Knowing how to start a club in high school means you get to decide what your school is missing, and then build it yourself. Maybe there’s nowhere for students who want to build business ideas that stand out, or the clubs that already exist don’t match what you care about. Either way, you can change that this year.
This guide starts with the club we recommend, the Blue Ocean Club, and why it stands out from what most schools already offer. Then it walks you through how to start a club step by step, with an advisor email and a club proposal template you can copy and use.
At a glance: how to start a club in high school
- Pick a purpose people will show up for.
- Test interest before you file anything.
- Find a teacher advisor.
- Write a simple club proposal.
- Get approval from your school.
- Recruit your first members.
- Run a first meeting people come back to.
- Keep the club going with a goal and a season.
What’s on this page
- Why start a Blue Ocean Club
- How to start a club in high school: 8 steps
- A season plan for your Blue Ocean Club
- Start a Blue Ocean Club as an ambassador
- FAQ
Why start a Blue Ocean Club
A Blue Ocean Club is a student-run business club where members develop innovative business ideas, learn blue ocean strategy, practice pitching and enter the Blue Ocean Student Entrepreneur Competition together. It takes its name from blue ocean strategy, the work of INSEAD professors W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, which shows how to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant. In a Blue Ocean Club, that’s what members aim for: an idea that offers people a leap in value at a lower cost and opens new market space, so they aren’t fighting rivals for the same customers. Members strive to create blue ocean business ideas that stand out in the marketplace, and the club is where they learn how.
If you’ve been searching for how to start a business club or an entrepreneurship club, this is one with a ready-made plan.
It stands out from the clubs your school already has
Most schools already have a debate team, a robotics club, Model UN and a service club. A Blue Ocean Club brings something unique to your school, and the student who starts it is its founder, with a role nobody else at the school holds.
You can also apply the club’s own idea to the club itself. When you start something your school doesn’t have yet, you aren’t competing for members with the clubs that already exist.
Every meeting has a purpose
Clubs fade when members stop knowing why they meet.
A Blue Ocean Club works toward a real goal each year: developing a business idea that stands out, building a pitch and submitting it to an international competition. That gives the club a finish line, and it gives members a reason to come back next week.
Members build skills they can use
Members practice noticing problems people actually have and developing an idea that solves one in a new way, offering more value at a lower cost than what already exists. They work in teams, pitch to an audience and use feedback to improve. By the end of the season each team has a finished pitch to show for the time they put in.
It’s strong on college applications
Plenty of students look for clubs to start in high school that look good for college. Founding any club shows initiative. A Blue Ocean Club also gives you concrete things to point to: the ideas members developed, the pitches they submitted to a global competition and any recognition the club’s teams earned.
How to put a Blue Ocean Club on your college applications
Most applications have an activities section where you list what you’ve done outside class. The Common App, which more than 1,000 colleges accept, gives you 50 characters for your position, 100 for the organization and 150 for the description.
- Put your role and the club in their own fields. Your position is “Founder and President”. The organization is “Blue Ocean Club, [your school’s name]”.
- Use the description for results. Admissions readers want to know what you did and what came of it. Start with a strong verb, then give numbers: members, meetings, pitches submitted.
- Name the competition. Mention that your club’s teams entered the Blue Ocean Student Entrepreneur Competition, so the reader knows the work was judged on an international stage.
- Keep records from the start. Attendance lists, meeting notes and pitch links make the numbers easy to fill in when you apply.
Here’s how a club founder’s entry could look:
- Position: Founder and President
- Organization: Blue Ocean Club, [Your school’s name]
- Description: Founded school’s first entrepreneurship club; led [X] members through [Y] sessions; [Z] team pitches entered in a global pitch competition
If a team from your club earns recognition in the competition, list it in the honors section too. You can also use the club in an essay or an interview, as a story about seeing something your school was missing and building it. Starting a club is one of several leadership examples for students colleges look for.
It comes with everything you need, free
A Blue Ocean Club doesn’t need you to build its content from scratch. It comes with:
- The Blue Ocean Mini-Course. A short online course that teaches the core ideas of blue ocean strategy and how to apply them to your own business idea. It also includes interactive tools with a step-by-step guide mode, so members can apply what they learn to their own idea. It’s free when you register.
- The Ambassador Presentation. A ready-made talk that introduces blue ocean strategy and the competition. Anyone can use it, and it works well at a first club meeting. It’s on the Ambassador Resources page.
