Students have twelve classes they can take per year and over 60 clubs they can join. However, some clubs require students to take certain classes to be allowed to participate in the club.
Camas High School (CHS) boasts an abundance of unique courses and clubs. Including the Sports Medicine course and club, CamTech and Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) to name a few. Both CamTech and DECA require students to participate in certain courses to be able to join the club. Creating a struggle for students with limited schedules to partake in these clubs.
DECA’s primary focus is to prepare students for the future by focusing on developing presentation and public speaking skills. Students who wish to participate in DECA have to take one marketing class each year they participate in DECA. DECA focuses a lot on aspects of marketing and business which is why it requires students to have some general knowledge on the subject before joining.
“I am a member of CamTech and Sports Medicine clubs. To join Camtech I had to do a certain amount of courses and get a certain amount of credits, whereas for Sports Medicine I could just join without needing any prerequisites. I think it depends on the club as to whether or not taking certain courses should be required,” CHS junior Shalaka Deshpande said.
“There are prerequisites to join the technology programs and clubs. Each club [or] program has its own prerequisites. Generally, these prerequisites focus on what you will do in the club [or] program so you are joining with knowledge on the subject,” CHS teacher Matthew Chase said.
Having prerequisites is not entirely a bad thing, as it ensures that when students join a club or program they understand what is going on and can contribute easily. However, some classes like Sports Medicine have a club attached, but students who join the club do not have to have taken any sports medicine classes as they learn all the skills during the club meetings.
“I don’t think you should be required to take classes in order to join a club as sometimes students want to use the club to try out the subject and see if they like it before taking any classes in that subject. I think the best part about being a part of a sports medicine club is getting to learn new skills and help people,” CHS junior Bella Azpeitiamacias said.
Sometimes students do not have space in their schedule to take certain courses, so clubs like Sports Medicine where no courses are required are a great alternative. However, clubs that do require prerequisites do this for the student’s benefit, as they want the student to understand what is happening in the club before joining.
