So far this semester, the scheduled day for clubs block has marked Latin calendars eight times. How many times have clubs actually met? Four.
Let that sink in. In order to pass a class at Latin, you have to attend it 85% of the time. Clubs block’s 50% occurrence is well past meeting-with-your-dean territory—it’s flunking out.
This discrepancy needs to change. Clubs block shouldn’t be an optional add-in to our schedule; it should be a community-wide commitment.
Latin prides itself on individuality. Our students are not just calculators or word-processors—they make art, practice public speaking, and study for careers in finance. In each of these pursuits and more, they find identity and community. That belonging chips away with every canceled clubs block.
When we take away clubs, we take away a place where Latin students exercise autonomy over their education. We lose what makes us, us.
I see how administrators might consider the time disposable. I, too, look at the sea of chattering students in the Learning Commons during clubs block and worry that our student body undervalues the time. But it’s near-impossible to feel connected to a club community when the group only meets every two months. I don’t blame the students who treat club time as a free period; they won’t take these communities seriously until administrators do.
I also understand that administrators aren’t canceling clubs block for nothing—pep rallies, Signing Day, Black History Month presentations, and Project Week meetings are just as vital as clubs. I’m not suggesting that clubs block should have won out over these activities.
My real question is this: Why weren’t these events coming out of assembly or advisory time?
If these school-wide gatherings are more important than clubs block, they’re certainly more important than a community-wide survey that, push comes to shove, students could complete at home. Which means they’re more important than most long advisory blocks. So, when we need a spillover assembly, why can’t it come from there?
I know that, sometimes, there’s only one possible day for an event—honored guest-speakers, prime time pep rallies. I’d still urge administrators: Don’t cancel clubs block. Reschedule it. If clubs can yield 40 minutes of their time, we can give those 40 minutes back to clubs on another 8 a.m. start morning.
I won’t claim my argument isn’t personal. As a captain of Latin’s Math Team, I know that every missed clubs block means a missed practice. During the spring, as we prepared for our state competition on April 18, those four missed practices added up.
Every clubs block that administrators canceled meant one more day that the Math Team captains ask our teammates to practically live at school for early morning practices. And when the 7:15 a.m. starts became too frequent for even our most devoted members, it meant fewer reps our contestants had when they competed at states—fewer moments of intuition they’d collaborated to find, fewer problems they’d trained on, less preparation.
When the school cancels clubs block for Signing Day or Project Week meetings, they prioritize these events over a Math Team state championship.
And my club isn’t the only one affected. Take Music Club, for example. They’re performing in front of the entire school in less than three weeks, and this semester’s four clubs blocks so far mean only four chances for them to practice as a group.
When we make time for assembly or advisory five days out of the eight-day cycle, I struggle to see why we can’t wholeheartedly grant clubs their sole day. I struggle to see why Music Club should have fewer than their full eight practices.
Moreover, even if club meetings aren’t practicing for a big performance or competition, it’s valuable for students to have interest-based communities that they choose—places to discover themselves, to lean into leadership, and even just to take a moment away from Latin’s high-pressure environment. If students want to discuss books, play ping-pong, knit scarves, clubs block gives them time to do so. How awesome is that?
We have the time for every club—each of these micro-communities—to thrive. It’s literally built into our schedule. Please, stop canceling this essential part of what defines Latin’s community, this beacon for students to sharpen their passions, this epitome of autonomy. Clubs block needs to stop doing things by halves—50% means a comeback deeply needed.
