On August 28th, 2025, Westside High School hosted their annual club fair to give students a chance to look at dozens of tables showing what clubs there are at Westside and what they offer.
Students previously involved in these clubs managed the tables, such as senior Lucas Agulla in DECA/FBLA, who believes club participation has a positive impact on students.
“I think being in an extracurricular, specifically DECA and FBLA, has really helped me progress my career. I’ve learned a lot of business skills that I can apply to my actual life, you know. Finance, entrepreneurship, things like that really help create a balanced life,” Agulla said.
Along with the positives that come with involvement come obstacles that senior Jason Kipling in DECA can attest to.
“Being in school and also being in all these clubs, it’s definitely a lot to juggle. Sports, clubs, activities, extracurriculars, homework…it’s a lot to battle, so it’s definitely just managing your time wisely and knowing where you need to be,” Kipling said.
Despite the hard parts of participation, or even deciding what clubs to be involved in, seasoned club participants have advice, such as senior Eli Bartsch-Bang in Hope Squad.
“The biggest thing is to find an extracurricular that you’re interested in, because when you have a passion for something, you want to actually do it. If you’re just trying to join something to get it on a résumé, you don’t really have that feeling that you want to do it,” Bartsch-Bang said.
While these club members have had time to figure it out, what about the next generation of members? The people in a club are a big thing for some, like junior Sal Morrison.
“A club ends up being appealing to me because it builds off that sense of community and being able to meet like-minded people. I like being able to network and meet with other people and find new opportunities through clubs,” Morrison said.
This is a common challenge for future club participants. For people like freshman Abigail Karnish, other challenges make it hard to find the right one.
“Something that deters me from joining clubs is scheduling; sometimes if it’s something that’s during the school day, it would deter me from joining because of my schedule,” Karnish said.
Overall, club life has its ups and downs and many spend their whole high school career trying to find their passion, but some are also concerned about life after high school.
“What I worry about is how some random club I join when I’m 14 might matter in my 20s—like, will this look good on my transcript? It’s a little intimidating knowing that depending on what extracurriculars I choose, it might affect the opportunities I get in my future college or my career,” Morrison said.
