As the school year begins, students are excited to join the many unique clubs that WJ has to offer. For freshmen, this is the first step to meeting new people and getting involved in the school community. For the upperclassmen, recruiting new members is their greatest hope.

Best Buddies is one of the largest clubs, and continues to thrive each year. Focused on inclusion and friendship, recruiting both committed peer and associate buddies is key to not only a successful year but also a stronger community.

“Because of the nature of our club, I just want to make sure that we recruit people that actually want to be in the club, not people that just want it for their college applications,” senior and Co-President Sydney Morgenstern said.

For Best Buddies, genuine, devoted and quality members are just as valued as the size of the club. “I love having a larger club just because our club is all about friendship and inclusivity, and I think the more the merrier,” Morgenstern said.

While having a well-known club such as Best Buddies provides substantial benefits to recruitment, several brand new clubs have proven to make a name for themselves.

Launched just weeks ago, Friendship Bracelets for Philanthropy meets twice per month where members make string friendship bracelets and kits to send to children in local hospitals. Although new, the club’s officers have already taken great strides to promote their club and gain new members.

“We created an Instagram and ran an announcement over the spreaker to spread the word about the club. We also were at the club fair during lunch,” junior Vice President Sari Goldstein said.

Students have highlighted their evident passion for philanthropy through the wide variety of fundraising clubs. In addition to Friendship Bracelets for Philanthropy, Operation Smile WJ raises money for children with cleft lip and cleft palate. This school year, it has been completely revamped, with a whole new leadership team working hard to revive the club and obtain their recruitment goals.

“We created an Instagram and started following a lot of people to increase their awareness about our club. The club fair was also very successful! Most of the new sign-ups were from freshman and sophomores,” senior and President Wendy Liu said.

Recruiting underclassmen is a crucial part of club growth, especially for the club to prosper in the years to come.

“We hope to get as many people to join and participate as possible. As a fundraising club, the more people we have, the more fun and successful fundraisers will be,” Liu said.

Across the board, clubs are eager to expand their membership and have taken advantage of all resources to do so.