Aliso Niguel held its semiannual Club Rush event on Wednesday, Sept. 13 during lunch. The event was hosted in front of the school and welcomed all students to explore and join clubs on campus.
At club rush, each club’s officers set up their booths with posters to advertise their club and sign up sheets for students interested in joining. Many clubs had candies and other treats to attract students to their booths.
This year, Aliso Niguel has 99 different student-led clubs, offering a wide variety of interests and activities. Clubs are divided into three categories: academic, service, and extracurricular.
Academic Clubs serve as another place students can explore educational opportunities, most offering outlets to get involved in competitions and other out of school events. Such academic clubs include ANHS Math Olympiad, National Honor Society, Science Olympiad, Model United Nations, HOSA, and more.
Service clubs are a great way for students to support causes they feel passionate about and give back to their community. Many students participate in service clubs to earn volunteer hours while getting a chance to make a difference. Numerous service clubs advertised their missions at club rush, such as the We Care Club, Just Serve, ANHS Teens Helping OC, ANHS Habitat for Humanity and Birthday Buddies to name a few.
Camryn Leingang (12), president of the Choc Box club, comments on how she loves “getting to see all the new faces that are interested in helping out with what we are trying to do during Club Rush.”
Extracurricular clubs are a perfect way in which students can discover hobbies and make connections with new people on campus. These clubs offer students who may not be involved in sports or other school activities a chance to make friendships with people who share the same interests. Aliso features several unique and interesting extracurricular clubs, just a few of which include The Business Club, Loud Crowd, GSA, ASL Club and ANHS Slavic Culture Club.
Dedicated organization went into the planning of this year’s club rushing in order to ensure the event’s success. Led by co-commissioners of clubs Ulyana Tsetslnikova (10) and Viana Najafi (10), club applications were available on Aug. 16, and they held a club interest meeting on Aug. 18. To follow up after applications were due Aug. 25, ASB held a mandatory ICC meeting on Sept. 7 during Wolverine+ for all club presidents to further clarify prior to the event.
Najafi shared how when organizing the event, their biggest priorities were “preparation and planning in advance as well as communicating with the clubs frequently to make them aware of what’s happening.”
In the following weeks clubs will hold their first meetings where students who did not get a chance to sign up at Club Rush are still invited to attend. A complete list of all this year’s clubs can be found on the school’s website under the Clubs section of the Activities tab .
ASB will hold a second Club Rush at the beginning of second semester, giving students another opportunity to create new clubs and join pre existing ones.
