I'm starting a chess club at my high school.  Anyone have any ideas of things I should do and things I should watch for.

I have some interest....20 to 30 students out of a high school of 330.

ask for the principal to pay for boards and clocks, if you can't get funding then have a bake sale or ask for donations or charge higher dues to cover those costs
when I was in highschool our dues ($15) went to the food at tournaments, gas for driving to them, and a few pizza parties

as for the learning components, make sure there are experienced members who can teach begginers and answer questions about the rules of chess...
are you planning on entering scholastic tournaments and other such competitions between schools? if so, check registration deadlines

will this be a serious club (taught by a professional)?
more learning, more dues

or a relaxed club (taught by the sponsor and students)?
my club was like this, and I loved it, but its really a matter of preference

Stay away from playing Chess Variants on a routine basis.  (Maybe have 1 meeting a month that's for playing other variants)

In my experience, most teenagers enjoy playing variations more than standard chess - and for those that want to play REAL chess, they'll no longer feel welcome at the club (because most of them won't want to play real chess).  At least, that was my experience when I started a chess club a few years ago.

Thanks, I plan on this being a relaxed club.  We're in the middle of the boonies...45 minutes from a city so not may opportunties for interschool competitions unless we do it on line.

What is a variant?  I haven't heard of this....I just assumed chess was chess.  So is this like Monopoly or spades where everyone has their own rules?

Whoa...just looked up variant chess....never knew it existed...I can see why students would get into this....I plan on sticking to basic chess and teaching it myself with help from the better players.....

There are probably hundreds of variations of chess, but none of them are actual CHESS.  Two of my favorite are Siamese Chess (also known as bughouse), and ZM Quad Chess.  But like I said - once they're introduced, it usually becomes hard to play anything other than a variation.  I'd avoid it or maybe have just 1 day a month for it.

my highschool club mostly did traditional, but for fun we did bug some of the time

everyone who hadn't played bug before watched us in awe, but when they tried to play they were horrible... its a good idea to not introdce vaiants to beginners

but bug does help you relax and socialize, I find that it helps a lot in between tournament games (but tournament directors frown upon it) so it really is a matter of preference

lightning and blitz are amazingly fun to do in a relaxed club setting, I reccomend a quality clock though, like a Chronos Digital II

Thanks for the comments...I had no idea of these other games....glad you warned me....

Looks like my students have little or no idea of variations

We've decided to go the fun route until I get enough players good enough to compete....