On Friday, September 7, Fossil Ridge High School held their annual Club Rush in the gym. The whole freshman class, and some of the sophomore class, got the chance to walk around the gym to learn about over twenty different clubs and classes to see how they could become a part of the Fossil community. Two or three members from each club were at their tables to inform the underclassmen and try to get students interested.

“I think club rush was massively successful. We ran out of flyers so many times, we had to keep reprinting them. We got a lot of traffic, a lot of people getting eyes on our stuff, and we hope that it will actually turn into real conversions and they will come to the meetings. I talked to a ton of people, our president Will was walking around the floor with flyers as well. I think that was a very effective strategy, we broadened our reach, and I think it went really well”, said senior Alexandre Shapell, who was representing Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) with Will Cutchin.

In past years, the structure of the tables have been in a “horseshoe shape”, which has been an issue because students avoided tables and waited around in the middle of the gym. This year, staff tried to fix this problem by setting up the tables all around the gym in lines instead. “This year instead of doing the horseshoe shape we did rows so it’s more like a gallery walk or fair. I think the students are getting more involved and excited about decorating and making their tables. If you were to compare this year’s and last year’s tables, they are way more fancy and exciting. They really draw your attention. I think you really see a lot of students this year actually really wanting to be involved. You see them mingling at all sorts of tables and asking for certain clubs,” said Fossil staff member Deana Kochis, who helped organize this event.

Students were able to view a variety of different clubs and classes to find one that suits their interests.  Some of the clubs were Key Club, Ridgebotics, and even Ukulele Club. There were also classes represented at Club Rush, including Ridge TV and Journalism. Like years in the past, students were given a sheet with multiple columns to write information on clubs they were interested in. “It went really well, we got some interested freshmen and sophomores. They seemed really interested because it’s a nationally recognized club. I definitely think this was a good way for them to get more information.” says senior Allison Shad, who represented National Honors Society.

Overall, both the adults that organized the event and the students who were representing the club thought that the event ran very smoothly with this new set up, and a lot of underclassmen found what they want to be apart of during their high school career.