As the lunch bell rang, signaling the start of the annual Club Rush on March 17, chaos erupted as a mass of students sprinted out of their third-period classes.
At the top of the quad steps, students discovered 23 tables scattered throughout the quad, each topped with In-N-Out burgers, Shamrock Shakes, Jamba Juice and more.
Among the participating clubs in this year’s rendition of the event were Interfaith, Interact and the newly established Filmmakers Club. To prepare the event, each club and its members had to carefully manage the logistics of fundraising.
According to activities director Matt Torrens, Club Rush is one of the biggest fundraising events of the year for many student organizations.
“The event was really successful for all clubs, and the newer clubs made a lot of money,” Torrens said. “The event was also a great way to bring a large number of students together.”
The Filmmakers club, led by sophomores Isaiah Vivero and Nick Bray, was among many of the clubs who fundraised for the first time this year. In order to ensure profit from the event, the club officers were careful in limiting the number of donuts they bought.
“We didn't want to go super big and just wanted to test out how we could sell,” Vivero said. “We accounted for the entire school being here and tried to get the right amount of donuts to where it was a safe amount but where we could still make a decent profit.”
In the end, the Filmmakers club came out with a clear profit that they are planning to use for video projects that the club will pursue.
As for the coordinating the event itself, club commissioners junior Kedar Abhyankar and senior Ellicia Chiu spent weeks ensuring that every aspect of the rush ran smoothly. Despite careful planning on the commissioners’ part, there were still issues that they ran into during the hectic lunch, such as the lack of music playing in the quad.
“There were a few other last-minute details that we missed such as selling tickets to first-period classes, but Mr. Torrens was a huge help,” Chiu said. “We had a few hardships with advertising, but what was most frustrating was keeping students inside the school during a closed-campus lunch.”
According to Chiu, the event as a whole was successful in terms of giving clubs the opportunity to profit, as the 24 clubs raised around $4,600 in total. Several popular items, such as In-N-Out burgers sold by Interfaith Club, sold out even before the bell rang.
“Overall, I think it was a success for our first Club Rush,” Fayad said. “We made a lot of money that we can invest right back into making the club better.”