- The official pitch template. Free for every entrant, on the participant resources page.
- A global community. Students and ambassadors from around the world who are running clubs and preparing pitches too.
Behind all of it is the Blue Ocean Student Entrepreneur Competition, the largest and most prestigious virtual pitch competition for high school students around the world. In 2026, more than 23,000 students from 9,000+ schools in 173 countries took part. The competition is backed by INSEAD and Harvard Business Review.
Free downloads
Blue Ocean Club toolkit
Students who started one
Krethi Karthik, a Blue Ocean Student Ambassador in India, started Blue Ocean Clubs in eight schools, after getting approval from the school administration and time at assemblies to introduce the idea. At an international school in the Netherlands, two students turned a single class presentation into a small club that met in the school library, where they prepared their competition entry together. Other students have run their club entirely as a group chat.
How to start a club in high school: 8 steps
These steps work for any school club. Where a Blue Ocean Club needs something specific, you’ll find a tip.
Step 1: Pick a purpose people will show up for
Learning how to start a club begins with a reason to meet. Check your school’s club list first. If a similar club already exists, joining it or proposing a project inside it may make more sense than starting a second one.
Then write the purpose in one sentence:
“We meet to [do what] so that [who] can [result].”
If you can’t fill in all three parts, keep working on the idea before you go further.
Blue Ocean Club tip: your purpose is ready-made. “We meet to develop innovative business ideas that stand out from the crowd of similar ideas, so that members can enter the Blue Ocean Student Entrepreneur Competition with a pitch that has the best chance of winning.”
Step 2: Test interest before you file anything
Before you write a proposal, check that people want to join. Talk to one class, one friend group or one group chat, and ask a simple question: would you come to this?
Collect names and contact details as you go. Many schools ask for a list of interested students before they’ll approve a new club. Telling an administrator that 15 students have already signed up carries far more weight than a vague idea for a club.
One student worked with the school principal to find students who were already interested in business, then brought them together as the club’s first members.
Step 3: Find a teacher advisor
Most schools require every school club to have a staff advisor. The advisor supervises meetings, helps with school paperwork and room bookings, and vouches for the club. You still lead it.
Ask a teacher who knows you, or one whose subject connects to your club’s purpose. For a Blue Ocean Club, a business, marketing, economics or entrepreneurship teacher is a natural fit.
Ask in person if you can, then follow up in writing. Keep the first ask small: a short conversation to explain the idea.
Step 4: Write a simple club proposal
To start a club at school, you’ll usually need a written proposal. Schools vary, but most ask for the same things: the club’s name, its purpose, what you’ll do at meetings, when and where you’ll meet, officer roles, your advisor and a list of interested members.
Some schools also ask for a constitution. That’s a short document setting out how the club runs, how officers are chosen and how decisions are made. Keep it to a page or two.
Ask your activities office or your advisor whether your school has its own form. If it does, use that, and copy across what you need from the template below.
Step 5: Get approval from your school
Who approves new clubs depends on your school. It’s often a student activities coordinator, an assistant principal or the student council. Submit your proposal with your advisor’s support, and ask how long a decision usually takes. Some schools only review new clubs at set times of the year, so apply early.
If the answer is no or not yet, run the club as an informal group in the meantime, meeting in the library at lunch or in a group chat, and keep a record of who comes. A second application with real attendance behind it is much stronger than the first. Some Blue Ocean Clubs started exactly this way, as provisional clubs working on pitches before they had official status.
Step 6: Recruit your first members
Use every channel your school offers: assembly announcements, classroom visits, the school newsletter, posters, group chats and teacher announcements. Say what members will do and what they’ll leave with.
One announcement rarely fills a room. Personal follow-up works better. Message everyone on your interest list the day before the first meeting, and ask each of them to bring one classmate.
Blue Ocean Club tip: tell people they’ll develop an innovative business idea that stands out from the crowd and pitch it in an international competition, and that they don’t need any business background to join.
Step 7: Run a first meeting people come back to
The first meeting sets the tone for everything after it. Keep it under an hour and give it a clear shape:
- Why the club exists. Two or three minutes on your one-sentence purpose.
- What members will work on this term. Show them where the club is heading.
- One hands-on activity. Get everyone doing something in the first meeting.
