Brent and I take on life by Emma

Brent and I take on life by Emma - October 2015 Scholarship Essay

You know what sucks about life. Missing it. People get so consumed with what we like to think of as “the grind” that we have become a nation of stressed out goobers. From a young age so much pressure is put upon kids. Be the best at math; know what materials make up the Earth’s core. However, knowing what makes up the Earth’s core is not going to provide you with abundant life skills beyond knowing facts or acing a particular test. Distinct skills come from extracurricular activities. A plethora of opportunities to interact with peers while working towards a common goal. I did academic team, among many other activities. I quite bluntly was horrid at it. I knew only a few answers over all the years. The only answer I remember was a question about Where the Wild Things Are, a book I loved as a child, but I think so did 9/10 kids (maybe more). Anyway, I found a calming refuge in those lunchtime meetings. My best friend and I, Brent, escaped into a world of nerdy knowledge and we laughed our way through Roman history. Brent and I, the wacky duo we were, also were on the tennis team together. We learned discipline from our kooky, angry, Italian coach, Big. As we were running suicides over and over, sweat pouring off our foreheads we learned the value of sticking together. The motto every man for himself does not work on a team like it does when taking a test. You learn the value of depending on others in a robust way. Be it answering an academic team question, because you know I won’t, or helping your teammate work on their forehand so you can beat your rival school, there is always a network of support. Teammates in extracurricular endeavors want to see you succeed because most of the time their success is based on your success. Extracurricular teach you how to communicate, they are an outlet for stress, and they let one work for a common goal.
So should they be required in order to graduate? Although, ideally I would say yes, the truth is that life is not as simple as that. Some people are not in a position in which they can devote more time or resources into another forum in life. Unless schools are willing to provide the means for all the students to participate then it is unreasonable for the school to expect students to be a part of one. Offering times that are convenient like lunch would make it practical. Also schools would have to provide the tools in to assist in these activities. Maybe create funds so that if a youth wanted to be on the tennis team and could not afford a racket the school would buy one for them or let them rent one. Just give the students opportunities to expose themselves to different activities. This would then make it fair for extracurricular to be a graduation requirement, but until the moment when it is within everyone’s means to participate they should not be required.