At the beginning of each new school year Mater Dei holds a two day event called “Club Rush.” This is when Mater Dei clubs come together in Shamrock Plaza during lunch to promote their clubs and entice other students to join. These two days are separated into two different categories: academic/volunteering and fun/interests clubs. All of the clubs are both created and managed by students. There are many different reasons that inspire students to start clubs and join them. Senior Ethan Fetter, president of the Horror Club, was excited to start this club due to his love for the genre. 

“The initial reason I started the MD Horror Club was [because I wanted] to make an escape room club, but I figured just escape rooms wasn’t enough,” Fetter said. “[So] I decided to tie in my love for horror into the concept and came to the conclusion that escape rooms, movies, games, and presentations would be best suited for the club.”

Students that run clubs have many different goals in mind. For some it may just be about having fun with friends and meeting new people with the same interests. For others the goal of their club is to impact other people inside and outside of the Monarch community. This is the case for Senior Kaitlyn Gilbreth, president of the Higher Ground Club. The Higher Ground Club is a volunteer club that is associated with the Higher Ground non-profit organization. Gilbreth hopes people will gain valuable life experience through her club’s community service projects. 

“I hope people will gain a sense of how impactful and valuable our time is,” Gilbreth said. “By dedicating our time to serving those around us we are able to spread smiles and love to those who need it most.”

Other service oriented clubs strive to raise money for the less fortunate. Junior Danica Bondoc is the president of the Youth Athletes Club and her goal is to raise money for youth that want to play sports.

“I hope to raise money to donate to the less fortunate kids who might want to play sports, but I also hope to inspire someone to find something they love to do,” Bondoc said.

Every club president wants their club to grow in some manner, whether it is in total number of members, actual profits, or a plethora of activities. Fetter has big plans for his club this year and hopes to have more events and more meetings.

“The first year, I had a plan of what I was doing and made sure I’d meet just the bare minimum of doing everything I said the club would do,” Fetter said. “This year, I hope to double everything I did last year and to have more events outside of school.”

When students are brainstorming ideas for clubs, it is a good idea to think of what they love to do and then use that to impact the world. Even a club that is just for fun and a means to hangout with friends, it can make an impact on a students community and school. Bondoc feels this is important for other students to know.

“Just do what makes you happy and do something that makes an impact.”