Every September, students pack into Spencer Gym for the club fair. They walk onto the wooden floor and either search for clubs related to their interests and passions or just look around at what their friends are doing. Dozens of eager club leaders and hundreds of glazed donuts await them.
Junior Christian Duarte leads three community service clubs: Teens United, PELOTA and T-Tag. Teens United packages goods and spends time with underprivileged kids. PELOTA raises money to purchase equipment for sports programs in underserved communities.
T-Tag takes him somewhere different entirely.
“We go to retirement homes and help the elderly with their technology issues,” Duarte said.
Upper School history teacher and head of the Upper School Student Council Michele Santosuosso. , Santosuosso knows the importance of supporting students in their unique fascinations. She helps students foment these passions with energy and enthusiasm.
“I feel like the clubs are something that (students) are super passionate about, and then obviously I’m super passionate about,” Santosuosso said. “It’s a different type of excitement other than that in the classroom.”
Although clubs can spark student’s passions, Duarte has noticed a trend in the appeal to certain clubs. He has noticed that the allure of clubs isn’t only because of what they bring to the table, but also who they bring. Duarte claims that students are heavily influenced by their friends when choosing clubs, and Duarte himself has experienced this with PELOTA. However, Duarte doesn’t view this as a problem, for he believes that encouragement from friends can push others to try new things.
“I definitely think the ‘best friend’ is a giant factor of what most people think, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Maybe you can find a mix of it regarding PELOTA. I am a huge fan of community service and helping in relation to soccer, but at the same time, I was also introduced to this because of one of my friends,” Duarte said. “I think it’s a good thing that students are joining clubs that their friends are joining because it pushes them outside of the box that they would be part of.”
Duarte finds that this issue has some advantages to it, but he has also seen how students can limit themselves by picking where their friends go instead of choosing based on personal interest. Duarte understands the difficulty of feeling uncomfortable and alone in new places, but he believes that prioritizing comfortability over authenticity can restrict students from experiencing something special.
“There’s definitely restrictions because it is hard to be an outsider in places that are new.” Duarte said, “It’s hard to go to places by yourself. Everyone’s different, so I think you are losing some experiences by just following what your friends are doing.”
Santosuosso, who is currently a sponsor of six clubs, has loftily experienced the significant growth of one of her clubs. The club started out as a homogenous union of friends, but it has now evolved into a diverse and interactive community because of the leaders’ inclusion and leadership.
“We have a conspiracy theory club and at the 1st couple meetings it was just the guys who started it and now I’m so proud because it’s really fun. I mean guys from every level show up,” Santosuosso said. “The three juniors that started it have blown my mind with being supportive and inclusive. So at the first club meeting [the juniors] presented a conspiracy, and the next one was a sophomore, the next one was a freshman.”
