“A Joyful Way To End Our Week”: Clubs in Park’s Upper Division

Friday afternoons are always a favorite time for students, but in Park’s Upper Division, that’s not only because the weekend has arrived. 

If you were to walk around campus during the last thirty minutes of the school week, you would find students researching for a Model United Nations Conference, practicing new dance moves, working on logic puzzles, and helping design costumes for an upcoming drama production. These students are all benefiting from a special feature of the Upper Division schedule: a dedicated block for club meetings.  

For many years, clubs at Park took the form of a handful of optional groups that met during recess, such as Math Team and Student Council. More recently, in order to allow students to benefit from club participation without having to forfeit recess time, a period for club meetings was added to the Upper Division schedule, and now all Upper Division students take part in a club.

Each quarter, students can choose from approximately twenty different clubs that encompass a wide range of interests.  At the beginning of the school year, Assistant Upper Division Head Elaine Hamilton provides Upper Division faculty and staff members with a list of clubs from the previous spring, and they can choose to run one of these existing clubs or create a new one. Students hear about their options during a division-wide meeting and sign up for the club that most interests them. For subsequent quarters, students can propose their own clubs; Elaine works with interested students to tweak their plans, and faculty and staff members help run these student-initiated clubs. Students can opt to stay with the same club all year or switch clubs from one quarter to another.

I see clubs as an opportunity to bring and be more of yourself at school.

The list of clubs from the past year showcases a wide range of topics and types of activities. There are groups focused on producing a publication (Newspaper Club and Yearbook Club), learning new skills (American Sign Language Club and Model UN Club), performing community service (Library Club and Community Engagement Club), and pursuing particular interests (Art History Club, Asian Pop Music Club, and Dungeons & Dragons Club).  There are options for students who want to be more active (Dance Club, Outdoor Explorers Club, and Sports Club) as well as for those who would prefer a quieter end to the week (Chess & Board Games Club, Drawing/Doodling Club, and One Stitch at a Time Club). Included in the mix of last year’s clubs are several that were spearheaded by students, including Jam Band Club, Robotics Pieces Sorting Club (whose mission was indeed to sort VEX pieces for the Robotics Team!), and WWE Club.  

Some clubs inevitably end up with more sign-ups than others, but the Upper Division team tries to find ways to accommodate everyone. For instance, there is tremendous interest in this fall’s Sports Club (which is essentially an extended recess period), and 65 Upper Division students are spread out between the two gyms to work up a sweat under the supervision of multiple faculty and staff members. Meanwhile, interest in last year’s Taylor Swift Club fizzled as the pop star’s popularity declined (at least among a certain demographic), and the club was not offered again after the fall.

While club offerings may change from quarter to quarter, Model UN Club has become an important mainstay over the past few years thanks to the leadership of Lisa DiAdamo, Park’s Director of Secondary School Counseling. Students in Model UN Club gather on Friday afternoons to hone their research, debate, and critical thinking skills, and this year they will have the opportunity to attend four off-campus conferences.  (Additionally, Park sponsors a special on-campus conference in the spring for our Grade 6 students so that they have the opportunity to learn about parliamentary procedure and see what Model UN looks like in action.) Lisa observes that Park students are at their best when attending Model UN conferences because they are “so eager to learn, participate, and collaborate,” and they frequently win awards because Model UN is a “natural extension” of the style of learning employed in Park’s classrooms.

Most of my time at school I’m traveling around to classes with similar people, but during clubs I am with new people from all grades who all share a similar interest.

While some of the clubs offered are more lighthearted than others, all Upper Division students benefit from club participation. For some students, clubs are a valuable chance to learn about something new, such as costume design or American Sign Language; for others, clubs are a chance to sharpen skills in an area they already know and love, such as chess, dance, or math; and for still others, clubs are an opportunity to unwind at the end of a long week while sketching or running around the gym. “I love Upper Division Clubs because students and teachers have so many things they are passionate about and knowledgeable about that don’t get highlighted in the regular school day,” says Anndrew Reinfeld, Director of Student Support. “I see clubs as an opportunity to bring and be more of yourself at school.”   

Students also benefit from the opportunity to form friendships with students from other grades and to interact informally with faculty and staff members in a non-academic setting. “Most of my time at school I’m traveling around to classes with similar people, but during clubs I am with new people from all grades who all share a similar interest.  It is a great time to connect with people from different grades and to make new friends,” remarks Emily B. (grade 7).  

Additionally, clubs involve an important element of student decision-making: Students, not parents, make club choices, and students are strongly encouraged to select a club that interests them regardless of the choices their friends and classmates are making. Students can stick with a club if they want but also can choose to switch clubs or propose a new one. As Emily says, “I love that I can choose what I do.”

Perhaps above all, club time is enjoyable, something of a special treat for the Upper Division. As Elaine puts it, having this dedicated block on Friday afternoons provides a “joyful way for all of us–students as well as faculty and staff–to end our week together.”    

– Liz Prasse, Park Perspectives Editorial Board, P '27 and P '29

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