As a joint effort between Student Council and the administration, the second club day of the school year was held today. To accommodate the 30-minute club period, each class was shortened by five minutes.

Many clubs chose to take advantage of the extra time by organizing meetings during the session instead of during long lunch.

Harker Business Club (HBC) held an informational meeting in Nichols Auditorium specifically for students who will be attending the Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) States conference next week.

“I thought it was beneficial because I like having my lunch free,” HBC member Kristen Park (9) said.

Like HBC, Red Cross Club used the period to make blood drive posters for Red Cross Week next month, and Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (WiSTEM) discussed ideas for potential future projects including designing application software for the Android.

Although WiSTEM Treasurer Kristine Lin (11) felt that the allocated time was beneficial, she expressed sentiments similar to other students’ thoughts of the first club day on January 23.

“Since a lot of clubs were then meeting at club time, the turnout at the meetings is generally lower [due to conflicts],” Kristine said.

Senior Alan Soetikno, who is Key Club President and the Community Service Coordinator of Red Cross Club and Interact, also echoed similar responses. He noted that half the usual number of people showed up for the Red Cross meeting in comparison to regular lunch meetings.

“If the whole point of club period was to organize all the clubs to make it easier, it didn’t really,” Alan said. “It’s not like people would have forgotten about their club. In fact, people still hold club meetings during lunch regardless of whether there is club time.”

Students who had no mandatory club meetings chose to use the spare time to work on homework, study for tests, or simply socialize with friends.