Young teacher making booster club

[dovejohn80]

Hey there,
I recently became a teacher and want to find a fun way to connect to my students, which I share the same hobbies with. I was thinking of making a booster club. I have grown up in Europe, so I have never been in a booster club myself, as it isn’t a thing there. I was wondering: Is it weird for teachers to run booster clubs? Do I run the risk of no one joining?

[Yankee]

Well, I think it would depend on the objective(s) of the club. In the U.S. booster clubs are often run in high schools and typically associated with the entire school but focused on sports activities throughout the respective seasons. There are also financial considerations that are addressed with fund raisers. So, in brief. what would you be "boosting"?

[Skrej]

At least in the US, booster clubs are mostly fundraising organizations to help supplement extracurricular activities where school funding falls short. It often involves parents and other adult community members as much as, if not more than the students, although sometimes students are involved. Regardless, it's more about fundraising and moral support than mutual interest in a particular activity or hobby.

My small rural school system was fortunate enough to have a surplus of funds due to taxes on the extensive oil and gas fields in the region, so our booster club was mostly just adults getting together to cheer on students in extracurricular activities - organized road trips and charters to away events, wearing the school colors, providing various cookouts or feeds, etc. If they sold anything, it was just school pride apparel, and even that was mostly just to make custom silk-screening orders feasible.

It is common for teachers to be the faculty sponsor for special interest clubs, however - things like Chess Club, Science Club, Drama Club, Art Club, etc. I think something like that sounds more in line with what you're wanting to do. I'd imagine your school would have some specific guidelines, but as a general approach, I'd suggest deciding on the focus of your club, then meet with your director or principal to see if they'll allow and support it. Then post some flyers and/or use social media to promote an interest meeting, where you'll see what kind of interest there is (or isn't). If there's enough interest, then you can proceed.

You may want, or your school may even require, at least some kind of rough charter and possibly elected officers. Again, your school probably has some guidelines on what an official school club is required to have as well as some minimum membership numbers, etc.