Union County Magnet High School - Culture and Extracurricular Activities

Culture and Extracurricular Activities

Magnet is accepting and open to new cultures and tries to recognize and celebrate these cultures through the Multicultural Club, and French Club. In addition to this club, there is also drama club, Science Olympiad and math league for those interested in science and math competitions, golf club, community service club, robotics, Magnet Inventors Team, chess club, technology club, yearbook committee, art club, newspaper club (TechToday), video wall committee, class councils (one for each grade), and student council (whole school). Most clubs meet during lunch.

In October 2006, a small group of students formed an Anime Club to view and discuss anime, or Japanese cartoons. They met significant difficulty in forming the club due to opposition from the school board. Now these students meet under the permission of the Multicultural Club, and are forming a larger fanbase as the interest spread to other schools on campus. As of 2008, these students are considered to be a separate organization, known as "A.N.I.M.E." rather than the "Anime Club" as they do not have an advisor and are not an official school club. They are not listed in the student handbook as an extracurricular activity.

The school holds dances about once a month and annually, Magnet hosts a talent show and the Coffee House, which is put together by the drama club. In Spring 2006, the drama club has put on its first full-length production since 2003. Since 2006, the drama club included a musical group, and in 2007, musicals and singing acts were included in the annual "Coffeehouse" production.

The second largest club within the school district is 1257 Robotics Team. Because the school is oriented to math and science, the FIRST robotics team receives a lot of support. Although disbanded in 2006 due to loss of the founding members, the 1257 robotics team was reformed in the 2008-09 school year and is going strong once again.

Being enrolled in an engineering school, a few Magnet students also compete in the annual Union County College bridge building competition, which consists of teams of about five people each from all over the county. Teams are divided into novice and advanced categories, and each team must build a bridge with the given specifications (they change every year).

A new club at Magnet, which began in the 2007-08 school year, is the SMAC (Student Movement Against Cancer) club. The club was started by two students, and its main objective is to schedule, plan, and organize the annual Relay For Life held at the school. Since its inception, SMAC has become hugely successful, as evidenced by the success of UCMHS Relay for Life.

Magnet does not offer any varsity sports, but students are allowed to join sports teams in their home districts, provided they do not pose any scheduling conflicts. The Union County Vocational Technical School district offers after school intramurals. There is also a non-affiliated Ultimate Frisbee team that many Magnet students have chosen to become members of. Its first competitive year was 2007-08 where it entered in the ARJI youth tournament at Rutgers.

Clubs offered to students through both Magnet and the UCVTS district include Art Club, Bridge Building Club, Chess Club, Class Councils (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior), Community Service Club (and SMAC), Dance Club, Drama Club (and Tech Crew), Future Business Leaders of America, French Club, French National Honor Society, Intramurals, Marine Corps Fitness Club, Math League, Multicultural Club, National Honor Society, News Club, Newspaper Club, Peer Mediation, Robotics Club, Science Olympiad, Spanish Club, Spanish National Honor Society, Student Council and Yearbook Club.