House music, loud vibrant posters, endless shouting, people carrying ‘Debate Me’ signs, jump ropes slapping the floor. The annual Club Rally brought students together in the Snyder Center (Snyder) to explore and sign up for Andover’s hundred-so diverse student organizations.
Tue Linh Nguyen ’29 said she attended hoping to find clubs that matched her interests and signed up for The Revere, The Courant, and Philomathean Society. She said the energy of club members and the appearance of the tables influenced which clubs caught her attention.
“I think the amount of enthusiasm that someone had about their club is really evident about what kind of group it was and what kind of people were in there. I feel like if they had no enthusiasm and they were just sitting there, not a lot of people would join their club,” said Nguyen.
Club leaders similarly faced difficulties communicating their organizations’ goals in a crowded environment. Jonathan Oh ’27 — co-president of Mock Trial, editor of the Phillips Academy Innocence Club, co-head of Eco Action, and board member of Andover Korean Society — said his clubs prepared by assigning members responsibilities for posters, schedules and table shifts.
“During the fair it’s pretty overstimulating. There’s so much going on and there’s so many different stands and people yelling. It’s kind of hard to grab someone’s attention for a long period of time. So being able to convey the mission of the club or what the club does in such a short amount of time [is important],” said Oh.
Oh added that beyond the crowded environment, the Rally gives clubs a recruiting opportunity that is difficult to replicate during the school year. He said the event allows clubs to directly reach students who may be unfamiliar with their organizations rather than depending on existing members to spread information.
“I think Club Rally is kind of the only time where it’s designated to recruiting compared to without Club Rally it’s a lot of word of mouth. So instead of that, at the Club Rally, you get to have direct interaction with people you don’t know who might be interested in your club. I think it’s a good place where people, like newer students who don’t know about your club can learn more,” said Oh.
For younger students, the large number of organizations also made deciding which clubs to join challenging. Cyrus Shah ’30 said he attended hoping to find new clubs and ultimately planned to attend meetings before deciding which organizations he would continue with.
“Deciding which clubs I wanted to do was probably the biggest challenge. I decided I’ll just join a bunch of clubs and go to one meeting, and then if I don’t like them, I’ll just never go again. There were so many clubs that it was hard to decide which ones I actually wanted to try. I figured it would be easier to try them out first and then decide which ones I wanted to continue with,” said Shah.
The competition for student signups also led some clubs to focus on creating memorable experiences rather than relying solely on information about their organizations. Andover Economics Society co-president Henry Zimmerman ’27 said his club considered its recruitment experience from the perspective of new students and encouraged clubs to develop distinct identities especially at the Rally.
“I think if clubs went a little bit more out of their way to make the experience really memorable, thinking of whatever gimmicky thing you could do to promote your club, that’s a really valuable experience,” said Zimmerman.
Other clubs focused on creating a more approachable atmosphere. Mwaita Nyakujarah ’27, co-president of Women in Business and Finance and a board member of International Club, said her club prepared a poster and custom stickers in the Makerspace and emphasized making its table welcoming to students.
“The biggest challenge was making sure that everyone who was at my table was approachable and was not necessarily [crowding] the [Juniors]. We wanted to make sure that we brought a calm energy to the environment,” said Nyakujarah.
The Rally’s organization has changed over time as the number of participating clubs and students has grown. Chris Capano, Director of Student Activities, said the event was previously held outdoors during the daytime but was moved to the Snyder Center, providing a larger indoor space.
“It’s gotten more organized. A long time ago, it used to be outdoors during the daytime, which was difficult when the weather wasn’t good and made it harder for day students to come. Now we use the Snyder Center, which is a huge, open space. Everyone has plenty of room to set up without having to squeeze together,” said Capano.
Some clubs still had to share tables due to limited availability. Despite the open location of Snyder, some students noted that the space could be utilized better.
“If I could change one thing, [I would] space [the tables] out a bit more. I think it would help with [the problem of] people getting bunched together and also the sound traveling. I understand the gym was used for SAT [the next day], so I understand why they didn’t [fully utilize the space],” said Nguyen.