- Roles. Who takes notes, who runs the group chat, who helps plan the next meeting.
- The next date, and one thing to do before it. A small task gives people a reason to come back.
Blue Ocean Club tip: use the Ambassador Presentation as your first-meeting talk. Make your own copy in Google Slides or download the PowerPoint from the Ambassador Resources page. For the hands-on activity, ask each member to list three problems they or people they know deal with every week. Those lists become the raw material for ideas later in the season.
Step 8: Keep the club going
Many clubs fade in their second or third month. Four habits keep yours going:
- Give the club a goal and a season. A finish line, like submitting a pitch, keeps every meeting purposeful. See the season plan below.
- Share the work. If one person runs everything, the club stalls when that person gets busy. Give officers real jobs.
- Keep a record. Write down what you did at each meeting and save photos and links. It helps when you reapply, when you recruit and when you write your college applications.
- Train younger members to take over, so the club keeps running after you graduate.
A season plan for your Blue Ocean Club
A Blue Ocean Club runs on a season that ends when members submit their pitches to the competition. Here’s how a season usually flows. Spend as many meetings on each phase as your club needs, and check the Compete page for this year’s deadlines.
- Ideas. Members look for problems people actually have, at school, at home or in their community, and share them with the group. Start with the problem lists from your first meeting.
- Teams. Members form teams of up to five, or choose to compete alone. Each team picks the problem it wants to work on.
- Tools. Everyone takes the free Blue Ocean Mini-Course. Use meetings to work through the tools together and apply them to each team’s idea.
- Build the pitch. Teams develop their blue ocean idea and script their video pitch using the official pitch template. Our guides on how to pitch a business idea and how to write a business plan for students help at this stage.
- Practice and feedback. Teams pitch to the rest of the club and take questions. Each team leaves with notes on what to improve.
- Submit. Teams record their videos, upload them to YouTube with #blueoceancompetition and submit through the competition website.
- After the results. Share what the club did with your school, recruit new members and hand roles to younger students for next season.
If members need a place to start, our list of small business ideas for teens can get the conversation going.
Start a Blue Ocean Club as an ambassador
Many Blue Ocean Clubs are started by Blue Ocean Student Ambassadors, the students who bring the competition to their schools and communities. Starting a club is one of the activities ambassadors take on, along with speaking to classes, running workshops and sharing the competition online.
Joining is free. You get the Ambassador Kit, a place in the Blue Ocean Ambassador Community and resources like the Ambassador Presentation, plus regular emails with ideas through the season. Ambassadors can enter the competition too.
FAQ
Can you start your own club in high school?
Yes. Most high schools let students start their own club as long as it has a clear purpose, a teacher advisor and enough interested members, and the school approves it. The rules vary, so ask your activities office or check your student handbook.
How much does it cost to start a club?
Usually nothing. Costs only come in if your club runs events or needs materials. If it does, ask whether your school has an activity fund for clubs, or look for a small grant from a local education foundation. A Blue Ocean Club can run at no cost, because the competition, the Blue Ocean Mini-Course and the resources are free.
How many members do you need to start a club?
It depends on your school. Many schools ask for a minimum number of interested students before they approve a club, so check before you apply. Small clubs can work well, and some Blue Ocean Clubs began with just a handful of students.
Can a freshman start a club?
At most schools, yes. Some schools limit who can serve as club president or ask students to complete a semester first, so check the rules. Starting early has an advantage: you have more years to grow the club and train the students who will take it over.
What if my school says no to my club?
Ask why and what would need to change. Then run it informally, keep a record of who comes, and reapply with that evidence.
Can you start a club online or outside school?
Yes. Some Blue Ocean Clubs run entirely in a group chat, and one student ran online sessions for students from six different schools. An online club usually doesn’t need school approval, although it won’t get school support like rooms or announcements.
How do you get members to keep coming?
Give every meeting a purpose, and end each one with something to do before the next. Work toward a goal with a finish line, like submitting a pitch, and give members real roles so the club feels like theirs.
You now know how to start a club. If you want one with a purpose, a season and a finish line, start a Blue Ocean Club and enter the competition together.
The largest and most prestigious virtual pitch competition for high school students around the world
Register free and get the Blue Ocean Mini-Course, the blue ocean tools and the official pitch template.
Register for the competitionThe next blue ocean is yours to create. 🌊
