High school club rush 08!

Jimmy Biblarz, a student in the humanities magnet at Hamilton High, writes:

Every year, Hamilton High School hosts "Club Rush." The administration extends the lunch period from 30 to 45 minutes, and representatives from all of the school's clubs gather in the lunch area to try to entice students to join.

The variety of clubs is unbelievable. Three student-organized writing clubs, two multicultural awareness clubs, the African American Literature Club, Comic Book club, the Heroes club, two Darfur education clubs, Council Club, and two recycling clubs were all shoving flyers into people's hands from their booths.

Student-on-student bribery was not to be missed. Candy, chocolate milk, lemonade, and stickers were all being handed out by club presidents, trying to persuade other students to join. Sign-up sheets riddled the school lunch tables as students scrambled to write down their "Name Age Address and Phone Number" on lined sheets of notebook paper. I know I signed up for clubs I had no interest in joining, as did just about everyone else.

Club Rush is one of my favorite things Hamilton does. (I'm sure other schools hold similar events.) It's a day when we get to learn what other people are interested in, join clubs we're interested in, and even become interested in new things. It's also fun to watch the running, the scrambling, the bribery, and mainly the haggling.