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Starting an After-School Computer Club?
Kai_MH asks: "When I moved up to my high school this year (I'm a Sophomore), I was surprised to find that there was no 'computer' or 'technology' club at the school. Sure, there's A/V, but what fun is carrying TV sets around? So, I'd like to approach my school's administration about starting an after-school computer club. I'd like to educate my peers on the alternatives to Windows (Linux and Open Source), how hardware works and fits together, job offerings in computer-related fields, and anything else that may be of interest. Perhaps we can do fund-raisers to build and upgrade a computer for the club, which could be donated to the school or community? Does anyone have suggestions on this? Has anyone tried this before? I've had a lot of support from my peers, but I'm still not quite sure how to go about it."
Do NOT mention 'hacking', 'cracking', or anything like that, EVEN if you are joking!
:-)
Remember, older people on a whole know less about technology than younger people do. They may think you're serious and refuse to allow the club to be created. Worse yet, some control-freak of a teacher may try to use it as an excuse to shut the club down after it gets started.
On that note, that's another thing to watch out for: teachers who may have agenda of their own, or just be control-freaks, who don't want to see the students actually PLAYING with technology. And for God's sake, if you're going to do anything that you think your school might not be happy about, make sure you don't get caught. (Not that I did anything like that when I was in high school...
"Girls." Or "boys." You've got the rest of your life to be a geek. Go for band or drama or photography or something at least marginally social and get out and be active. Trust me, it'll be worthwhile.
The process of starting a club or sport at my school is readily known.
First, you need a sponsoring teacher (or teachers). Even if this isn't required, it would help to have a teacher with you when you approach administration. Maybe you know a computer teacher who would be interested, if not, try a math or science teacher.
Then, you go to administration and ask about it. Basically, the school is just letting you use the building before/after the regular day, so there is no real reason they would deny it. When we started a fencing club, we had to prove it would be safe, but that was all.
I'm interested to know why you want a computer club? If you guys are just going to be doing a LAN party, great, but why do you want school sponsorship? Colleges see right through BS clubs and activities.
Just don't be an obnoxious zealot. Education is about being informed of alternatives, not cramming the One True Thing down people's throats.
Show them what's good about Linux/BSD/etc and what's good about Windows and viceversa. Then let them make their own minds. But bashing Windows (or viceversa) to make Linux look better is not a very bright idea, as experience has always shown.
I.e., don't use Slashdot as your source for enlightenment. Then you'll be OK.
Don't take this the wrong way, the jokes kind of funny, but I don't think its either true or a good thing to go around promoting.
/. Whatever).
There are a growing number of computer chicks out there, and I happen to be dating one (I know, I've been told before that this can't be true as I read
My point is that this type of joke is just a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. Geek girls exist, go find one and try not to talk about star trek.
The only way to get a CS club started is to convince at least one teacher first, and have him/her help talk to the adminstrators.
Another hint: don't try to sell them linux. Teachers, administrators, librarians, etc, like having something that they're used to on their computers. If you change it, you'll get the club disbanded.
Good luch. You'll need it.
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First, remember that you are only young once
But if you MUST play games now, go to a LAN party, like most other people do
I have a LAN party every other month, and there are MANY athletes that show up to these events, but even a "jock" is going to pick on or beat up the computer club geeks on a regular basis.
Don't get me wrong, computers are great things
In a couple years, there will be MANY more people doing what you want to do now, but while you are in high school, this probably won't go over too well. Wait until you are in college to do something like this
This isn't a flame or a troll, just the facts!
HallmarkOrnaments.Com
I'm a high school junior and one of my friends decided to start a computer club this year. I attended a few meetings until I realized nothing was happening. Last I heard, they got suckered into making a new school webpage. No one can program (which rules programming competitions out), and no one's taken any initiate to teach anyone how to program or anything of the like. Maybe you could have people just sorta show peopel what they do with their computer, try to get people interested in new things, and essentially provide a support group. Case in point, I suppose: make sure you have a goal going into it. A computer club for its own sake just doesn't work.
First of all, you need some sort of educational goals for the club. You seem that you have some good ideas. You want to teach peers about various things you know about technology. You just need to make sure that the other members who will join your club have the same goals.
Which means at every one of your meetings, you should have a topic to discuss and stay in that vicinity.
Many people, especially administrators, might see your club as a hacker group or a bunch of teenage warez traders before it even starts. So be sure that none of that type of stuff goes on in the club at all.
As far as all the warnings that you'll suffer wedgies, etc... I'd really not worry about it too much. A/V people are always depicted as being the brunt of the football team's abuse on TV, but at my high school the A/V people were actually seen as being pretty cool because they showed off exaclty what types of stuff they did.
Also, if "computers" is too broad of a subject for a club, you can change your focus, and at the same time de-nerdify it. Provide a project that students can put together and show off to the school at large.
