From marching bands, sports teams, and interest clubs, there is a full list of student activities. But is it really worth being involved in school activities? How does this benefit students? Why should people join activities in high school? These very involved students will tell you everything.
“Overly productive,” sophomore Isabelle Flores said about her experiences in student activities.
Flores is a part of the schools’ color guard team, class council, and art club. With a car wash fundraiser, planning campaigns for class council, and rehearsals on top of that, Flores’ schedule gets packed pretty quick.
“I just did a car wash for band!” Flores said. “And I had to go over to a middle school to go hang up posters.”
On the other hand, junior Florence Ndubisi, class council treasurer and captain of the color guard team, said she loved leading the color guard team for the past 3 years and enjoys attending school activities such as football games.
“I’ve enjoyed being a leader for color guard,” Ndubisi said, “and as I’m coming on to my last year, it’s been really fun going to all the school activities because in color guard, we have to go to every football game.”
With busy schedules, it can be difficult to keep up with school work. Sophomore Angel Sarinana, part of color guard and art club, says his strategy to keep up with homework and activities is to prioritize academic responsibilities before anything else.
“To be honest, I do put my academics before I put the extra curricular activities,” Sarinana said, “because at the end of the day, they are a little bit more important.”
While he does that, Ndubisi puts days aside to focus on her homework and works around her busy schedule.
“I have days where I solely focus on work; if I know I have practice the next day, I make sure to do all my work during class and all that,” Ndubisi said.
However, when it comes to participating in school activities, nothing can be perfect. Challenges such as scheduling conflicts, ideas being turned down, and not winning awards for competitions can occur.
“I’m fundraising chair and all my fundraising ideas were kind of shot down or told what money when I tried to request for something,” Flores said.
Despite these hardships, these students still encourage their peers and incoming freshmen to join any activity in high school.
For Sarinana, joining activities can enhance the high school experience and make it less uninter.
“I think it’s good to keep yourself busy in high school, having something to do because it does get boring, and ultimately ups your high school experience,” Sarinana said.
Ndubisi echoed Sarinana and encouraged students to participate in spirit days and school events.
“If you’re not involved in anything, you’re going to be one of those people that come out of school being like, ‘’high school was so boring,’” Ndubisi said. “Also, participate in spirit days and stuff because it’s not lame, you know, you’re just boring.”
In conclusion, if the goal is to have a memorable high school experience, these students encourage joining clubs/activities. New skills learned and making new friends will be something to look forward to.
“It will teach you teamwork and how to socialize with other people,” Flores said. “Joining [clubs/activities] would be a benefit, it doesn’t have to be a million but at least one.”
