Clubs Update, Halfway through the Year
Katja Radovic-Jonsson
Over the past few years, many changes have come to the clubs at Hamber as they adapted to COVID and the new semester system. While some clubs are fully operational, some changed their structures entirely. The Griffins’ Nest reached out to clubs to provide updates on how they are running.
Math Club
Jenny Li (12), one of the leaders of Math Club, expressed that 2022 especially affected the annual “Math Challengers” competition.
“The competition, it’s usually held in person at UBC or SFU, but now, we have to host it at our own school, so we have to figure out a time for everyone to do the competition, that works out for everyone, and get teachers to invigilate,” shared Li.
Some students have contacted her over the extended Winter Break to say they don’t want to participate in the competition due to COVID concerns. “The three weeks of no meetings was hard on us because it [should’ve] be our peak preparation period where we meet a bunch of times a week and prepare for the contest,” Li said.
In addition to helping students prepare for math contests, Math Club also offers math help to students. With around 17 coaches, they are dedicated to helping all students better understand any math concept.
Bullet Journal Club
Bullet Journal Club allows students to get together and learn how to organize their life using bullet journals, which are customizable planners that you can tailor to your own needs.
The switch from the quarter system to the semester system was a major adjustment for their club.
“With the quarter system, we had to meet outside of school hours and students would have to dedicate time out of their schedule to attend meetings,” said co-club head Allison Lee (10), “Now, with lunchtime at school, our club is less intimate because students tend to just drop in whenever they feel like it.”
Recently, Bullet Journal Club has experienced a decrease in attendance.
“I think some people might have forgotten that our club exists after the January postponement, but honestly, we’re okay with that!” Lee shared. “Our club is very low-commitment; we encourage people to come only if they want to!”
If restrictions comply, the club is hoping to take its members on out-of-school trips to bond and find the best bullet journal supplies.
Craft Club
“Last school year, Craft Club entirely disbanded. Now that we’re back, more people than ever have joined, so club meetings have required more planning, preparation, and a larger budget,” revealed co-club head Noah Yu (11).
The increase in club members, combined with COVID restrictions, has necessitated a new system of meeting sign-ups. Only a limited number of people can be accommodated each meeting. For non-attending club members, there are many social media sites to check for updates, including a Spotify account.
Craft Club will be collaborating with Crochet Club for a crocheting session in early March.
Literature Club
Literature Club is a club for people to come together and discuss literature-related media.
“We actually started our club during the pandemic. Last year, it was purely online,” Lily Kong-Waller (11), co-club head explained, “We would hold online meetings over Teams after school, which I personally hated. It felt a lot like a podcast.”
During the postponement of clubs in January, Lit Club was not able to meet like other clubs, and knew from past experience that online meetings didn’t work.
The semester system has had a positive influence on club membership.
“During the quarter system, we had a very small number of members, and that’s increased a lot this year,” shared co-club head Alanna Rudolph (11).
“We noticed on Clubs Day, we had this huge amount of people signing up, and we think it’s mostly because people want to go to clubs again, because we missed them all last year,” Kong-Waller postulated.
Literature Club continues to meet in person, discussing new, interesting topics every meeting.
Debate Club
Debate Club is a space where students learn debate formats and debating skills such as critical thinking, public speaking and persuasive writing. The club often hosts practice debates at school and even competes in outside of school tournaments.
“One of the major effects of COVID is that we can no longer attend in-person tournaments, and are restricted to only online tournaments,” said club president Dean Rohman (12), “Online tournaments don’t have the same energy and atmosphere [of] in-person tournaments, but [we’re] glad [we’re] able to compete and participate.”
Pre-club postponement, Debate Club was preparing for the Regionals Tournament. They held informal meetings safely distanced outside in the courtyard.
Meetings typically took up to two hours to cover pertinent, debate-related information.
Debate Club previously held meetings during FIT. With FIT, they were restricted to only 50 minutes, which was not enough for all they needed to cover.
With the club restrictions lifted, Debate Club is looking forward to participating in more competitions.
“We are attending more tournaments this year than last year, which is always a good sign!” Rohman shared enthusiastically, “The debaters are very eager to learn, and the other executives and I are trying to give them as many opportunities and resources as we can to help them achieve their goals.”
Debate Club recently held their first after-school meeting since December.
Ski and Snowboard Club
Ski and Snowboard Club allows students to participate in an entire day of instructed skiing or snowboarding.
“We go up to Whistler Blackcomb for four sessions, generally in the new year, although we often have a session that’ll allow students to go up in December,” club sponsor Mr. Albrecht explained.
Because of apparent fuel shortages, the first session in December had to be postponed.
“All [four trips] have been postponed indefinitely. In other words, they are, at least at this point, cancelled,” said Albrecht.
“There is a possibility that we can go for the last two trips, but it’s hard to say just how likely that will be,” said Albrecht, “We have to arrange buses, we have to arrange a mountain, supervision, and we also have to have an agreement from the school board to allow us to go.”
Since none of that has been prepared, the trips are on hold for now.
Mr. Albrecht also expressed his hope to be able to attend the trips again in the future, because the students and teachers understood the value of getting four entire days of skiing or snowboarding with the help of an instructor.
Hand in Hand
Hand in Hand is a club centered around elementary school mentorship.
“Our goal is to prepare elementary students for high school. To do that we have a pen palling program, which we do with two of Hamber’s feeder elementary Simon Fraser and General Wolfe,” explained Judy Li (12), one of the club’s executives, explained.
As the club was started during COVID, many of its initiatives were organized to follow last year’s stricter guidelines. “I think COVID in general increased people’s interest because it was a non-contact club; you could just write the letters from home and you wouldn’t have to go to a club meeting.”
To ensure consistent letter delivery, Hand in Hand created schedules for the high school students and the elementary pen students to follow. The January club postponement interfered with their planning.
“We had to basically push back our entire pen pal schedule. We have pen palling for Simon Fraser, General Wolfe, and senior pen palling with some seniors from a local program, and that’s in English and Chinese. We had to cut off one of the letters for each of the programs,” Li explained.
At the end of last year, Hand in Hand is planning to hold an in-person meeting with the elementary schoolers and their pen pals.
While the January club postponement was a setback for many of Hamber’s clubs, most are bouncing back and continuing with their regular operations.
For now, Hamber is happy to see the re-opening of many clubs, and the revival of Hamber’s well-loved club community.