As schools experience increased budget cuts nationwide, many are left wondering what aspects of student life will feel the blow first. It’s natural to worry about programming, such as course offerings, specialized diploma programs and athletic programs. While schools try their best to mitigate large changes to day-to-day life by spreading cuts across programs, one aspect of student life that has regularly found itself on the chopping block is student clubs.
As budgets grow smaller, it becomes less realistic for schools to supply monetary support to student-led clubs. In the past two years, many clubs at Park have become largely self-sufficient. While this development is not uncommon for extracurriculars, it raises challenges for both pre-existing and prospective clubs.
It isn’t easy to start fundraising from the ground up for clubs that already have pre-existing routines and obligations. Especially for clubs that produce products or attend conferences, continuing to exist is largely a matter of being able to afford to continue your work. For example, arts programs like theater or choir musicals have committed themselves to producing a set amount of work every year. While this historically could be aided by school funds, these ventures are now largely self-funded. When you have a tight show schedule, it can be hard to find the time and human resources to dedicate toward new fundraising. Creating new funding programs on top of maintaining the current standard for club activities and commitments is a tall task that is hard to accomplish within one school year. This is problematic because many clubs don’t have built-up funds to fall back on, leading to a race to raise as much money as possible.
Fundraising doesn’t only pose a challenge to pre-existing clubs, but also to student’s hopes of creating new clubs. There are already various hoops one must jump through to start a club—you need to carve out a niche for your club, indulge in intense promotion to gain enough members and find a committed advisor who is willing to sacrifice their personal time to oversee your meetings. Now, there is the issue of funding. Anyone interested in starting a club has to raise money from the ground up, which is problematic for any club that may require resources to begin. Many clubs rely on providing snacks to attract new members, and it has now become the norm for students starting clubs to pay for snacks, or other supplies, out of pocket. This increased fiscal obligation for students can deter many from starting a club simply because they cannot afford to.
Ultimately, there is not much Park can do to adjust its budget to account for clubs. They are not a necessity to a functioning school, and it’s also not unreasonable to expect a 100% student-run club to be student-funded. With this being said, clubs are important for a well-rounded and involved student body, and there are things Park can do to ease the burden for students. Park can use avenues like the 6425 and parent meetings to help clubs promote their fundraisers to the community so that clubs don’t have to solely rely on social media and flyers for their advertising. Park can also offer connections to community resources, like local businesses who may be more willing to communicate with a school official than a high school student, to make holding fundraising events easier. One of the main struggles of fundraising is finding the people to assist with events that can take three to five hours. If the National Honors Society was willing to offer volunteer hours for students to help out with other clubs’ fundraisers, it would be more feasible for a club to consistently fundraise. For now, the best thing students can do is support their peers’ fundraising ventures.
