How and Why the Club Program Changed

Browning’s Riley’s Way Foundation chapter volunteers at the Flushing Food Collaborative, distributing bags of food for 350 people in the Flushing community, November 15, 2022. The club is one of the many ‘Panther Pride Clubs’ that are offered to Upper Schoolers that require reflection and benefit the community. (Photo: Naledi Semela)

The club system was recently revamped for the 2022-23 school year in order to allow students to join multiple clubs. The changes, which also included the debut of a Club Fair, were led by Upper School Dean of Student Life Anna LaSala-Goettler, more colloquially known as Ms. L-G. 

“Clubs give a sweet, steady, and passionate beat to the rhythm of this school,” Ms. L-G said. “It was awesome to kick off the year with a Club Fair.”

The event took place near the beginning of the school year and gave students an opportunity to discover clubs in which they may be interested in being a member. Club leaders manned a station and were able to provide information to fellow students about what their club offers. This was the first time the school has done an event like this before, but it seemed to be a welcomed change.

The new system follows a similar structure to previous school years, but with a few differences. This year students are able to join two clubs that meet during the school day on Mondays and Wednesdays. Students are also welcome to join additional clubs that meet before or after school.

Students are now able to join one club that meets on Mondays and a Panther Pride club that meets every other Wednesday. These Panther Pride clubs are meant to support Browning’s four core values and are intended to be a way for students to give back to the Browning community.

“I think this helps to give students more opportunities to participate in meaningful activity and connect to what it means to be a Panther,” Ms. L-G said. 

Some of the Panther Pride clubs are clubs familiar to the Browning community like the student newspaper, the Grytte, as well as the yearbook club. Some new clubs this year are exclusively for Panther Pride club periods such as Riley’s Way, which is a community service that focuses on giving back to the Browning community as well as the New York community.

In addition to the Panther Pride clubs, Browning has welcomed many new clubs to its club program this year. Some of these new clubs include the Rocketry Club. The Rocketry Club was an afterschool club in previous years but now has become a full-fledged club at Browning.

This year Browning decided to redo the structure of a system that the school has been using for many years as part of an effort to promote purpose within the student body.

“We thrive and we learn when we feel connected to what we're doing, [and] when we can name its purpose in our lives,” Ms. L-G said.