Clubs: The Classics & The Archaic

A stack of Hamber yearbooks from the 1990s, taken from the yearbook archives | Photo Credit: Teresa Chen

Since the very first years of Eric Hamber’s existence as a secondary school, clubs have been an integral part of the student experience. Hamber has been home to hundreds of clubs over the decades. 

Some of them have survived the test of time; they remained preserved through the cultural, social, and educational change between 1968 and 2023. However, some clubs operated at Hamber in the 60s and 70s may seem shockingly outdated. The Nest did a deep dive of the yearbook archives to examine how clubs have changed at Hamber through the years.

Possibly the most well-known club is the student government, known at Hamber as Student Council (StuCo). The earliest yearbook kept in the yearbook archives maintained by Ms. M. Poon (Yearbook Advisor) is from the 1968/9 school year, the sixth year after Hamber’s establishment. The student council of 1968 is featured on one of the first few pages, however, the structure of the council appears to be very different from today’s StuCo.

In 1968, there were still roles like president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and grad chair. However, roles like representatives for “Girls Block Club” and “Boys Block Club” were also a part of the council. There were also presidents for the blue, gold, red, and green houses.

Another Vancouver school, John Oliver still has their Block club in operation today. According to their Athletics webpage about the club, “ALL JO student-athletes, managers, and officials are [automatically] members of the Block club”.

The 1968 yearbook also featured a comment from a seemingly rival power to the student council, a student union. Nowadays, student unions are most commonly found at post-secondary institutions to advocate for students to the institution’s administration. In the late sixties in Vancouver, there was a student union that was formed with students from different schools, described in comment in the yearbook authored by Hamber’s representative for the union.

In their comment in the 1968 yearbook, this anonymous student union rep described the aims of the union at Hamber to be the elimination of the present grading system, detentions, and ‘Admin slips’, as well as being able to take lunch outside. They also wanted to see the introduction of ‘Integrated subject programs’, like at Point Grey and Prince of Wales. Overall, the student union wanted students to be recognized as the individuals they were.

Clubs like United Nations club, Newspaper club, Reach for the Top, and Library club can be found in the 1968 and 1971 yearbooks, as well as in the recent years of Hamber. In 2023, Model UN, The Griffins’ Nest, and Library Monitors exist with roots at Hamber extending over 50 years.

Back then, the Newspaper club described themselves as having “added spice to the school’s controversial stews”. The Library club said, “Trying to get overdue books returned, fines paid and books found occupied the Library club’s time this year as the list increased by leaps and bounds”. The United Nations club stated, “[we were] slightly radical at MUN conference, our small UN club made a sizable dent in UN procedures and in our own budget”.

An extinct club at Hamber, the Y-club, was featured in the 1968 yearbook boasting goodwill drives like their fashion show and Christmas hampers. One fundraiser in particular stood out, showing the difference between Hamber in the late sixties and now. In the 1968/9 school year, the Y-club put on their apparently annual “slave auction” and “slave day” fundraiser. This  disturbing part of Hamber’s history is a sign of past social norms and how they were reflected in schools.

Some unique retro clubs existed, like the Amaetur Radio club, who communicated with people across the world in countries like Japan and the then Soviet Union through radio. There was even an Aquarium club in 1971 that cleaned and maintained the aquariums that used to exist in the office and library. 

Seemingly, Hamberites have always been service-orientated. Currently, there are several service-oriented clubs at Hamber, including but not limited to: Project Poverty, Kitchen on a Mission, and Service club. In 1971, Community Service Involvement was Hamber’s largest club with over 70 members. The club helped recruit volunteers for different community projects and needs.