This year, junior Club Liaison Aki Benjamin, alongside the newly established Club Council, is working towards strengthening adherence to club credit policies.

Sophomore Executive-at-Large Tajrian Noor said, “The main thing is that we want to make sure that the students know [the] credit they’re receiving for the different clubs they’re in.” According to Aki, students need to attend 70% of meetings if they are club members and 80% if they are on the board of a club.

Club credits, which measure students’ attendance and commitment, are earned through taking part in clubs, sports teams, and academic teams. Obtaining these credits is mandatory for those interested in the Townsend Harris Honors Diploma, honors societies such as Archon and Arista, and club board positions, as outlined by the community service handbook.

Students may refer to a master directory created by the Club Council in cooperation with the club presidents to view their current fall semester club credit. This document was created by taking inspiration from last year’s club credit database that similarly displayed all club attendance. Aki noted that this year, he wants to emphasize recording attendance on the master document, a process first presented last year.

In response to privacy concerns regarding the publication of all student attendance records, Aki said, “While it is possible that some privacy was lost, club presidents were informed that they could request to withhold certain [students’ attendance from being public] and still can do so if they wish.”

Coordinator of Student Activities Jaimie Baranoff said, “I think the enforcement has been smooth…if people want to claim credit for something, then they have to do their part. I think that 70% of meetings are pretty manageable.”

“Students sometimes overextend themselves and join a lot of different organizations, so [the club credit system] might push people a little more to pick and choose the activities that are the most meaningful to them,” she said.

While the club credit system at Townsend Harris High School is not new, recent conversations among students have raised questions about its fairness and flexibility.

Freshman Anna Mazur said, “I think the policy is fair because you can’t just go into one meeting of each club and just get the credit like that. It’s not fair for the club leaders that spend their time and effort making these clubs just to go to one meeting and drop it.”

However, many students simultaneously participate in multiple extracurricular activities, such as Festival of Nations (FON), S!NG, and school sports teams, making it difficult to attend 70% of club meetings. While these commitments are also eligible for club credit, they often conflict with other club meetings.

Senior Ebube Ajulu, a member of the girls varsity basketball team, said, “It was really hard to achieve the requirements, because I had a lot of sports conflicts, so it was basically impossible to go to meetings [during the season].”

Ms. Baranoff said, “If there is ever a situation where somebody, for whatever reason, can’t attend 70% of meetings, we can deal with that on a case-by-case basis.”

Senior Ditya Mehta, President of Psychology Club and Vice President of the Hindu Student Association, said that because the club credit policy this year is more regulated, it encourages clubs to hold more meetings. However, “it’s harder [to hold these additional meetings] because … FON was earlier, and it took up a lot of [club members’] time,” she said. “We did not have a lot of meetings due to that.”

Junior Sabah Jivraj, president and founder of the Toastmasters Youth Leadership Program, agreed with this sentiment and said, “We really try to work with [club members]. But, I think for the most part, everyone that has 80% attendance was able to get club credit, and those that didn’t …, we kind of worked with them to find out why.”

“I think that it both [supports and limits student involvement], because I think that … it’s kind of making it so you can’t participate in more than one thing on the same day. But I do think it really encourages people that don’t have anything else going on to come to the club meetings” said Sabah.

According to Aki, “It’s important to gauge students. It’s important to keep students accountable so that they know whether they are considered members of the club or not considered members of the club.”