How To: Start a Politics Club at Your School

A political club at your school can help you and fellow students become active and informed citizens. And, when you want to rally the troops to support a town referendum or community measure you’ll have a crew to help you out. When big elections roll around, you’ll have a team to register voters, and knock on doors for candidates.

1. Decide what you want the focus of your club to be. If local politics are the most important to you, focus on what’s going on in your town and how you can participate. If you think there’s a need for more dialogue about national politics and youth issues, start that up.
2. Ask your school for classroom space to meet as an official club. If that won't work, talk to people at your local recreation centers, churches, synagogues, etc. to see if they’ll lend you space for a weekly meeting.
3. Ask a teacher, coach, or community leader if you think you might need an adult adviser to help reserve a space or lead conversation. This is definitely not a must, but could be helpful depending on your school policies. Find an adult who is politically active has knowledge of political systems, like a history or social studies teacher.
4. Recruit members.Network your school and community for people who might be interested, and hold a few open meetings after school for people to come check out.
5. Decide how the tropic of each meeting will be discussed. You can have one member lead the meeting each week, bringing an issue that they care about to the table. Or, you can have a dialogue about several issues each week.
6. Elect officers for the club.Politics in action! Hold brief elections and allow ‘candidates’ to explain why they’re the right person for the job. Most clubs should have a President, VP, and Secretary to handle the basic tasks.
7. Cover the basics of government in your first few meetings. Hand out copies of the U.S. constitution, explain the electoral college, you get the picture. If you can invite a speaker from a local university or college or elected office, even better!
8. Comb through current events. Read the paper, websites, and magazines to find out what’s going on. Print or tear out what interests you or what makes you mad and bring it to the next meeting.
9. Bring a few key issues to the table at your weekly meeting. Let each member add to the discussion, but make sure there is a structure to the discussion. If you want people to take action (like hand out fliers for a candidate, publicize an upcoming vote, or start a letter-writing campaign) make sure each member is clear on the action by the end of the meeting.
10. End the meeting by asking each member to bring a specific issue or report on an action taken the next week. Make sure every club member has a job at the end of each meeting, even if it’s just bringing snacks for the meeting!