Extracurricular Activities: Education Beyond the Classroom

My Extracurricular Activities at Crenshaw High School

Elite Choir: 4 years
Girl’s Steppe Team: 4 years
Food From The Hood: 4 years
Academic Decathlon: 1 year

These four groups added much excitement to my high school experience. I still remember my routine: steppe practice was held at lunch time, choir from 3-4pm after school, Food From the Hood (a community service organization) was 4:30-6pm, and Academic Decathlon was on the weekends. I loved the fact I was so involved in my high school. Everyday I would learn more valuable things than I could learn in a classroom. I was allowed to express my talents and learn both academic and professional skills. Back then, I did not know how much these experiences would help me. Many things I learned from these extracurricular activities that I still use today. I don’t how I would have survived high school if it weren’t for extracurricular activities.

Being involved in student groups teaches you facts about a terribly important subject: yourself. The groups that I was a part of exposed me to all types of personality traits that I had; I learned which ones were good and which ones needed changing. Food From the Hood taught me how to look people in the eye when I spoke to them. This lesson was very uncomfortable for me to learn at first. It also showed me how reserved I was while the steppe team showed me that I was a team player. Some other things just came more naturally. I was extremely loyal to the girl’s steppe team and attended every practice. I was very cooperative and hardworking in that space.

Extracurriculars have this amazing ability to teach you things that you will never learn in a high school classroom. Food From the Hood played a major part in enhancing my public speaking skills. We used to do presentations at elementary schools, interviews and panels. Those experiences made me more and more comfortable with speaking in front of groups of people. If it wasn’t for that, I would probably be as intensely shy as I was in my preteen years. Choir transformed me into a confident singer, doing a solo now is a lot easier than it was when I was in ninth grade. Academic Decathlon prepared me for a typical college reading load; I didn’t believe it would until my first semester at UC Berkeley. Every decathlete receives a large reading guide upon joining. In order to do well on the decathlon, you had to study the reading guide diligently. I learned different reading strategies that helped me to read faster and remember what I read. These strategies came in handy when I had large reading assignments in college.

The activities and groups that you get involved in really pay off when you are applying for college. Colleges like applicants who were members of groups and teams; they consider you “well rounded” or a person that’s more than just book smart. Schools like to see dedication; being in one group for all 4 years is more credible to them than being in five groups for one year. By my senior year, I got leadership positions in both Phi Gamma Shaw and Food From the Hood. I made sure I took good account of all the challenges that came with those roles in my personal statement.

Extracurricular activities should make you want to do well in school, just like how mine activities did for me. At my high school, you could not be a member of a group or activity if your GPA was too low. I refused to let that happen! If you see an extracurricular that you’re interested in, visit one of the meetings, audition or try out; let your ambition drive you and nothing else. Extracurricular activities are one of the greatest ways to learn.

-- Amanda Scurlock

Brownstone Intern