Club participation at CHS has been on the demise over the last few years, so club sponsors are beefing up requirements as a remedy.

One club that encourages girls to get involved is Junior Civitans. Sponsor April Worley announced that in order to partake in Big Sis/Little Sis Week, a popular week long event when a Big Sis gives her Little Sis a present everyday, members must complete three activities by February.

“I had a girl last year tell me that she signed up for the free ice cream and the free gifts,” said Worley.

Most clubs are based on service hours, so when tons of kids sign up and only half actively participate, the sponsors feel cheated.

“I would see girls wearing our shirts but I wouldn’t know their names, nor would I recognize their faces. And for a club that is based on good deeds and volunteering, that’s not right,” Worley said.

Although Junior Civitans have changed regulations this year, other clubs like National Honor Society have been slowly adding requirements over the past few years.

“Each year we have added additional service hours. The first year it was eight, then ten, and now twelve, which is a good number for us. We’ve also had to, over the past two to three years, create what is called the Mandatory Service Project and you have the choice of five projects but you need to complete two to three,” said Anastasia Sease, the sponsor for NHS.

It’s not only the sponsors who have noticed a change. National Honor Society president Jennings Stroud said, “I would really like to see students ofChapinHigh Schoolbe more involved, not just in our specific club, but in clubs in general.”

The sponsors understand why some people can’t participate as much as they want to. Worley said, “Our students are overextended. It’s not that girls don’t want to participate, but you have take into account a third of our Civitans work, play sports, or do cheerleading, all of which take up a large amount of time.”

Sease agrees, “Some of the mandatory projects are hard to get to because kids are so busy.”  They understand if students can’t make it to all the activities. Their main concern is the kids that do nothing. Clubs like NHS can’t necessarily turn kids away because of the type of club they are, so they focus on enforcing requirements.

“Because NHS is a GPA based club, 200-300 students are invited yearly, but I really only get 60-70 active participants,” Sease said.

The reason for the change in regulations isn’t to kick out the kids that never do anything, but rather to encourage students to actively participate.

“I would rather have a club of fifty girls where we can do things, than a club of 200 who just want to be in it for gifts. That goes against everything Junior Citivans stands for,” said Worley.