On Oct. 1, students at Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) had the opportunity to explore the club options for the 2025-2026 school year during the annual Club Rush event. Throughout the lunch period, Dragons frequented representative booths set up in the main quad to learn about what each respective club does, offering a glimpse into activities they might be interested in partaking in during the year.
While mingling at the tables with their peers, students and faculty addressed the quality of the club offerings.
“I think there are maybe less tables than last year, but the turnout in terms of what the clubs brought, information and the signups I’ve seen at each table is more than we saw last year,” Foothill Tech principal Courtney Johnson said.
Though the club options for this year may have declined from last year, Dragons were able to explore a variety of interests with the addition of several new clubs, such as the Book Club, Math Club and the City Youth Group. Despite their recent formation, these clubs were able to attract members to their activities and missions.
“This is my first time doing it; it’s a new club, so I was a little nervous in the beginning that no one would sign up, but I got a lot of people to sign up, so I’m happy. I think it was the candy,” Hailey Stone ‘26, president of the new Book Club, said.
While many clubs on campus focus on in-school projects, some, such as the Foothill Tech chapter of the Rotary International Interact Club, serve the wider community, involving Dragons in local issues and volunteer movements.
“What we do is we go out doing volunteer acts. For example, we’ve done where we go out and we create Christmas trees out of cans … and we give that to Food Share, [and] we’ve given out presents for kids on the Avenue. It’s just a lot of acts of service,” Tristan Dooley ‘26, a representative of Interact Club, said.
Another group, the Environmental Club, aims to engage students in efforts both within the school and in local ecosystems, with an emphasis on climate literacy and opportunities to create change.
“We’re going to be refurbishing the garden that we have over here. It hasn’t been looking the best recently, so you wanna keep that looking green and healthy … We’re gonna be also learning about local organisms and habitats within our environment, especially off the Channel Islands, having some guest speakers, … what we do that affects them and things that we can change in our daily life to help upkeep the diversity in our open environments,” Siena Meter ‘26 said.
Dragons expressed the importance of events that highlight the presence of clubs on campus, as well as giving a chance for students of all grades to meet one another and interact.
“I’ve been seeing a lot of interesting people, lots of new people that I’ve never met. As a senior, I’m meeting a lot of the freshmen for the first time, and it’s been a fun experience,” Cynthia Hu ‘26, a founder of the new Math Club, said.
As the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, Dragons reflected on the opportunity for exploration and connection. “I think [clubs] will definitely help me throughout high school, just learning about many different subjects, but also connecting with different people throughout my years,” Zane Armstrong ‘29 said. Looking forward, Club Rush is just a preview of what students have in store for the 2025-2026 school year.
