“Get involved.”
The oft-repeated doctrine is one Haven students know well, and from the colorful and lively Activities Fair, it would seem clubs at Haven are flourishing. But for many clubs, things are harder than they have to be.
Strath Haven hosts a wide array of extracurricular activities – music classes, sports, and all kinds of clubs. But when all these activities are stuffed into the brief window of fifth block along with other items, clubs often end up as one of the lowest priorities.
While sports don’t practice during fifth block, many students have to leave during the block to go to games and meets. And yet more students are enrolled in fifth block music classes such as Haven’s marching band that numbers in the 300s.
Fifth block music classes grade students on attendance, and regularly run two or three days a week. But clubs don’t offer grades. And so when they come to blows, the graded classes often prevail in the all-consuming battle for students’ time.
This means clubs must schedule their meetings around the biggest music classes like marching band, which convenes on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. This too often leaves clubs battling for the remaining days of Monday and Wednesday.
Of course, orchestra is held every Monday and Wednesday, making it near impossible for orchestra students to participate in most clubs that meet during fifth block.
And all of this is furthered by the other main purpose of fifth block: for students to get help from teachers for their classes during the school day. Of course, these classes are graded too.
But it’s not as if students can simply come to get help from their teachers any fifth block they like. Due to faculty and department meetings often rendering teachers unavailable on Tuesday and Friday, the only days teachers are available are often the same days clubs meet.
For many students who care deeply about grades, clubs that don’t give grades simply cannot compete with music classes or getting help from teachers.
All of these things taking precedence over student clubs mean that many students find it difficult to handle even one, let alone multiple clubs.
This has pushed some clubs to meet outside of school hours in search of a time when students can attend. But should clubs schedule meetings after fifth block at a time when students have sports practices and teachers understandably want to go home?
Clubs can be caught in the crossfire of all these competing interests, presenting serious barriers to success. How is a club to flourish if nobody has the time to come to it?
Many students will sign up for multiple clubs at the Activities Fair, only to be forced to cut out most of the clubs they wanted to join due to scheduling issues. That isn’t fair for student leaders and advisers, who often put in extensive time and effort to make Haven’s student activities what they are.
And this is not just for those few Haven students who are notoriously overinvolved. Because for many Haven students, it’s becoming hard to join a single club. And that’s not how it should be.
What could be done to solve the eternal dilemma of 5th block scheduling conflicts?
Some clubs might benefit from receiving class credit the same way music classes do. This helps counter the dynamic where students feel pressured to take music classes instead of partaking in clubs because the classes are somehow “more academic.”
Or perhaps there could be a separate block of time exclusively for clubs.
None of these solutions are perfect, but as a school we owe it to our clubs to give them a fair shake and try to find a solution.
