Game of strategy
Arts & Entertainment 7
Game of strategy Why some clubs last year after year and others don’t
JASON VILAYSANH Utterly focused on the chess pieces, sophomore Samir Sen is calculating his next move. Here, Sen plays a recreational game, but he has participated in many tournaments and has earned the rank of National Master. Sen is an active member in multiple clubs, such as the math team, Speech and Debate Club and Chess Club.
welcome and free to play.” Chess Club has been around by Jason Vilaysanh Reporter for eight years. It is comprised of ontemplatively, sophoaround eight students, with slight more Samir Sen analyzes fluctuation in attendence. the pieces on the chess“It often gets quite competitive, board. Although a chess National and that fosters more learning in Master, president of the Chess Club, chess,” Sen said. “It’s really just a fun math team, and vice president of the chess experience.” Speech and Debate team, Sen’s mind The Yu-Gi-Oh! Club, which is is aflame, calculating his next move. based on the popular Japanese tradSuddenly, he breaks out of his trance, ing card game, suffers from a declinlifts a piece delicately, and places it in a ing attendance rate. Senior Marco tactically sound position. “Nacho” Pinacho, the president of Similar to how a successful game the Yu-Gi-Oh! Club, runs the club’s of chess requires a balance of strucaffairs. The Yu-Gi-Oh! Club origitured play and experimentation, Sen nally housed around 10 members believes that the key to a successful during the begining of last year, but non-curricular club requires a careful the number has decreased to three balance of organization and freedom. or four members this year. Student driven non-curricular clubs “We never really needed any tend to have a higher risk of dissolv- rules except for have fun and no ing when compared to school-based gambling,” Pinacho said. “The club curricular clubs. was all about having fun playing “I wanted to make chess more cards.” popular around the school,” Sen said. Senior Luke Thompson is a self “To promote the club this year, we’ll proclaimed Yu-Gi-Oh! expert and be doing another simultaneous game a former regular of the Yu-Gi-Oh! during lunch where all students are club. Thompson said that he started
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to feel disconnected with the club, and that is why he no longer attends. He explained that the club had a certain lack of structure, and the falling attendance of regular members took a toll on the other members’ morale. “We never really set up any ground rules,” Thompson said, “and the whole point of the club was for people to show up; I wanted to play Yu-Gi-Oh! with my friends, not just strangers. If one of my friends didn’t show up, none of my friends did.” Junior Evan Astrue is a member of Anime Club, a club which focuses on all aspects of the unique Japanese animation style. Similar to Thompson, he finds that there is a distinct importance in having a high rate of recurring attendance. “The club is very fluid in structure,” Astrue said, “but attendance holds the most precedence because we need people to show up for there to be a club. It’s not a club without members.” Seniors Emma Cunningham and Kay Kuran are two of the leaders of Christian Students United, also
known by its acronym “CSU.” CSU’s mission is to provide a warm community for students to discuss faith and interact with one another, while finding ways to strengthen the local community. CSU had an increase from about five to 10 members last year to around 15 to 20 members just this year. “There’s very little structure within the club, which I think make it helpful for the club to be successful,” Cunningham said. Contrary to the other clubs, CSU doesn’t actually have positions within the club; Cunningham and Kuran participate in leader meetings in which a group of students from the main club have a separate meeting a few days prior to prepare for the next full club meeting. Sen argues that lenience in club structure is just as important as strictness in club structure. “In Chess Club, when everyone’s working together, we learn the most, and we have the most fun,” Sen said. Activities coordinator Becky
Phillips is in charge of all the clubs at Skyview. “Club attendance is based on student interest,” Phillips said. “Some clubs don’t make it past a year, but some clubs, like Chess Club for example, keep on coming back.” Phillips doesn’t believe that clubs necessarily need a high attendance rate to be successful. She does note that higher attendance rates lower the risk of clubs failing and disbanding. Sen doesn’t believe that clubs with low attendance rates or unbalanced structure should be deemed failures. “Success is a relative term. It can be defined in so many ways, it’s impossible to assign a singular definition to it,” Sen said. “You need to remember that you still have to have fun. You can’t have a club that’s like a classroom, because no one would want to go to that. Instead, we need to all collaborate and find out what we want.”
