<p>Starting Clubs:
I have a good idea for a new club at my high school. However, it might be very time consuming and a little difficult to organize during my freshman year. Should I start it early as a freshman or start it later (sophomore or junior)? I know that the new club should be something I'm passionate about (and it is!) and not just for college, but I have to ask, "Do colleges like it when high school students start clubs early and continue the clubs all the way through high school, or does it not really matter?" The only reason I'm considering doing it later is because I might be very busy (but I'll assess that later after high school starts :P). </p>
<p>Joining Clubs:
I plan to join the Math Club (definite throughout HS), the Science Olympiad Club (definite in freshman yr), and possibly the Speech and Debate Club at my school. Will this be too much during my freshman year (I am taking 2 AP courses and I am trying out and will hopefully make JV Tennis ). :)) </p>
<p>@ErenYeager:
Both may be a little time consuming. It is a science club organized for elementary/middle school students (maybe grades 4-6). Therefore, there needs to be a lot of planning for each of the “experiments” with the kids, along with materials, etc.</p>
<p>Trust me shoot straight ahead for it… Its better to do it sooner than later. I am a rising sophomore and I started a club as a freshman last year and its extremely successful. The only thing you need to watch out for is the fact that you need to be extremely organized and NEVER procrastinate and things should go well… It’ll look awesome starting a club as a freshman trust me I know! Good luck!</p>
<p>Hmm, I would worry about getting the idea passed by your school board first and making sure that an elementary school is even alright with your club getting involved with their students. At my school, clubs/organizations are generally started by gathering student support, getting a teacher to serve as an adviser, and then presenting the idea to your guidance counselor (who’ll then inform the principal and everyone else).</p>
<p>I actually started a club extremely similar to this my last year as a junior. I loved it and wish I had started sooner. I might wait until next year so that you feel more comfortable in your high school. More kids will join your club to help you when you are older. In terms of time commitment, I estimated mine to be about 100 hours of work total, but it started as a girl scout project which added time. I would estimate for every two hours of club for little kids, it takes 2-4 hours to plan and set up. </p>
<p>Try and test experiments first, make sure you have enough materials etc. I also found adults working in math and science to come and talk and then the activities were related which added on to the planning time. Some of the biggest challenges you want to think about are location, adult present, and forms. Most parents will be wary of sending their kids to a club run by a single high schooler with no adults presence. </p>
<p>Also, you probably want to collect emergency medical information and emergency contacts (what if you are using cornstarch to make oobleck and a kid had an allergy you didn’t know about? or a latex allergy?) Also, you might need to consider if you want to get insurance. In addition, location matters. If you want to do a computer science activity, you probably need internet and computers (fyi-scratch is a great program to use with little kids). </p>
<p>A lot of this planning involves extensive communication with adults, which is really hard at first, but gets easier with time. That would be one more benefit of starting it older, more experience and maturity. That kind of communication requires maturity. I happened to have done a different project that involved a lot of adult communication when I was a freshman, and so had experience. Freshman year though, I had my mom proofread every single one of my emails. </p>
<p>Let me know if you have more questions about this.</p>
<p>Hi @ninjadu I started an Operation Smile club at my school as a freshman and it was extremely successfuk. I had over 50+ kids join and together we made over $3000 in donations and fundraisers. We also had food at most meetings (which is sadly a needed incentive for people to come) and we had lots of fun at meetings as well. We also planned alot of related and fun community service. I will tell you though it took alot of hard work, perseverance, and caring for it to happen. I believe you can do it but just make sure you are organized, stay on top of your school work, and you should be good!</p>