By: Larysa Lewyckyj

“Move over!”

“Stop shoving me!”

“Hey, come sign up for fashion show with me.”

“What’s the G.A.A?”

“God, these niners are so loud!”

Club Fair starts off the same each year– the crowds, the questions, and the annoyed upperclassmen. This year in the new building, the Commons are overflowing with staff and students who are running around with pens, pencils, and flyers.

The Club Fair at North Toronto is an opportunity for students to learn about the different clubs that are offered at N.T. But is it worth it? Is Club Fair really helpful?

“Club Fair is ideal, because it gives people another chance to sign up for a club that they wanted to join, but they missed the meeting or was busy,” says a grade 10 student, Jillian Chan.

Shannon Kelsall, also in grade 10, agrees. “Club Fair lets you know about what clubs you can join, and it gives you more information about them, which is very helpful when you’re deciding what to sign up for.”

Different tables are spread out throughout the Commons, and each club has its own spot.  Club Heads stand behind these tables and answer questions about their clubs. This helps many students, especially those who are new to N.T; learn about clubs that they might not have known about otherwise.

But not everybody feels the same way. Since Club Fair is held during the school day, many teachers aren’t too thrilled about having their classes missed or cut short, and others feel that it gets too crowded, and, as a result, no one gets to see anything.  According to Katie Lye, “it gets really crowded, and it is hard to see.”

Students were seen standing on their tiptoes, and they were elbowing their ways fiercely through the crowd, just to sign up for a desired club. The new school has very little open space, and the Commons is pretty much the only place for Club Fair.

I agree with many of the students at North Toronto: Club Fair is a worthwhile event and should be held annually. However, a compromise can be made – for example, Club Fair could be held at lunch, so that classes would not have to be missed, and only those who needed information about clubs would go. This would reduce the number of people in the Commons during Club Fair, making it less crowded. Now, that’s an ideal place that will attract people.

Others think that Club Fair should only be for Grade 9’s and new students, because returning students already know the drill. I disagree, because clubs change every year. An example would be the 30 hour famine. It has been cut down to 24 hours, and the process is a bit different. In my opinion, Club Fair is worthwhile for any student.