The 'College Club': And Escape from the Tyranny of Extracurricular Activities by Emmett

The 'College Club': And Escape from the Tyranny of Extracurricular Activities by Emmett - September 2019 Scholarship Essay

The typical American high school might seem at first awash with extracurricular activities. The very suggestion of adding another to that already weary number might at first be seen by the casual viewer as almost criminally irresponsible towards the youth of this country. But a short survey of high school extracurriculars, and an examination of what causes students to join them, will justify such a course of action.

A brief perusal of one such school’s extracurriculars reveals pleas for students to join the usual over-funded sports and underfunded arts; mock trials and competitive debate teams jostle for the attention of students who enjoy the sound of their own voices. Cultural clubs prepare some students for the identity politics of the real world that awaits them for the special benefit of those power hungry leaders of tomorrow who join student government and model United Nations. A few gentle souls gravitate towards clubs dedicated to helping others. Whatever students that don’t fit into the above categories either join video game clubs or fan groups for movies, TV shows, and all of that ilk. The rest never join a club, or flitter from one student organization to another like starving ragged butterflies from dying flower to dying flower looking for nectar. It is for this under served demographic that I propose a new idea in the world of extracurricular activities: the College Club.

It wouldn’t be called that, of course. ‘The College Club’ is only the name of a concept; in practice they might be called Fine Arts Clubs, Philosophy Clubs, French Clubs, Students for Actions, Diversity Alliances, Chess Clubs, Freestyle Poetry Clubs, Club for Change, almost anything would work if it sounds right. By right I mean important, thoughtful, and ultimately irresistible. For let us remind ourselves: what is the purpose of an extracurricular activity? For some, extracurriculars are a place to have fun with friends, a goal nobler than many might think. For others, perhaps clubs really reflect a student’s interests; a few folks in the Oceanography Club might genuinely enjoy learning about the ocean. For these interest oriented students I have nothing but praise. But some- more than I would like in an ideal world- have far lower aims. For them, extracurricular activities are nothing more than so many trophies to be shot and mounted on the mantle of a college application.

“I was President of the Welsh Student Union! I was captain of the debating team!” Such ‘bragging rights’ are what too many students- and colleges- are after. But these bragging rights are forever out of reach of students uninterested in extracurricular activities, or even for students involved in “less important” clubs dedicated to Star Trek or Mario Kart, for instance. This is where the ‘College Club’ comes in. The format of a ‘College Club’ is beautiful in its simplicity: anyone who wants to can be President, or Captain, or Treasurer, of an “important club” and say so to colleges, without having to join extracurriculars that they just don’t care about. Time will be saved; students could pursue their own interests independently, all the while still keeping an advantage many of their peers might claim. And that’s just in the short term. The ‘College Club’ concept also has impressive long term potential.

Imagine a future in which the ‘College Club’ has spread throughout the nation; perhaps the world. Every student will have an impressive extracurricular credentials, and so none of them will. The institution of the high school extracurricular activity as a prerequisite for college will have been ended, and they can become what they always should have been: places for friends to meet and gather, and to learn and to celebrate common interests and activities.
In short then, the ‘College Club’ concept promises two great advantages. The first is to allow students whose interests don’t align with traditional clubs to share in the advantages extracurricular activity name-dropping can bring in a college application. The second is a promise to reform extracurricular activities as a high school institution. No more will students seek out clubs, school plays, and sports teams just to brag about it to colleges. No more will students feel pressured to join an extracurricular just for the college advantages they bring. In a post-college club world, students will join extracurricular activities if they want to. Students will join extracurricular activities to meet new friends. Students will join extracurricular activities to explore their interests. Students will join extracurricular activities for fun.

And if some students want to meet new people, explore interests, and have fun outside of high school extracurricular activities, that will be OK too.