In the two years I have been at this school, the number of clubs at Concord Academy has increased by around 60% (from 70 in 2022 to 113 in 2024). If this growth continues, in around five years the number of clubs at CA will have surpassed 400. This incredible inflation seems to be driven by the incredible redundancy and lack of consolidation of clubs. The inactivity, usefulness, and motives for clubs need to be kept in check.
As much as the diversity and breadth of CA clubs matter, there is an extraordinary amount of clubs that end up doing nothing. Whether this is due to the brief and infrequent club blocks we have, or the high workload of the average CA student, many clubs do not regularly meet. As of now, of the 113 clubs registered by council, less than half have had their intro meeting. As DEMONs club advisor Daniel Mertsch put it, “Time is the most valuable resource, especially at CA.” When club block is the only time for people to catch a break, would going to a club, or enjoying free time be more appealing? Club coheads need to begin thinking about the engagement their club has with its members, and how they can encourage actual club activities, instead of waiting idly as a cohead, only to pass on the title to someone else the following year.
Along with a perpetual state of inactivity, there seem to be multiple clubs that seem to fulfill exceedingly similar roles. Consolidating and organizing these clubs would combat the club inflation, and create more importance in each club. The word redundancy is defined as “the state of not being necessary or useful.” There are over five clubs on campus that make Asian food for every Club Expo and Winterfest. In addition, there are nineteen STEM clubs on campus, many of which seem to dive into adjacent, if not the identical purposes. There are at least three pairs of clubs that are virtually duplicates of each other, just run by different people. All of these listed clubs are redundant. The more clubs there are, the less important each one becomes, especially if a large portion doesn’t do anything unique. Instead of creating their own clubs, CA students should focus on revising and cultivating the clubs that already exist. Boris Liu ’27 commented, “If I wanted people to join a science competition, I wouldn’t talk to science club, I would probably create a club myself.” The role of Science club has been to offer niche science experiments, but maybe broad clubs like the Science club need to expand their breadth to incorporate aspects that others were forced to create clubs for. Creating more organized systems where the club can have multiple leaders allows for a more interdisciplinary and expansive approach within the same club.
As Jake Xu ’25 put it, “Clubs are for the pursuit of human interest and passion beyond the CA curriculum. That is not what they are right now—they seem more like contrived extracurricular obligations with no engine of love.” The motivations to create clubs at CA has become misguided. Students create clubs despite similar clubs, purely to control that club’s agenda. Students create clubs merely to put on their college application resumes. Students create and retain clubs just to uphold the school's pride for their 113 clubs. Clubs should have a unique purpose, an interest to explore, an activity to do. Many CA clubs lack that unique value. The creation of clubs needs to be fueled by unique passion and genuinity.
Too many clubs are inactive, redundant, or seem to exist purely for the sake of college apps instead of bringing unique perspectives to CA. Maybe the school needs to adjust the schedule to allow for better time slots for clubs. Maybe clubs should be consolidated into organizations with deeper depth into multiple affiliated topics. Maybe the passion behind the creation of clubs should be checked through council, and a more in-depth club creation process. Whatever the solution, the redundancy and incredible inflation of clubs need to be constrained, as CA’s club culture is passed down.