By Fatima Mohamud and Sumaya Noor
What are extracurriculars?
Extracurriculars are activities outside of school that middle, high, and college students engage in for fun or academic reasons. There is a plentiful range of clubs and activities you can participate in such as: culture, music, math, science and robotics, sports, and media. These allow students to connect and entertain themselves while building new bonds, friendships, skills, and supporting the school community.
Why should you join an extracurricular?
Extracurricular activities and clubs are a great way to make new friends, explore your hobbies, and have new things to do. Many people have made lots of new relationships, acquaintances, and lifelong friends. Others learned new sports, favorite medias (books, TV, etc.), and new hobbies to share. It’s a great way to expand your social circle and begin a new chapter of your life.
How do extracurriculars benefit college and beyond?
When applying for college there’s a big list of what to go over and many things to include in order to look presentable. Certain extracurriculars can look nice on resumes and leave a good impression on employers. For other people it could be jobs or outside clubs. When writing your admission paper you’d want to include a sports team you might’ve been on, a photo of your club, or maybe even something you’ve made like a story. It’s important to indulge yourself in something you might want to spend time on and enjoy.
How can extracurriculars change your life?
After college, you’ve got to have some type of future, and many found theirs in school clubs. Activities like these may seem unimportant but these could give you the right ideas and the push you needed into getting a job and becoming your dream self. Clubs such as volunteering could make you seem dedicated, caring and reliable, others like art will have people view you as creative. It all matters on who you are and what you want to create or do with your life.
They’re also very significant to school life too, many people found skills, like finding motivation, they thought were not needed but found themselves reaching the spots that were missing.
Cons and disadvantages of extracurricular activities?
Though there are pros to extracurriculars, there are also cons. One of the disadvantages is that they may become stressful and add onto the current school workload. This can cause students to struggle balancing both their extracurriculars and regular classes.
Another disadvantage is that they can take away free or family time from students. Extracurriculars usually are an hour or two long, and adding that after school means students would only have so much time before having to go to bed.
Too many extracurriculars or physical activities can wear out students and cause them to be fatigued or lethargic during classes, meaning less focus and that could lead to worse performance
Another issue could be that students may feel unmotivated because they cannot perform well in their extracurriculars. The opposite could also become an issue to kids, where a student may stray away from their academics and focus too much on their extracurriculars. Either way is harmful to a student’s success and kids should always consider both the pros and cons of performing in after school activities.
How to decide if extracurriculars are for you?
Balancing the pros and cons of participating in extracurriculars is important. Students should always consider the effects of participation, both in the now and in the long term.
For more information, please visit:
Plaid Line 