Senior and Book Club president Emma Choi made efforts to shift people’s idea of what Book Club can be, which spurred an increase in both popularity and membership of the club.
Choi accredited the club’s increase in popularity to her efforts to erase the common stereotype from the club’s surface.
“I think people had this perception that [Book Club] is ‘nerdy,’ or, ‘not cool,’” Choi said. “So this year, I marketed us as the most punk rock club at school.”
Choi said the Book Club was able to complete its change in profile because of her attempts to promote the club with a more confident attitude.
“We just adopted a general attitude of irrational confidence,” Choi said. “Also, chocolate cookies.”
Senior Noah Daniel said the unconventional attitude has had an impact on the attendance of the club.
“The punk rock attitude has definitely made a difference,” Daniel said. “Emma has implemented a strict alternative dress code for some of the meetings[…] and Emma’s aggressive marketing has an emphasis on less reading and more eating, and that has really increased attendance.”
According to Choi, the uncommon perspective of this club comes from their reading choices, specifically their initial selection.
“Our first book is James Baldwin’s Notes of Native Son which is hallmarked as one of the key pieces of modern black literature,” Choi said. “We all have this attitude, especially since we’re reading James Baldwin, who’s like, the most punk rock person ever.”
English teacher and Book Club sponsor James Macindoe said the most important thing is support between members.
“We need to make sure we’re supporting one another as we read and then showing up. That’s true for a lot of things, but especially this: in order to be a part of it, you have to show up,” Macindoe said.