Extracurricular Activities
|
D
|
ad always said “It is for your
own good”, leaving me at the entrance of the ballet studio with tears in my
eyes. I hated ballet, it wasn’t my thing, I found it really challenging and I
hated being around people I didn’t know. I left ballet a year later because of
how much I hated it. I had my parents believe I was still going to my classes
when the truth was I was hanging out with my friends from school. When I was
with my friends we would be getting in trouble, I would bully other kids. All my
family wanted was for me to try a lot of different activities, so I could find
a passion or distraction for something that has a safe learning environment. They
had me try ballet, soccer, dance, cheer, art, music and nothing worked. I hated
all of those activities. Now that I am old enough I understand why my parents were
so concerned about me joining an activity, it was because they knew it would
help me stay focused, not only in life but in my education because
extracurricular activities bring a lot of a good values.
My
parents always wanted me to be involved in some kind of activity and I hated
it, I didn’t see the point of doing sports, playing an instrument or being
involved in some kind of club. I found it useless and it was just taking up
time when I could be playing with friends or watching television. My dad put me
in a soccer team at the age of seven and I would just stand there to get my
family upset because I hated playing sports. I would tell my dad, “soccer is a guy’s
sport”, just to see if I could get away from it. As I grew up I realized why my
parents wanted me to be involved in some kind of activity, they were doing it
for my own good.
Now
that I am older I am glad they encouraged me to try different kinds activities.
All the activities I have tried have had a good effect in my life even if it
took me a while to accept them. Now that I am older I enjoy dancing and playing
soccer, something that I didn’t enjoy when I was younger. Off course when one
starts something new they aren’t going to accept it right away. It take time to
accept and to start liking it, one first has to get to know how it works to
start getting used to it.
Being
involved in clubs, sports, or just simply volunteering for the community helped
me release the stress from my life and school. I saw it as a way of relaxing
and it helped me keep my head in peace. My family noticed that when I started getting
involved in activities outside from school my attitude was more positive. I started
making better decisions by caring more about my educations then I would before.
My teammates made a huge impact in my life by motivating me to make healthier decisions.
One
of the great values I got from being involved in extracurricular activities was
becoming a social person. Being social is important especially as an adult, it
benefits one when they’re trying to find a job or applying for college. In
college one has to do a lot of presentations and it helps when one isn’t shy
and likes to speak up. When I was young I was shy and hated speaking up but
being involved in school activities helped that fear fade away.
When involved in an extracurricular activity one has
different requirements they must meet. Most activities require the students to
have good attendance, academics, and behavior. This helped me stay focused in my education. I
started caring more about my education. I always cared about my education but
when I was involved in activities it helped me gain my interest towards
education more. I always knew that in order to have a successful future I had
to be an educated student. Being in activities helped me with my future because
they offered my a scholarship for college.
After
getting involved in after school activities I started hanging out with people
with the same interest as me. I played soccer and that was one of the things all
my team and I shared, we all loved soccer. It helped build long lasting relationships.
I met my best friend Brenda because of soccer and Joanna in Dance Company. Its helpful having a team or group in high
school because whenever I would need help with homework I would ask my team
because I knew one of them had to know how to do that problem.
Extracurricular
activities would take up a lot of my time which helped me stay out of trouble
because I wouldn’t even have time to think about doing negative stuff. I was always surrounded by people with
positive influences in these programs. These activities always had a supervisor
like a teacher watching after everyone. I had a coach my senior year who was
also my chemistry teacher whom helped me out so much. She helped me get a
scholarship, and when I needed help with homework she would stay after school
with me just to help me. Her name was Amber; she gave me so many good advices
in life and guided me through the right path when I was going through some hard
times. Having someone their like a teacher or coach can be really helpful
because they will always try to give you the best advice.
Being
involved in some kind of extracurricular taught me so many skills and has a lot
of good benefits such as; time management, social skills, raises self-esteem,
helps one find an interest, it looks good in a college or scholarship
application, it makes a contribution, learning about long term commitment,
helps one stay healthy, and you start experiencing responsibility at a really
young age. I was such an unhealthy kid when I was young and getting involved in
some kind of activity not necessarily I sport but something that included
movement was a good exercise. I learned what the word responsibility meant at a
really young age. Being in a sport was like having a job because I had to be in
practice on time without excuses. I had to choose my sport over other things
for example going out with my friends. This helped me become more responsible
and learn how to put my priorities first. Having to manage school, sports,
clubs, and work all at the same time helped me develop the time management
skill. I am so thankful for this skill because it is really beneficial now that
I am in college.
After
seeing all the benefits it brought to myself I encouraged my family to do the
same with my younger siblings . One day I got home from school and my aunt was
waiting for me with a big smile, she hugged me and said, “Thank you so much for
encouraging us to put our kids in some kind of activity in school, this has
helped them raised their grades and stay more focused in school, I never
thought activities like this would help because I thought they were too
expensive but they are affordable.” After seeing my aunt so happy I knew that this
is something everyone should consider. I wanted my family to consider it
because I care about their future and I want everyone to have a successful
life.
Being
involved in extracurricular activities brought my family and I good benefits
and skills. Involvement brings a lot of real world skills like: responsibility,
time management, and social skills. Ever since I started getting involved in
school activities I started caring more about my education. Everyone should have
the opportunity to be involved in activities because it brings positive
influences into ones life. .