When I imagine an average high school club, I think of a cluster of passionate teens huddled around a table in a ’90s teen sitcom. They are members of the Math Club or debate team, passionately discussing fundraising ideas or debating how to make the best community service project. Essentially, clubs —at least in my mind—are oases for great minds to combine their passion and enlarge their impact. 

Now, flash forward to the present, and just like those heartwarming sitcoms have slowly fossilized into relics of the past, so too has the utopian archetype of a high school club. Many of my peers and I observe that extracurriculars now serve as a means to its founders’ title-adorned ends. College admission cycles have become increasingly competitive, and with this trend projected to continue, it’s clear that club titles often reflect and exacerbate shifting incentives for involvement in extracurriculars, leaving passion by the wayside.

In many clubs today, leadership boards consist of presidents, secretaries, treasurers, committee directors, social media managers and a whole slew of other fancy-sounding titles, yet these clubs achieve less and less with every passing year. Superficial motivation wanes quickly, leaving clubs with perpetual issues: subpar fundraising, ever-falling attendance and unresponsive leadership.

Passion and involvement starts with those at the top, yet without clear and strong direction, even the most earnest members can become discouraged—not because they lack strong club commitment, but because they lack a strong club culture. More and more student-interest organizations are becoming tainted by this new club culture—but there is a better way.

The answer may seem idealistic or reductive, but we must call on all club leaders to assess their motivations and step down from leadership they cannot summon and maintain passion for. This would allow for a return to passion-driven clubs with tangible community impacts. Of course, we cannot expect all student leaders to become benevolent and relinquish their titles overnight; in fact, it is quite the opposite. Students should drop club titles they don’t value to increase their chances at a successful college admissions cycle. When admissions officers scan applications, they weigh impact, commitment and consistency far above a leadership position in a club that met only once and raised a grand total of $12.

At the end of the day, admissions officers still seek passionate applicants, especially as such applicants are becoming more rare. So, when we decide to funnel our energy into the activities that matter most to us, we maximize our impact on our community, reform unhealthy competition and revive passion.

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the HiLite staff. Reach Shawn Feng at [email protected].