For example, if you are interested in games, you could start a digital entertainment club. You can talk about game projects, stuff like SDL and OpenGL and then you might be able to wow the normal kids by getting a Linux kit for PS2 and making a simple game on it or something similar.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
I can sympathize with your library plight. When I was in high school I got thrown out of my school's library for "hacking DOS" after I went to the DOS prompt from Windows(3.1) to copy a disk. Later on, when my programming class took a trip to the library, I had to use a computer separate from the normal student pool so that somebody could sit over my should and watch everything that I did. People are idiots :(
Sure they exist. But in general, they are an even bigger PITA to deal with than the so called normal ones.
Uh, yeah. Geek girls exist. Cute, slim geek girls exist. Just because you've not found one, doesn't mean that they don't exist.
Oddly enough, I *am* a geek girl, and I would say that I'm less of a pain in the ass than my non-geek counterparts. I'm low-maintenance, and don't ask the stupid "What are you thinking?", "Would you still love me if I had no arms?" questions.
My husband never has to explain why he wants to upgrade [piece of hardware|OS] or why he wants [software|game|hardware|whatever]. I never have to explain why I want to do X instead of Y, or what I do for a living. Both of us drool over the latest hardware. It's nicer than dating a non-geek. It's super-easy to get along with someone who's got many of the same interests. [In our case, computers, crafts, and action, drama, and sci-fi movies, along with some anime.]
It's a little wrong to say a tomato is a vegetable. It's a lot wrong to say it's a suspension bridge.
Don't get me wrong, you sound like you make a hell of a geek wife, but alot of those things you mention are actually the things I love about women.
Sure there are times when I want them to just throw on a damn t-shirt so we can go to the grocery store, but there are also the times when I want them to spend time looking nice. Something just doesn't feel right if I'm not getting harrassed for buying the latest IPod. There is a nice system of checks and balances there.
I think it's the blinders that geeks put on to actually get work done. The intense focus on technicalities and the small issues that makes other people think geeks are weird. The social ineptitude comes from spending more time with machines than people. People are notoriously illogical and unpredictable.
I even faced culture shock coming to my current job, where the 'junior techies' in the helpdesk aren't geeks; they're good at what they do, yes, but they don't have the dry sense of humor and the love of puns and wordplay that most geeks have.
Going to the movies is just an example of one of those things that people expect couples to do together. You can apply that to watching TV, playing a sport, taking a hike, etc. If you have to trade arranging flowers for "being able" to watch your NFL|NHL|Soccer(football) game, it's the same as promising to take her to [chick flick] to have her go with you to [action movie].
It's a little wrong to say a tomato is a vegetable. It's a lot wrong to say it's a suspension bridge.
I went to a public high school (J. T. Hoggard, Wilmington, NC, class of 2000), and I started the School Computer Service and Information club (Yes, SCSI.) Here's what I had to do to get one started:
First, find other interested students. You can't have a club unless you have interested students, so go find people who'll be interested.
Second, go find yourself an adviser/sponsor. I used my guidance counselor, who was both a good friend of mine, and was taking computer classes at the community college to help her keep up with new technology. Find a good teacher who's enthusiastic about this kind of stuff - not just one who'll sit around to make sure nobody breaks things, but one who'll actively help you lead the club. Unless you've got experience running clubs before, you're going to need some help. I had no clue what I was doing with fundraisers and such, but Mrs. Spackman helped me out a lot with getting things organized.
After I rounded up a good number of students and talked to our to-be-adviser, I had to talk to the Student Council. Usually, they're the ones who control the formation of official school clubs and such. I had to write up a club constitution and purpose and present it in front of the Student Council Association, and they voted on whether or not to instate us as an official club.
If you get approved... congrats. Now you have to run it. Service around the school and community is good. We set up a project where teachers could leave us notes saying they needed help, and when they were available, and we'd send out a club member to help them during free hours or after school. We also managed to help out some people around Wilmington, and helped a nearby school system build a few hundred computers after Hurricane Floyd destroyed all of theirs.
Finally - make sure you prepare next year's club leaders before the year is over. After I graduated, the club lasted for a few years (and our adviser got moved to a different school), and I currently don't know if the SCSI Club still exists. Better preparation may have helped us take care of that, but who knows...
Good luck with everything!
Thats why I don't parade myself around as a computer geek. I have a lot more to offer in a relationship than a solid understanding of UNIX. Computers can be a career and a hobby, but they don't have to be your entire life. As much as I enjoy my computer I would rather have a girlfriend that didn't know a thing about them.
And frankly, I like a girl to get dressed up when we go out. The same way I get dressed up. It feels good looking good and being with someone that looks good. Its fun when you go out and catch people checking out your girlfriend, because she's with you, and isn't going anywhere.