Dear New President,

Students participate in many different clubs at school, or activities outside of school. However, in many places the number of participants has dwindled. Programs have been cut or defunded because no one utilizes them. As a fellow active extracurricular activity partaker, the loss of these programs being sadness upon me. Many students are missing out on the wonderful benefits of extracurricular activities.

According to a research paper by Education Partnership Inc., about 30% of students have a gpa of 3.0 or higher while non-participants only have about 10%. This is because many clubs and school activities often require a minimum GPA to participate. Students strive to achieve that minimum in order to participate in the activity they enjoy. Because of this, students actively stay on top of their grades, resulting in higher gpa’s.

Grades are not the only reason extra curricular activities are so important. In clubs such as National Honor Society, students may learn to take leadership roles. A student may become the president of the club, a position from which there is much to learn about what makes a good leader, how to cooperate well with others and much more.

Service oriented clubs, such as interact club, allow students to help those around their community. Students may learn how to work together to get a task done, such as cleaning around the school, or even round the nearest neighborhood. Through this, friendships may be made, giving a student more experience with new people.

Colleges tend to look at extracurricular activities as another way to determine whether someone should be accepted into that college or not. According to Big Future’s article “Extracurriculars Matter — To You and To Colleges” a college may look how playing a sport shows a student can commit, long term. Volunteer work shows dedication to helping others, and a part-time job and maintainable grades show a college a student knows to manage their time well. Some clubs also offer scholarships to students who participate in such activities. For example: Rotary club (interact club) gives out scholarships to those who seek to do use their degree for community service.

Will you encourage schools and students to emphasize the importance of extracurricular activities?

Sincerely,

Mariana

By the time he graduated from high school, the tournament had raised more than one million dollars.\. “College Planning - Extracurriculars Matter ? To You and to Colleges.” College Planning - Extracurriculars Matter ? To You and to Colleges, bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-started/outside-the-classroom/extracurriculars-matter-to-you-and-to-colleges.