Club Day last week had attendance of much of the student body and the quad remained nearly full of people all throughout the lunch period. “All of the students seemed quite engaged,” director of student activities Joann Vaars said.

“I think Club Day was awesome, people were really interested in the clubs and it was evident that organizers made a huge effort,” junior Meridith Herman said.

Club Day was under the direction of junior Alex Snell, who had high expectations. “My expectations were exceeded. It seemed as though every single person out on the quad was having a great time listening to music, eating, and signing up for clubs that interest them,” Snell said. “Alex made club day run incredibly smooth, in fact, I think Club Day was greatly successful,” Vaars said.

In addition to being run by Snell, there were several other changes to Club Day this year. More advertisements about the day seemed to float around Paly campus prior to the event therefore making this years club day attendance much greater. This year, instead of serving sandwiches the free lunch was Baja-Fresh burritos. “I think the fact that burritos were served instead of the traditional Subway sandwiches, may have made more people stay on campus, therefore leading to more people signing up and getting interested in clubs,” Vaars said.

“This year more people did stay on campus and there proved to be much more foot traffic through the quad. Students then became more engaged in the clubs that were displayed rather than taking advantage of an extra long lunch and leaving campus which is very common.”
However, there were a few more set backs that the Club Day staff had to deal with than in past years. A main difficulty was due to the fact that half of the Student Center is occupied by the Band room. The crew who set up lunch in the Student Center complained that they could barely hear themselves over the melodies and music from a few feet over. However, they were able to adjust well and a new system was set up of how to administer food, which in the end made the line move much quicker. “I started out on the back on the line and I got my foot in less than five minutes,” junior Matt Medina said. In past years students have spent up to fifteen to twenty minutes just waiting for food.

While there were 58 clubs out on the quad, Vaars said that there were a few clubs who had no idea about the entire process that is required in order to have a table at Club Day. “One club which didn’t sign up to have a table set up their station at a different table, which caused another club, who did sign up for a table, not to have a station,” Snell said. “At least now these clubs will know the process for next year,” Vaars said. Aside from these two minor glitches, which eventually turned out positive, “Club Day ran smoother than was anticipated.” Vaars said.

Club day proved to a great success for more than the obvious reasons. Not only because the majority of Paly’s Clubs are all displayed in one general area, or the extra-long lunch, or the free lunch served, but the fact that Club Day is student run. There is as minimal help from the adults as possible and students are able to give feedback and new ideas about next years Club Day. If you have any ideas or suggestions you should contact your 4th period rep or attend the weekly Student Council meeting on Monday in the SSRC.