By Briana Molina
Hundreds of parents and students gathered at Granada Hills Charter (GHC) High School’s 67th annual back to school night on Thursday, September 10. Families spent the evening exploring classrooms, meeting teachers and visiting student-run booths across campus.
While Back to School Night gives parents a glimpse into their students’ daily lives at GHC, much of the work that makes the event possible begins long before families arrive on campus.
Student organizations spent hours preparing booths, organizing fundraisers, and promoting their programs to the GHC community. For many students, the event was more than an opportunity to welcome parents, it was a chance to support the clubs and academic teams they work with throughout the school year.
“Preparation takes the whole day to create all products,” Associated Student Body (ASB) Secretary and senior Marco Mas said. “ASB also helps set up booths and spread the word, working all day and all night.”
According to the GHC website, the school hosts 15 academic teams, including competitive programs such as Academic Decathlon and Speech and Debate. Back to School Night gave these teams, along with clubs and other student-led organizations an opportunity to showcase their work beyond the classroom.
This year, 30 groups participated in the fundraising portion of Back to School Night. Students worked behind booths selling food, interacting with visitors and introducing families to their organizations.
For many groups, fundraising during the event helps support their activities throughout the 2026-27 school year. At the same time, the booths allow organizations to reach students who may be interested in joining and give parents a closer look at the extracurricular activities available on campus.
Robodox, GHC’s robotics program, gave visitors the opportunity to interact with robots while students explained their program and demonstrated their work. Nearby, DECA attracted a crowd by selling Chick Fil-A to families moving through campus.
“I think we had six people in the booth, and then we had some people in the classroom with Mr. Aiken,” senior Deca member Austin Adler said. “And then we had an additional two people walking around helping support our booth,”
The number of students needed to operate a single booth reflected the amount of coordination that went into the event. While some students handled sales, others spoke with families, assisted teachers or moved around campus to help wherever they were needed.
For student organizations, Back to School Night also provided an opportunity to make their work visible to a larger audience. Projects and activities that students spend weeks or months working on could be shared directly with parents and the other members of the GHC community.
The evening highlighted a side of back to school night that can easily go unnoticed. Although families come to learn about classes and meet teachers, students play a major role in creating the atmosphere surrounding the event.
As families headed home and booths came down, Back to School Night reflected the time and effort GHC students put into the programs and communities they helped build throughout the school year.
