Discovering Me by Natalie

Discovering Me by Natalie - October 2015 Scholarship Essay

As a member of nine clubs in school and also involved in several outside extracurricular activities, I can say extracurricular activities have played a key role in my development in high school. When I was a freshman in high school, I was terrified of not fitting in. Being involved in extracurricular activities greatly increased my confidence and has helped me become the outgoing and fun person I am today. However, it is a shame to see so many students through high school never knowing what they could have been interested in had they joined an extracurricular activity. Therefore, I believe it should be required for all high school students to join at least one or two extracurricular activities in order to graduate from high school.
This way, more students will be able to be exposed to experiences, activities, and friendships that they never would of learned about without these experiences. Being involved allows a person to gain knowledge about the world around them and about themselves as well.
For example, during my first year of high school the only extracurricular I was willing to join was the Track and Field team. Even this was only because my best friend encouraged me to join. Therefore, I went into my first season, doubting my ability to perform as well as the other players around me who seemed to be professionals in my eyes. However, a couple weeks into the season I found myself passing up some of our varsity players. Before I knew it I was on the varsity team. It was one of the best experiences of my high school career to find out I was being noticed in something I was becoming more and more passionate about! I had never imagined I would have been able to do this as a freshman; but because I put myself out there, I was able to learn that I was capable of more than I thought I was.