With over a thousand student schedules to arrange, the counselors at Lewis-Palmer High School hold registration for everyone, including eighth graders, six months before the start of school in August. Lewis-Palmer sets up its an annual eighth grade night where the eighth graders can gather additional information on registering for their freshman year classes and sign up for clubs and sports.

The last few years, clubs and sports have become the highlight of eighth grade night. In order to replace the graduating seniors, members and athletes of clubs and sports teams rush to recruit incoming freshman.

Jacqueline Vaughan, 10, found that eighth grade night was an artistic opportunity for hard work and creativity. The signs covered in acrylic and the artwork that lined the booth took a little effort from the members of Art Club.

“We set up two easels with two of our paintings which were on multiple canvases. We made a black and white poster to hang on the table, and then we had a giant purple one that Ailsa Young, 10, ran around with,” Vaughan said.

Each year, the booths become more decorated and elaborate as the representatives for each table vie for possible athletes and members. Incoming freshman entered the gymnasium and were greeted by students, coaches and advisers that have adorned their tables with trophies, jerseys, candy and many other attention-getters. Brynna Siminoff, 10, is a member of the Rock Climbing Team and she, along with her teammates, were repelling themselves from the walls to support their organization.

“We took our harnesses and a belay that only goes up, and then kinda locks when it tries to go down, and we climbed up the wall, and then just hung there,” Siminoff said.

Though there were many eighth graders wandering about the gym, much of the commotion came from the people at the tables. Around some of the booths such as Field Hockey and Tennis, athletes were demonstrating the sport along the walkways. Other organizations such as Poms, Cheer and Football were bouncing around with signs and handing out flyers.

“I think that we were successful even though some people didn’t sign up, they did seem interested in joining, A lot of people looked over at our booth, and hopefully that they will tell their friends that there was an art club,” Vaughan said.

This night was extremely important for some clubs as members are sorely needed to keep the club or sport functioning successfully. Exposing the incoming freshman class to the available extracurricular option allows for both the student to find a club for themselves and for the club to gain members that will be interested and engaged in that activity.

“I also wanted to bring more people into clubs because we need more girls to compete in rock climbing and since there are a lot of guys leaving drama club we need need more guys in that club too,” Siminoff explained.
The clubs and athletics of Lewis-Palmer put a good amount of energy into marketing their organization to the incoming freshman. The recruiters always need new members and eighth grade night has become a the recruitment hub at Lewis-Palmer. The 2016-2017 school year is right around the corner, and eighth grade night was a wonderful way to introduce it.