Extracurriculars: Worth it?
The college game is intimidating and frankly quite terrifying. Students are required to achieve the perfect grades and to participate in every single extracurricular activity on the face of the earth. Otherwise, we would never be accepted to our dream school on the premise that we were never good enough because we could not involve ourselves in every single club under the sun while simultaneously juggling AP classes, IB courses, and all the drama of being a hormone-filled teenager. And for that reason, students have begun to take the idea of extracurricular activities and have distorted them to become monstrous and frightening because they are only burdens; it is one more task to check off from our list to make sure that we fulfill the most basic requirements to survive in a society dependent on the idea of attaining a college degree. From 7th to 9th grade, all I could think of was joining clubs and getting myself involved in these activities because it was one more burden heaped on to me by the pressure of college admissions. But as I realized the misery and the dread I felt while doing these extracurricular activities, I saw the uselessness of them: why should I be doing something that I could not stand the mere thought of? Why was I subjecting myself to something mentally, emotionally, and physically taxing if I was not going to enjoy it in the end?
The answer came to me in 9th grade during our annual club rush.
I joined Key Club in my 9th grade year, and honestly I joined because the cabinet kept asking me to, but I did not think much of it - I would volunteer and get hours, and I thought that would be the end of the story. But when cabinet applications rolled around, I had a hunch that I should try for it even though I didn't have a phenomenal amount of service hours, and I'll be honest with you: I wanted to have something to put on my college application. And when I was accepted into cabinet, I was intimidated: there were so many seniors and so many people who were dedicated, but I decided to keep going with it because of the energy that Key Club gave off. In an environment as stressful as Whitney, Key Club was somewhere I could go to be weird, cheer my heart out, and help others in need. It taught me that there is so much more to life and that helping others, putting a smile on their faces, and cleaning up the park were actions so valuable to our community. Ninth grade was a hard year; I was intimidated by my classmates who played piano, won awards in sports, took 123456 AP classes, took college courses, and so many other spectacular things. I did not think I would make it anywhere, but instead of giving up as I initially would have, Key Club inspired me to try new things and to find my own place in a school ready to become whatever you made it. And from there everything spiraled out of control. Key Club went from being an extra cushion in my college résumé to a life changing experience that affected every single aspect of my life from my high school experience to my life choices. Upon reflection, I would go as far to say that without Key Club, I would have never made my discussion group, been motivated to start TEDxWhitneyHigh, or join Pen on Paper. Key Club was that first step for me to speak in front of a crowd about something I truly enjoyed and believed strongly in - it made me, someone who trembled and started shivering at the thought of standing in front of a crowd, attain the courage to now speak in front of hundreds of people with minimal anxiety. I do not know where I would be without this club. I might have joined for shallow reasons, I'll admit, but I stayed for the organization and the people that changed my life forever.
Why did I spend about 500 words explaining my high school journey as an utterly confused and agitated student? Because it shows how extracurricular activities indeed start out as a burden, but they soon become an inspiration as the value of them becomes apparent and we realize how necessary they really are: they are necessarily inspirational burdens. If I was not motivated by adding another bullet point to my college application, I honestly (and shamefully) never would have joined Key Club and if I had never joined Key Club, I would never have taken my high school experience as seriously as I should have. The extracurricular activities I am a part of now have become my inspiration and the reason that I wake up every single day, excited for the new projects I will take on. But how significant is my one personal example? I’m just one person after all. But what I have seen as a student in a school dominantly controlled by students focused on padding their college résumés is that at the end of the day, we each become inspired and motivated by the work and the causes that we are a part of because with these extracurricular activities come a certain sense of pride and belonging: something oftentimes missing from not only our experience as a high school student but as a person.