As the 2023-2024 school year kicks off into gear, students will find that many school activities will begin to start up again for the school year. Listening to the morning announcements or browsing the updates on Schoology will show clubs like chess club or interact club starting, among many others. In total, Westerville North High School has around 47 different clubs and extracurriculars that students can join and participate in based on their interests or desire to be involved. Some activities lean more toward personal enjoyment and others are more service oriented but they can all provide different individual, school and community benefits, regardless of their purpose.
Westerville North has a diverse amount of clubs geared toward personal enjoyment or interests. Josiah Steen (2025) is involved in three such clubs: astronomy club, chess club, and pickleball club. Clubs such as these are generally casual and don’t contain any particular leadership structure other than a faculty advisor. Rather it is a group of students working together to cultivate a general interest or hobby. This teamwork can reflect on an individual with personal growth.
“I’m getting fit in the pickleball club because you have to move around. In the chess club I’m getting smarter because you have to think about all these moves.” Steen said.
Clubs also offer benefits beyond strengthening mental fortitude and physical health. Students gathering together can strengthen the feeling of community within the school.
“It brings a culture to the school, everyone’s more connected through these clubs” Steen said. A strong culture and sense of community brings the school together which helps students feel like they belong.
For some clubs at North though, their purpose is community service oriented. Michael Dellasanta (2024) is a co-leader and in charge of communications for Warriorthon. Warriorthon was an affiliate of Buckeyethon, a program at The Ohio State University, which raises funds for pediatric cancer. However, it has since split away to raise funds for any nonprofit organization in the area on a rotating basis. Service clubs such as Warriorthon offer a few different benefits to an individual than the more casual clubs.
“It really helps me with leadership. “It’s a good opportunity for me to lead other people my age and it’s a good experience for the real world,” Dellasanta said.
As opposed to the specific physical or academic benefits that the more casual clubs provide, the service clubs offer character development and leadership. Qualities that are useful in work settings and working with others. The benefits of participating in Warriorthon though, are most noticeable though in its impact within the school and surrounding community.
“Our club is really good with involving the whole school. At every one of our events, the goal is to get a whole lot of school participation,” Dellasanta said.
You do not need to be a member of Warriorthon to participate in its events making it a lot more open to connecting the school than smaller clubs through its team activities. Achieving similar growth of school culture as other clubs do but in a different way. In addition, the revenue from these events is donated to large local nonprofits such as W.A.R.M (Westerville Area Resource Ministry) and pediatric cancer research which aids others in need and strengthens the local community outside the school. These events can also serve as inspiration.
“Not only are we just directly giving money to the community but we are encouraging other people in our community to help out with these nonprofits,” Dellasanta said.
That displays that bringing people together for a cause can have a trickle effect that can generate really positive side benefits.
Every club has its own reasons that people join and there are many different purposes for the clubs. Often it is a particular hobby or interest in common with the other students who are involved within the club and the culture that they have cultivated that encourages others to join. Other times, a particular faculty member who advises the club might be popular among students encouraging them to join. For the service side, it was an interest in the mission of the club as well as the founders of the club being close friends or acquaintances that served as encouragement to join. Joining any of these clubs is incredibly easy as well. It is usually as simple as showing up and participating in the club’s activities.
