The Perks of Not Being A Wallflower by Samantha

The Perks of Not Being A Wallflower by Samantha - March 2019 Scholarship Essay

Do you like to paint? Join the art club. Have a competitive edge? Try out for the basketball team. Enjoy planning events? Student government is right up your alley. Can you play an instrument? The band has a spot for you. Every person on this planet embodies different strengths of their own. Some may enjoy competing on a sports field, while others find more enjoyment competing in the classroom at math league. When one discovers their strength and exploits it, happiness becomes inevitable. High schools offer so many different clubs, after school activities, sports programs, or community service gigs which means there is a place for everyone to find their niche. Touring a group of incoming freshman around my high school, the advice I would give to them is to get involved in something you have a passion for.

It may be hard for some freshman to come out of their shell and start to get involved. Moving up from middle school to high school can be a very intimidating process, so it is easy to fall victim to a wallflower image. From being a big fish in a small pond to a small fish in a big pond, students benefit from finding a smaller community within the big school that can relate to their own interests. Discovering the date and time of meetings for certain activities and attending then them is the first step toward getting involved. That first meeting alone could open up opportunities to meet new people who may have the same interests as you. From there, students will feel encouraged to come back to the next meeting and quickly feel at home in an inner circle.

Not only does getting involved with events, committees, clubs, and sports team help build relationships and create a welcoming community for incoming freshman, but it is also great for applications to college and looks great as assets on a resume. High school freshman will most likely not be thinking about those two benefits to joining these groups; however, post-grad life and college applications sneak up quicker than one may expect. With that said, if it takes 2-3 years to finally start getting involved as a junior in high school, it may be too late to have a substantial amount of experience on a resume or application.

Finding one’s calling in high school provides so many benefits. For instance, getting involved helps students relate to others who have those same interests, it helps them discover more about oneself, and it can build a highly developed resume for future careers and college applications. My time in high school was some of the best years of my life. I attribute that to getting involved with the school community, including athletics, student government, academic clubs, and various student affair opportunities. I met so many wonderful peers, teachers, and people from my community that impacted my life so greatly. I believe involvement in such things go beyond the resume, application, or friendships too. I attribute my highly developed interpersonal skills and growth into more of an extroverted person to the involvement I attained in high school.