly Eco Eats Club is a very interesting club because adopting healthy eating habits is very important for both physical and mental stress from school and college apps,” Chan said. “The fact that it practices sustainable food choices and awareness for lowering food waste is very unique.”

According to junior Ruby Krupinsky, president of the new Live Music Club, the club offers a space for students to enjoy concerts together in a safe and inclusive setting.

“I realized that there are a lot of people who also wanted to see live music since their friends didn’t like the same music as them or their parents don’t want them going without supervision, so Mr. HB will be supervising our club,” Krupinsky said. 

Junior Dhruv Kamath, president of the Business Competitions Club, said he started his club after noticing that there was no clear pathway for Paly students to participate in business-related contests.

“We needed a support system and a framework to actually do competitions,” Kamath said. “I needed a team to do competitions with people who are interested in business and economics, so that’s why I started this club.”