Lunch club policies reshape student activities

Changes to lunch clubs for the 2026-27 school year include a new eight member threshold and revised meeting times. 

Four newly established clubs made the roundup as well. The changes aim to encourage stronger participation while creating more consistent opportunities for students to engage in extracurricular activities during the year. 

Under the new policy, student-led groups must have at least eight members to operate. Previously, students could start a lunch club with a minimum of five members. The administration introduced the higher threshold after finding that some clubs struggled to maintain participation and efficiency as students became involved in sports, field trips and other commitments. 

In the past, organizations eventually dropped under the previous five-member threshold due to students’ participation spread across a growing number of clubs, which posed a challenge for some groups to remain active. “We knew by raising the number of students, it would, in turn, limit the number of clubs, because there aren’t as many students to go around, and so that hopefully, if a student group has eight or so students, they would also be able to more effectively plan activities,” Head of school Mr. Jolly said. 

The new requirement resulted in 13 clubs being cancelled. While the administration anticipated a decrease in the number of student-led organizations, the decision also affected students who invested significant time in their clubs in previous years. 

Senior Justin Son, former treasurer of Students Organizing Against Racism (SOAR), participated in the organization for over five years. Son voiced his opinion on how SOAR cannot continue under the new requirement. Despite this concern, Son supports the reasoning behind the change, due to the overlap among clubs and some groups previously consisting primarily of executive board members. 

“I agree that there should have been a limit to the number, a higher bar to the number of members in clubs because there were way too many clubs. And then all of the clubs kind of felt redundant to me and kind of repetitive,” Son said. “As one club advocated for this, one club advocated for that, and then they end up doing the same thing. 
So I think this new policy is a good change to our school.”

In addition to the membership requirement, the school revised the structure of lunch clubs meetings. High school lunch clubs now meet from 12:25 to 12:45 p.m., while middle school clubs meet from 12:55 to 1:15 p.m. The club period was reduced from 25 to 20 minutes. 

The change followed concerns raised by the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) during the previous school year that students did not have enough time to eat lunch. The revised schedule allows high school students to enter the cafeteria after the club period ends at 12:45 p.m., giving them roughly 30 minutes to eat before fourth period. 

The reduced schedule also allows students to enter the cafeteria without waiting in line for a longer time, giving them more flexibility to choose when to get lunch. “The main reason for doing that is that the passageway for students to depart and go to lunch was something that the parents, in the PTO last year, talked about many students weren’t having enough time to eat lunch,” Mr. Jolly said. 

The shorter meeting time also affected how students use their lunch period. “I think the change does have positive and negative sides. For example, the positive side is that beforehand, there was a long lunchtime, and some kids couldn’t really have much time to eat lunch,” senior Jake Park said. 

Students however reflect that the reduced time poses a challenge for people to complete all of their planned activities. Clubs already had limited time at only 25 minutes to finish large tasks. Now they have to adjust their activities to fit within the shorter 20-minute period. 

Teachers and students also introduced four new lunch clubs for season one: BioLink Club, DIS Medical Club, Card Card Card Club and Music Volunteer Club. The additions provide additional opportunities to participate in activities based on their academic interests, hobbies and service goals. 

Lunch clubs will not meet during early dismissal days, modified schedule days or assembly days. The clearer schedule allows administrators and teachers to adjust club plans when the regular school day changes. 

Students whose clubs no longer meet the eight-member requirement can work with their peers and faculty moderators to recruit additional members and potentially restart their organizations. Existing clubs will continue operating under the new 20-minute schedule throughout the school year.

The administration will continue monitoring the policy throughout the school year as they evaluate whether the new requirements and schedule lead to stronger participation and spirit from student organizations.