Well Rounded or Well Versed? by Miranda

Well Rounded or Well Versed? by Miranda - October 2015 Scholarship Essay

Miranda Foster

Well Rounded or Well Versed?

As a society, we should strive to develop diverse members of the community. Growing up, my mom always told me “You’re a student first! But you are so much more, Miranda”. She encouraged me to be anything and everything that sparked my interest as long as it did not hinder my academic performance. I truly believe that the reason I have been successful in the things I have up until this point of my life have been a direct result of 1. Having support from my family in my aspirations and 2. Doing things like Spanish club, Volleyball, Show Choir, Physics club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, National Honor Society, and so on to make me a multi-faceted person.
While requiring extracurricular activities in order to graduate can seem unreasonable to some, I think that it is more than reasonable; it is intelligent. Nowadays, employers are focusing less on how high on a 4.0 scale you achieved academically, and more on how well you balanced your life. You did well in school? Awesome! What outside challenges and obstacles taught you how to face adversity and still attain success in the classroom? What things did you do to involve yourself in someone else’s life other than your own? It’s through extracurricular activities that we learn self-discipline, time-management, teamwork, proper communication skills, and how to enjoy the many things life has to offer.
Without degrading those who devote all of their time to be successful in the classroom, I say that keeping your nose in a book for four years is not the only way to show achievement. It is not necessary to bring five unwarranted gray hairs upon yourself in one week due to stress over ONE test grade in high school biology. There is more to life than the letter grade on a single sheet of paper! Now, saying that high school students must engage in extracurricular activities in order to graduate is great, but the thing that should be in question is, “How many extracurricular activities should be required in order to graduate from high school?” In response to that I would say, one extracurricular activity per school year (not semester) should be a sensible amount of involvement in extracurricular outlets to prepare students for what life past grades is like.
Life past grades includes relationships, careers, babies (at some point), holidays, thinking of others’ feelings, and dealing with others’ actions that may or may not satisfy our thoughts of how things should happen. Books can’t teach your kinetic memory what it feels like to have that overwhelming amount pride when you effectively execute a system with 5 other people on the court in order to score a point. You can read about it all day, but until you are actually involved in it, you won’t have that richer understanding. Human interaction is the way to learn at a deeper level and connect in ways that are being lost upon future generations as well as mine. Extracurricular activities facilitate the collection of new synapses that our brains translate into experiences and then turn into comprehension. Books are not the only avenues to knowledge, and extracurricular involvement is a necessary piece of successful graduation from high school. Being well rounded in life is more important than simply being well versed in textbooks.