This past week, I organized board turnovers for Andover Business Club, the club I founded in ninth grade. What struck me most was how much this club has grown and evolved during the last four years since its founding, and it's hard to believe the ABC's evolution wasn't something I'd noticed quite as saliently before. Perhaps this speaks to the nature of being so stuck in the moment that I hadn't really taken a step back, taken a bird's-eye view of the club, and seen the sweat and effort of the current board.
When I reflected on this club, everything felt as it should be. Everything we possessed–a club blog, a prolific Instagram, an established email list of 300 people, and our Abbot Grant–felt "normal." It felt inherent in being a member of ABC, knowing that these tools existed, and I think I began to take these things for granted. That is, until board turnovers lead me to pass everything ABC owned to the Class of 2022. It suddenly reminded me of how this club began.
It began four years ago in my second term of high school, standing alone with a poster board at the quietest Club Rally of the year. As a freshman, I had little idea how Club Rally worked. But I noticed how most club stands had at least two people manning them. It was predominantly upperclassmen at the stands, trying to sell their club to younger members. Freshman-me had little idea of this. I felt out of place as the youngest member of the school trying to sell their club idea to older students. Yet that's how ABC began. It began with an email list of 0 and a poster board in the corner of the Commons during winter Club Rally.
During our first year, there were just 10 consistent members, all of whom I later nominated to the board. I was the only girl and the youngest member. It was during our first year that I began establishing the club blog to track our discussions each week. Year 2 was perhaps the most tumultuous. ABC grew from a discussion-based club to one that launched real ventures. We began with BluBoxes, an on-campus delivery service for toiletries, school supplies, and snacks (it was primarily snacks lol). We wanted to be the Amazon of Andover and sell these goods at cheaper prices than CVS. But ABC had $0 in startup funds. In fact, the BluBoxes funding came from one of our board member's personal pocket.
That spring, I decided that personal funds weren't sustainable so I applied for an Abbot Grant. I remember writing the 5 page long application, filled head-to-toe with words. Then, one night, I dressed up in my best dress with a white cardigan to present Andover Business Club's idea–and why we needed funding–to the Abbot Grant committee. Merely in my second year at Andover, I had no idea that Abbot Grants were usually given to teachers to fund certain projects or for clubs to bring in speaker, but never for business ventures. I was also first on the list, being "Andover Business Club." I was surprised a few weeks later to receive news that I'd successfully harnessed $2000 for the club.
With ample funding for our ventures, an established email list, and growing membership to the club, Year 3 was about making Andover Business Club more inclusive and accessible. In fact, this goal is so imperative that it's something I told the new board to continue pursuing. ABC had already existed for 2 years, yet at the start of Year 3, I was still the only girl in the club. We heavily recruited underclassmen and girls that year. And by the start of Year 4, we had three girls readily involved.
This year, ABC meet over Zoom meetings, so I was surprised when I saw many girls in the class of 2024 join the club. Now, having lead my last ABC meeting, I'm proud to say that almost 40% of the club consists of girls.
ABC has evolved tremendously over the years. In fact, during Year 2, I thought the club wouldn't make it after the logistics of running ventures and doing discussions threatened to tear apart the club. But with the guidance of our club advisor, we managed to make it through. I'm tremendously proud of all this club has accomplished, and it was hard to see while I was leading ABC. I got so hung up on the logistics, finding new ways to grow the club, and retaining membership over Zoom that I couldn't see the big picture. I couldn't see how this club stood legitimately at square 0 four years ago. However, there's still room to grow. And this idea of inclusivity and accessibility remains important, as I've told the next board. It's not just gender and racial diversity that matters, but ABC also must be socioeconomically inclusive. Making the club low barrier to entry, picking accessible topics, and reaching out to students is so critical. But I have tremendous faith in the new board. They've inherited many great tools, such as our instagram, blog, email list, and Abbot Grant and they've worked together for at least two years already.
I'm grateful for Andover Business Club. It's a place where students have been encouraged to forge their leadership, organization, and communication skills, but more importantly, for me personally, ABC was a place where I made the most friends in high school. And for this I'm forever grateful.
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