Since my freshman year, I’ve experienced the delight of browsing through the delicious snacks laid out across the quad for Club and Grub. Starting sophomore year, I learned about ordering food and managing financial accounts to accommodate the day. As a member of leadership last year, I became aware of the logistical planning behind making sure the day is executed as planned.

I am in the last generation to have experienced Club and Grub from all perspectives. Today may very have been the last Club and Grub event to take place during the school day.

The event, hosted once per semester, allows any club to order a stock of food from off campus and resell it to the student body as a fundraiser.

In the past, the FUHSD board and HHS administration have had an agreement allowing two Club and Grub days every school year. However, the enforcement day for new school food health standards was set as Sept. 27, this past Tuesday.

The food sold at Club and Grub does not meet the new federal and state requirements. The laws that took effect earlier this week disallow certain foods from being sold on campus during the school day up until half an hour after the final bell.

I am a huge fan of Club and Grub, but I do realize it does not align with state and federal standards.

While it remains possible that a new deal will be struck with the school board, this was most likely the last Club and Grub to be held during school hours.

There are ways around the regulations, though.

Ideally, Club and Grub can be held after school, much like LHS does it. FUHSD nutrition coordinator Mary Anne Jennings said the LHS version, “An Evening in the Quad,” is acceptable because the food is sold at least 30 minutes after the end of school.

Knowing HHS, pulling off something like a post-school evening event does not seem likely. To add another after-school event would require certain logistics, specifically something our school is infamous for struggling to secure: chaperone staff.

The student body and the leadership class have, for years, requested staff for weekend school dances, and leadership students have historically run into trouble with staffing for class-sponsored events. The best the school manages when it comes to whole-school evening events is weekday dances, the annual Sapnay, multicultural night and the yearbook party. Perhaps Club and Grub’s importance to the HHS culture will motivate staff to chaperone just one more after school event, but it is hard to tell.

The next-best option, members of the leadership class say, is to combine two school events and merge Club and Grub with a dance, such as Sadie’s.

With that said, club officers probably won’t be all that excited about losing time with their date or friends on the dance floor.

It’s a tricky situation to say the least, but it will be resolved.

To an outsider, the idea of Club and Grub doesn’t make too much sense. Why do we go through so much trouble and why would we go through so much more to continue hosting the event? It’s something you cannot understand unless you are an HHS student.  

Think about it for a minute:

In reality, most clubs do not make huge sums of money off Club and Grub — probably no more than $50. Clubs recognition likely isn’t a reason officers would go through the hassle of arranging food to be sold during lunch. Students have generally chosen which clubs they’re interested in after club fair.

For the planners, the day deals with money exiting and being deposited into club accounts; it’s a disaster for club treasurers, and it’s nerve-racking for administration money handlers.

Nonetheless, students and staff alike look forward to those two lunches a year. They eat, smile and laugh, refusing to let the memories of planning outweigh the feelings of a successful Club and Grub.

Yes, Club and Grub is arguably little more than tradition. But that tradition will not die so easily. Mark my words, one way or another, there will be another Club and Grub.

And with that, I rest my case.

The Bar-On Brief is a weekly column that runs Thursdays. 

Follow Shauli Bar-On on Twitter @shauli_baron