Birmingham had its annual club rush, and some students may wonder what club rush is. As it says in the name, it’s a day that students and clubs come to the quad and students rush to sign up for their favorite club(s)!  

Club rush helps to get the club out in the open, as there are so many clubs that students aren’t even aware of–clubs that have many of the same interests as most students.

Joining clubs saved me. As a freshman, I still had my middle school mentality. I didn’t care for school and thought it was pointless until I got involved. My first club was Sophomore Class Council with Ms. Reisbord. With her I learned how to work with a schedule because we always had to meet deadlines and sometimes we would even finish beforehand.

Clubs form a small community, a community in which you learn how to work within a group. That sometimes causes some chaos because everyone has a different idea and some students really want their idea to work. That’s when we come together and find a way to combine ideas. Seeing similar faces once a week in the meetings can make new friendships–probably some of the best bonds are made because depending on the club, you have to stay after school or sometimes come before school to make banners and posters.

You’ll learn something different from every club, and that there are different ways to solve the same problem. Clubs are good because you develop skills that you’ll use in your future, including communication and time management skills. 

Each club has different goals for the year. As for the Literary Journal Club, coordinated by English teacher Mr.Richard Nino, Isabel Miranda (11) commented that their goal is to finish the BCCHS Literary Journal from this year. The journal is a combination of art work and writing pieces from students on this campus. All student work is evaluated by peer editors, who are also students at Birmingham. The editors go through a process in which they have to get interviewed and submit one of their writing piece to be evaluated.

As Mr. Nino said “I hope we get more people interested in editing and receive more submissions from the school in general–any student, teacher or custodian, or from the entire Birmingham Community.” Therefore the submissions to the Literary Journal are open to anyone and everyone on the school campus. Mr. Nino also mentioned that he, his president Isabel Miranda and vice president Karina Ruvalcaba (this writer) are considering organizing reading days with some of their students.

The Pride Club, coordinated by Mr. Paul, is looked at as a club of just LGBT people, but in reality, it is simply a club for everyone who supports LGBT people. It’s a way to acknowledge and make them feel welcome, make them feel as if they fit in with everyone. It’s simply a supporting club in which LGBT and straight people come together and plan events.

We also have our international club, which happens to be Key Club. Our Key Club is a community service club, and annually they go to Six Flags to compete  with other schools from different districts. Some students join the club because they want to give back to their community as Aracely Parra (12) did.  She was interested in Key Club because not only could she get community service hours, but she could also get scholarships.

I might look into that as well, who doesn’t like scholarships? By the looks of it, Birmingham has dozens of different clubs to join, all so different yet all so very interesting.