‘Why join a club when I can have a free period instead?’ ‘I’m too busy for extracurriculars!’ ‘What if I don’t know anyone there?’ are sentiments expressed by students plenty of times before.
But many people may be overlooking the importance of extracurriculars. Think of the variety of clubs, sports, and co-curriculars including Summit Singers, the tennis teams, and Book Club. Students across grade levels participate, but the reason these activities continue to run is because of the increase in participation as new ninth graders and sophomores join in.
Sophomore Tallulah Dogwill joined volleyball for her first year this fall. After struggling with some issues related to breathing, she wanted to join a sport that didn’t involve much running and decided that volleyball was her best option.
She’s been enjoying the opportunity to learn a new skill and interact with team members and coaches: “I was a little nervous doing it for the first time as a sophomore, but so far, the team has been super nice and … really supportive,” Dogwill said.
Sports aren’t for everyone, but that’s not a setback for ninth grader Oakley Schonwald, a new student this fall. Schonwald is interested in joining a wide variety of affinity groups and activities: shey hope to be involved in the fall play, as well as the neurodivergent, queer, and Jewish affinity groups.
“From what I’ve heard, … it seems like a great way to make friends, especially if you’re joining an interest-based group,” shey said. “No one’s going to judge you for having that interest, because that’s why you’re going to said group.”
Teddy Crook, also a new ninth grader, hopes to find his place within both areas of extracurriculars: theater and sports. They are planning to join the Alpine skiing team during the winter, as well as the fall play.
“I’ve been … skiing for a while, and I’ve done a few years of ski racing. … I wanted to continue that here,” he said.
Some might say extracurriculars can be frivolous, but the participants find them valuable.
“I do think it’s really important, because it kind of helps you build opportunities and gives you a sense of belonging outside of just the classroom,” Dogwill said.
Others join in to keep life interesting.
“I just feel like it’d be kind of boring without … any activities or … sports to do,” Crook said.
While there may be feelings of doubt or uncertainty about joining new clubs or extracurriculars, there are plenty who believe that the groups are beneficial to students.
“It can get easy to get wrapped up in the whole idea of ‘I need to focus on school and get good grades’,” Scholwald said. “That’s all important, but you can … forget to … enjoy the not-school part of school. … I think clubs are a great way to [avoid] that.”
Even with some uncertainty around joining, many voices from across the school are willing to encourage others to join clubs.
Dogwill offers her advice to students who are debating whether or not to join a new activity: “Just go for it.”
