english2010 memoir

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. .