After a year and a half of in-person activities on pause at CRLS, clubs are back in a much more conventional fashion. In the first few days of club week, the new system of promoting CRLS clubs to the student population has been filled with eager students who want to either get back into what they have missed or find a new club that they might enjoy.

What used to be a single day where clubs would try to attract as many interested students as possible have been extended to a full week. Each club was assigned a day from October 4th to 8th to pitch themselves at tables lined up outside the main entrance of the school; the presentations were done during all three lunches. With the schedule set, the rain on Monday, October 4th, was an inauspicious start, as it forced clubs scheduled to present on that day to be moved to Tuesday, October 12th. The following days continued on schedule, with twelve to fifteen clubs displaying their posters to attract new members each day.

Shanira Begum ’22 had mixed feelings about the new system, telling the Register Forum, “People will forget about going. It is more work to go every day rather than having it all at one time. But because it is spread out, you can spend more time talking and getting to know the clubs.”

One leader of the Belong Before Belief club, Sem Bonhomme ’22, agreed that the new system allowed for more interaction between the club presenters and students roaming around and said, “The new format is causing me to meet new people and get out of my comfort zone.”

Though they have increased in number, the return of club day at all is a comforting sign that school activities are finally returning. While many clubs still met online over the pandemic, being back in-person has clear advantages. Jeremy Kravitz ’23 struggled with inconsistent attendance last year in Jewish Heritage Club and is excited about the prospect of not having to reintroduce the club every meeting, “If we have people that come semi-consistently, we can just get right into it,” Kravitz explained.

Whether in-person or online, clubs are great opportunities for many students to step out of their comfort zones and spend more time doing something they enjoy. CRLS offers a range of clubs that provide unique opportunities for students to explore many fields. One student, Clara Engels ’25, is “looking forward to some of the art clubs.”

Club week was an exciting start to the school year; the new format allowed more time to get to know individual clubs rather than cramming it all in one day. As clubs begin meeting, students will be able to meet the other members and share common interests. Whether it be Robotics club or Visual Art Club, the return of clubs, as Zack Perman ’23 put it, is an important part of “building community,” something that was lost in the past year and a half of the pandemic.

This piece also appears in our October 2021 print edition.