Isabelle Fortaleza-Tan, Newspaper Editor-in-Chief

On Wednesday, August 24th, GSIS held its first club fair to encourage lower and upper secondary students to participate in more student-led clubs this school year. At the fair, clubs, ranging from Model United Nations to guitar clubs, set up booths in the gym to promote themselves to potential new members. The event was fifty minutes long, with lower secondary students making their rounds around the gym first, followed by upper secondary students. If interested in joining a club, students had to write their name and email address on the club’s sign-up sheet to be sent updates on meetings and included on the club’s roster.

The event was organized by Mr. Blanchard, who had assumed all extracirricular-related responsibilities from Ms. Brown this year. At the fair, Mr. Blanchard urged all to join at least one club by the end of the event, with the goal of fostering a more active and well-rounded student community.

All clubs took varying approaches to promote themselves to prospective members. Project LIT, GSIS’ book discussion club led by Ms. James, displayed all of the books their club read last school year. On the other hand, clubs like Compassion Club, ThinkPink, and Green Club made poster boards that displayed printed photos of club activities and graphics going over the goals and purposes of the club. At booths like GSIS’ Sign Language club, headed by sophomores Gahyeon Jeon and Clare Son, visiting students were taught simple signing gestures as the club leaders explained the logistics of their club. As students walked around the gym, they saw the breadth of extracurricular activities offered at the school.

Thanks to the event, many clubs saw an increase in lower and upper secondary membership. Culinary Arts and Service Club — a club that organizes bake sales and donates proceeds to the United Nations World Food Programme to help alleviate world hunger — gained fifteen new members during the club fair. Senior Amy Noh, co-president of the club, says, “The club fair was a great opportunity to showcase our club to the school and gain members.” She continues, “We’re really excited to get to know and work with all of our new members this school year.”

The Fall Club Fair marks a promising start to the year, full of community and extracurricular engagement.