Game of strategy Why some clubs last year after year and others don’t
JASON VILAYSANH Utterly focused on the chess pieces, sophomore Samir Sen is calculating his next move. Here, Sen plays a recreational game, but he has participated in many tournaments and has earned the rank of National Master. Sen is an active member in multiple clubs, such as the math team, Speech and Debate Club and Chess Club.
welcome and free to play.” Chess Club has been around by Jason Vilaysanh Reporter for eight years. It is comprised of ontemplatively, sophoaround eight students, with slight more Samir Sen analyzes fluctuation in attendence. the pieces on the chess“It often gets quite competitive, board. Although a chess National and that fosters more learning in Master, president of the Chess Club, chess,” Sen said. “It’s really just a fun math team, and vice president of the chess experience.” Speech and Debate team, Sen’s mind The Yu-Gi-Oh! Club, which is is aflame, calculating his next move. based on the popular Japanese tradSuddenly, he breaks out of his trance, ing card game, suffers from a declinlifts a piece delicately, and places it in a ing attendance rate. Senior Marco tactically sound position. “Nacho” Pinacho, the president of Similar to how a successful game the Yu-Gi-Oh! Club, runs the club’s of chess requires a balance of strucaffairs. The Yu-Gi-Oh! Club origitured play and experimentation, Sen nally housed around 10 members believes that the key to a successful during the begining of last year, but non-curricular club requires a careful the number has decreased to three balance of organization and freedom. or four members this year. Student driven non-curricular clubs “We never really needed any tend to have a higher risk of dissolv- rules except for have fun and no ing when compared to school-based gambling,” Pinacho said. “The club curricular clubs. was all about having fun playing “I wanted to make chess more cards.” popular around the school,” Sen said. Senior Luke Thompson is a self “To promote the club this year, we’ll proclaimed Yu-Gi-Oh! expert and be doing another simultaneous game a former regular of the Yu-Gi-Oh! during lunch where all students are club. Thompson said that he started
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to feel disconnected with the club, and that is why he no longer attends. He explained that the club had a certain lack of structure, and the falling attendance of regular members took a toll on the other members’ morale. “We never really set up any ground rules,” Thompson said, “and the whole point of the club was for people to show up; I wanted to play Yu-Gi-Oh! with my friends, not just strangers. If one of my friends didn’t show up, none of my friends did.” Junior Evan Astrue is a member of Anime Club, a club which focuses on all aspects of the unique Japanese animation style. Similar to Thompson, he finds that there is a distinct importance in having a high rate of recurring attendance. “The club is very fluid in structure,” Astrue said, “but attendance holds the most precedence because we need people to show up for there to be a club. It’s not a club without members.” Seniors Emma Cunningham and Kay Kuran are two of the leaders of Christian Students United, also
known by its acronym “CSU.” CSU’s mission is to provide a warm community for students to discuss faith and interact with one another, while finding ways to strengthen the local community. CSU had an increase from about five to 10 members last year to around 15 to 20 members just this year. “There’s very little structure within the club, which I think make it helpful for the club to be successful,” Cunningham said. Contrary to the other clubs, CSU doesn’t actually have positions within the club; Cunningham and Kuran participate in leader meetings in which a group of students from the main club have a separate meeting a few days prior to prepare for the next full club meeting. Sen argues that lenience in club structure is just as important as strictness in club structure. “In Chess Club, when everyone’s working together, we learn the most, and we have the most fun,” Sen said. Activities coordinator Becky
Phillips is in charge of all the clubs at Skyview. “Club attendance is based on student interest,” Phillips said. “Some clubs don’t make it past a year, but some clubs, like Chess Club for example, keep on coming back.” Phillips doesn’t believe that clubs necessarily need a high attendance rate to be successful. She does note that higher attendance rates lower the risk of clubs failing and disbanding. Sen doesn’t believe that clubs with low attendance rates or unbalanced structure should be deemed failures. “Success is a relative term. It can be defined in so many ways, it’s impossible to assign a singular definition to it,” Sen said. “You need to remember that you still have to have fun. You can’t have a club that’s like a classroom, because no one would want to go to that. Instead, we need to all collaborate and find out what we want.”
