So I joined the book club this year and I wanted to become a committed member, so I attended most meetings, I participated in every single activity, and I spent countless hours promoting the club to incoming freshmen. The club has very little people, and only about 4 non-officer members attend meetings regularly, including me. There were people who attended before for 2 meetings but stopped. Election Day comes (I ran for treasurer) and now suddenly all those people are running for positions, bringing their friends so they could get more votes. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I lost to guy who even admitted he stopped attending meetings because he didn’t care anymore. Most of the people who won literally only attended 2 meetings. I have never felt so slighted in my life. How do you deal with this? I’m still really freaking upset.
Do the same? It’s all big one popularity contest, unfortunately, But you need to play the game.
This reminds me of my classmate’s younger sister who ran for an SGA position earlier this school year. She was an active member and worked really hard to run for a position everyone thought she was suited for. Unfortunately she lost to people who didn’t even show up for meetings. She was really torn and was upset for a week.
Sometimes you have to play their game.
Solutions go from simple to complex. You have to take and approve attendance at every meeting. There are active and inactive members. Active members must have attended 2 of the last 3 meetings. Only active members can vote on officers.
Votes get stacked in nearly every segment of life.
Talk to the adviser and ask for a position! I don’t know if it’ll be the same for your clubs but all I had to do was ask the teachers.
So for math club, I signed up for VP and I forgot and didn’t go to the meeting where they choose the officers. I was a complete mess when I found out we had that meeting. I was even more of a mess when I needed to talk to the adviser. It was embarrassing because that one mistake just showed how I don’t deserve the position. I talked to her and she gave me a secretary position because she was very forgiving.
For NHS, I signed up for VP as well and didn’t get in. They sent me the cutest rejection card lol. The day I got rejected, I went in and talked to the teacher. She said she’ll think about it with the officers. Two weeks later, I came in again and she said she would make space for me. I’m now a secretary for NHS.
Lastly, I got handed Key Club. Our school’s Key Club was close to being suspended and I got chosen to get it back up and running. I got to choose my officers and of course, I chose all my friends. I didn’t choose my best friends but I chose the friends that cared about school and volunteering. A lot of people were asking me for a position but I kind of just rejected them (I said I’ll think about it). I feel bad about this but I’m confident with the officers I have now.
Connections and strong relationships are as important as doing your work.
In the end, it’s still high school and teachers WANT you to succeed. Don’t be afraid and talk to them!
If you don’t learn how to play the game, you’re going to get disappointed later in life. Life is a popularity contest, to be quite honest. You should have recruited your own friends to vote for you. But at this point, it is too late. I suggest that you speak to your new club president and see if you can change the club constitution to make it where only active club members can vote in the next election.
I’m confused. Are you troubled because the club members are “very little people” which is, of course, a politically correct way of describing midgets and dwarfs, or are you troubled by the way some disinterested semi-members are making a farce of a legitimate club?
Just kidding.