There are currently 74 clubs at Skyline, most started by students who have now graduated. Have you ever wondered how to start your own club, but you didn’t know how? Luckily, Skyline has many opportunities for you to start one. 

“I started Pickleball club and I am the president of Gardening club…and Model UN. But I only started pickleball club,” said Liam McNulty (‘24). “ [I] talked to a few of my friends to see if anyone was interested in [pickleball club]…I heard that it seemed like a lot of people would be interested in playing pickleball so I thought it would be a good idea.”

The first step in starting a club is finding at least one friend who is interested in the club and running it with you. Then find a day you can both attend. After that comes one of the more difficult parts of the process: finding an advisor.

Sophia Nielson (‘24), fellow founder of the pickleball club, remembered Martha Stange, a community assistant at Skyline, plays a lot of pickleball. “So Sophia decided to ask her [to be the advisor],” said McNulty (‘24), “and she said yes and had all the nets and paddles.” 

If you aren’t as lucky as Liam and Sophia and can’t think of any staff who could advise your club, don’t worry. There are ways to find an advisor other than just asking around.

“If they have no clue on who in the building has that interest, they should send an email to Laurie Adams ([email protected]), the athletic secretary,” said Stange. “[She] will send out an email to the entire staff regarding the club.”

The next step is getting the club approved. The advisor then needs to fill out the club form linked here: Clubs and Organizations 

“The main thing looked for [when approving clubs] is if another similar club already exists,” says Adams. This can be checked on the Skyline website on the club page. “Other than that, as long as it is school-appropriate, it is usually approved. Depending on the day and what is going on in the building, it shouldn’t take but a day or two at the most to be approved by [SLC principal] Delsie Sissoko’s office.” 

Once a club is approved, the club information is entered on the website. When a club sees its information listed, they can begin meeting, making school announcements, and posting approved flyers for the club on the magnet boards around the school.  

Thomas Clarke is a founder of the Pickleball Club.