On either side of the South Patio corridors, bright colors, candy and decorated tables were seen among a mass of students during the first Club Fair of the school year.
The event, which took place on Friday, Sept. 8 during first and second lunch, was meant to highlight the different clubs and organizations Krop has to offer.
Clubs were given a table to decorate with items representing their organization. Most clubs offered candy who joined, others offered cupcakes or different snacks.
The planning process behind this took place at the start of the school year. It was organized in a way that the more than 50 clubs offered could advertise their organizations.
Inter-Club Council, which consists of all the club presidents on campus, met on the second week of school to discuss the Club Fair and prepare for it.
Senior and president of the Future Educators of America Club, Luna Jervis, was in charge of the club’s table, which had a board that explained their activities and meetings and candy for the people who decided to join.
“There were obviously some people that would look at the table, pass by and just look at the candy,” Jervis said. “But most of the people are actually interested after you tell them what the club is about and the benefits of it, like community service, and they join the club which is really exciting.”
One of the stands at the beginning, the National Art Honor Society Club also had great interactions with the students.
“A lot of people stopped by and asked us questions in order to see if they could or could not join, like the days of the meetings,” Treasurer of the National Art Honor Society Club, Marlines Apollon said. “And I think that a lot of people were actually interested and are going to show up to the meetings.”
There were multiple new clubs this year, like the National Technical Honor Society, Tri-M (Modern Music Masters), FCCLA— Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America and the Spanish & Latin American Club.
Service clubs were present at Club Fair, including Key Club, which had over 100 new members sign up on Friday, thanks to the benefits offered, like community service hours. In addition to the Key Club, there were tables for the other service clubs available like the Cadena Service Club and the Interact Service Club.
The layout of the club fair only took up a portion of lunch space available to students, a notion which caused some to complain about overcrowding.
“I didn’t like how there were too many people, which made it really hard to walk around and look at the clubs without stepping on someone or being stepped on,” sophomore Lola Latorre said. “They should have used the patios instead of doing it in front of the cafeteria because the space was limited.”
Despite some student dissatisfaction, Activities Director Michelle Russell felt content with the turnout of the event.
“The student leaders did a great job displaying their clubs and what their clubs do, and demonstrating to their peers why it is that they should be a part of the club,” Russell said. “The enthusiasm from the students, especially the ninth and tenth graders, was awesome, and everybody did a great job.”
The efforts by the administration, club representatives and sponsors generated high turnout and engagement. The next Club Fair will be hosted in December.