When I was in ninth grade, I joined a few clubs and decided to make them my whole personality. Because I see these clubs as extensions of myself, I’ve gotten into heated arguments with my friends over which club is the best. As a result, I’m always on the lookout for information proving that my favorite club is better than theirs; this habit brought me to think about the concept of the oldest club.
The thought had remained in the back of my mind for a while. When I had to find a topic for this article, I became motivated to solve this relatively minor mystery. Holding the title of oldest club is impressive, especially given changing student interests and the rise of new, potentially more appealing clubs. The feat is even more impressive when we remember Great Neck South was founded in 1958. Now, even the question of the oldest club comes with stipulations. Many clubs are staples throughout high schools; others maintain membership in international organizations and shouldn’t be counted.
I initially believed it would be easy to solve the mystery: just ask the club advisors!
However, it was not that simple, much to my personal suffering. I quickly realized club advisors had changed throughout the years, which I probably should have assumed. Such changing of the guards, so to speak, had resulted in the disappearance of knowledge from the earliest days of the clubs.
Unwilling to concede that this information has been lost to history, I decided to pursue alternative methods of research. A quick look through the archives of The Southerner wasn’t very helpful, as The Southerner had not covered new clubs very often. However, yearbooks do cover changes in the club landscape and initially seemed to be a simple resource. Unfortunately, this method did not work either. Most of the clubs in 1959 Vista no longer exist. Many reflected the beliefs and values of the time, such as the Home Economics Club and the Future Nurses of America. Various cultural clubs also existed, such as the Spanish Culture Club and Le Cercle Français.
However, looking through other yearbooks from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, I was struck by how similar our current clubs are to the clubs back then. Today, an overwhelming majority of students participate in some form of community service, whether through the Community Action Committee or Students Against Drunk Driving. In the past, other service clubs existed, with notable examples being the Group Against Smoking and Teenagers Pitch In, which was once the most popular club in the school. In fact, you would be hard-pressed to find any modern club that didn’t have a notable parallel back then. If you’re a participant in Science Olympiad or Area-C, maybe the Biology Club, Ecology Club, or the Trailguides might’ve been for you. Like politics and debate? The Civil Rights Club, Forum Club, or the Political Awareness Club would be the perfect fit. Even fans of DECA could’ve been part of the Investment Club if they were just born 20 years earlier. Any and every club you can think of had a predecessor that students just like you enjoyed years ago.
In the end, the true takeaway from this journey might be the parallels we see in our past.
While individual clubs may fade with time, what won’t are the passions of students like you and me working and collaborating with other like-minded students. To conclude, I suppose I do owe an answer to the question. I can now say that the oldest club was under our noses the entire time: Exit 33. South’s literary and art magazine (originally called Satori) has been bringing student art and literature to the school since the early 1970s.
