Clubs, sports, and extracurricular activities are often considered an essential aspect to the American High school experience. According to the National Center for Education Statistics these activities allow students to learn the values of teamwork, individual and group responsibility, physical strength and endurance, competition, diversity, and a sense of culture and community with the added benefit of increasing students’ engagement or attachment to their school. These activities allow us to socialize with many like minded individuals through a shared interest and/or a commonality in circumstances. According to Southern New Hampshire University signing up for these activities is a way to find friends who share common interests, are pursuing the same degree or whom you enjoy hanging out with. These kind activities are not just beneficial socially, but also academically as according to College board while colleges do value written scores to show a person’s merit, most colleges tend to value the personality of a person ie. passions or hobbies. These ideas are what most colleges look for as for an applicant the activities that he/she participates in often tell a lot about a person and the qualities of such a person. This is especially important as colleges tend to give scholarships to those who are especially talented in their clubs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that joining such activities tend to aid students in their academic performance due to the motivation from participating in enjoyable activities.

Due to a piling amount of debt our district has become more and more reluctant to support larger financial investments into this important aspect of school life. Clubs are an extremely beneficial as well as essential experience in the lives of the American Education System and District 308’s willingness to cut into what is essentially the life line of these activities is extremely disappointing to witness. I am not calling for the district to bankrupt themselves to support these activities. All I am asking is for these once essential areas of social interaction and learning to be given the respect and attention they deserve. One idea I want to propose to promote involvement in clubs is to make clubs and sport easier to access. For example the district can lower the club and/or sport fees charged to join or hold an event akin to a club fair to expose people to new and interesting clubs.

I believe that the experiences given by these extracurricular activities are just as important as the primary education experience offered and these activities should be treated as such.

Please sign the petition for our District 308 to continue the funding to promote the benefits towards Extracurricular Activities and Student Engagement.