There are a lot of clubs here at George Mason. We have robotics, the Crime Time club, and even an Acapella club. All of these clubs have certain group activities or events that they engage in to stand out. But perhaps the most elusive, secretive, and ambitious club of them all is the GMHS Hat Club.

In order to be an active member of this club, there’s one thing you have to do: wear a hat on Fridays. Other than that, there’s not much you can do. It seems like the entire concept of this club ends there. However, that only scratches the surface of this charmingly overcomplicated organization.

The club is headed by an “Executive Board,” which consists of a group of board members headed up by the Hat Club President, Hunter Hicks. Each group member is given a “title” such as “Treasurer” or “Secretary,”  all of which mean essentially nothing as all board members perform the same basic functions.

“Hunter and I came up with the idea last year,” said Executive Board Member, Duncan Miller. “And then Hunter kind of made it happen.” With 86 members of this club on Schoology, the Hat Club has one of the largest membership counts of the clubs here at Mason. 

Tobias Senderowitsch, another Executive Board Member, attributes their success to their initial outreach efforts this year. “This year, we had a large presence at the club fair.” According to Miller, this “large presence” could be better described as “yelling across the gym to encourage membership.”

“It’s an engaging concept that’s different,” said Club President Hunter Hicks. “All schools have certain clubs, this kind of stands out.” 

Griffin Harrison, another Executive Board Member, attributes their success to the simplicity of the club. “You just have to wear a hat. It’s not a major commitment, it’s just something fun to do.”

However, the club does more than just wear hats. In the past months, the Hat Club has been holding meetings with MEH administration, attempting to lift the no-hat policy enforced at the middle school. The school enforces this policy on grounds of hats causing educational distractions. “We don’t see it that way.” said Harrison. 

“It’s not so much a problem with the hats,” said Senderowitsch. “Once you change [the hat-wearing policy],  it sets a standard for what can be done in the future.” Club President Hicks is generally optimistic that change is coming. “It’s not like we’re debating them, we’ll say something and they’ll tell us it’s a good point and [suggest] how can we move forward.”

I asked the Hat Club whether they had anything to say directly to GMHS students. After a jumble of indecipherable words and nonsequiturs, Duncan Miller offered the Executive Board’s unified opinion: “Join the Hat Club.”