In the current college admissions landscape, good grades and test scores are just one piece of a student’s college candidacy. Today’s students are expected to contribute both inside and outside of the classroom, and demonstrating extracurricular involvement and leadership can be a crucial part of telling a student’s story. However, with the stress of schoolwork and existing commitments, taking on additional responsibilities – especially those that are self-driven – can seem simply exhausting or overwhelming for high-school students.
So how can students find the energy and bandwidth to tackle or spearhead extracurricular opportunities without burning out, or compromising their academic performance? The key to this is incredibly simple in theory, but challenging in practice – for students to make meaningful commitments to their extracurriculars, these commitments must be meaningful to the student. If students can find ways to make their extracurriculars engaging and fulfilling, they will not see these activities as additionally time-consuming commitments, but as unique opportunities to enjoy and look forward to.
Make It Real
Students know that colleges are looking for engagement outside the classroom – but choosing extracurriculars based expectations of what colleges will find attractive is a recipe for disaster. If a student plans to make a meaningful, extended commitment to an extracurricular engagement, they need to choose an extracurricular that they genuinely want to pursue. Sure, volunteering at a soup kitchen may highlight a student’s altruism and generosity – but if the student grows tired of this commitment after a single weekend and doesn’t return, they will ultimately not have made a significant impact on either themselves or the local community.
Conversely, if a student who is interested in sports volunteers to be the manager for his or her school’s football team, they may not have a world-altering impact. But, if this is a commitment they enjoy and see through over the course of several years, eventually taking on leadership responsibilities, it will demonstrate the commitment and their ability to grow within an organization; and develop important soft skills that are needed to succeed in college and their career. These are key traits that can help highlight what a student can bring to a college community that might ultimately help their candidacy. Taking on extracurricular opportunities that are genuinely interesting will also help when it comes time to write essays or conduct interviews, when students will be able to organically articulate what it is that has driven their commitment.
The More the Merrier
Another way students can increase their engagement with an extracurricular activity is to find ways to share the experience with friends and peers. Most high-schoolers are social – the teen years are vital to social development – and the idea of forgoing already limited time with friends in order to pursue extracurricular projects may drive students to inaction. One simple solution, however, is to make extracurricular experiences social in their nature. If a student is forming a club, they should reach out to other friends or peers who may be interested to try to get them involved. The student can take small steps (like holding meetings over pizza) to create a social atmosphere. If a student joins an existing organization or initiative, they should make an impact to connect with those who are already involved – this will make the experience much more communal and fun, which will only serve to fuel their engagement and commitment. Some teens think that for an extracurricular to be really impactful it needs to be self-directed and independently executed; but working with a group will not only make a project more fun and more manageable, it will also help a student develop and demonstrate group management and communication skills that can indicate future college success.
Get A Guide
Another way to make extracurricular commitments feel more manageable is to identify a teacher or other adult who is willing to provide advice and/or mentorship. If you’re joining an existing organization, there will generally be an adult or adults responsible for providing oversight – try to connect with them, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you’re forming your own organization, asking a teacher or mentor to be involved upfront is a great way to demystify the process. An added advantage of connecting with an advisor – when it comes time to apply to summer programs, colleges, and even jobs, an advisor can write a recommendation that reflects a relationship that extends beyond the classroom.
Have A Goal
Another way to foster student engagement in their extracurriculars is to identify something tangible for them to work towards. These projects can be large or small in scope. They can apply directly to the organization’s mission – i.e. a movie club holding a DVD drive for a local community center, or an improv group holding a performance – or simply be driven by club members, such as a bake sale held to raise funds. Of course, certain extracurriculars like sports teams and musicals will have these goals built in (a state championship and opening night are great motivators). But not all experiences will come with clear-cut objectives, and students pursuing these less traditional extracurriculars will benefit from identifying tangible, timely goals to work towards.
There’s no doubt that having impressive extracurriculars can help high-school students when it comes time to apply to college. However, in order to be really impactful, it’s vital that a student’s extracurriculars represent meaningful commitments. The steps above demonstrate how students can take steps to really connect with their extracurricular engagements in a way that is personally fulfilling and energizing, so that these extracurriculars can become a genuinely meaningful part of a student’s overall story and development.