By Jaxon Fritsch
Guyer High School offers many extracurricular activities for all the students that attend. For example, they offer sports like football, volleyball, and soccer, agricultural mechanics like welding, and Future Farmers of America (FFA) plus much more. But many believe that it couldn’t be enough. Should Guyer add more extracurricular activities for students to try out, or is the current amount enough?
Extracurricular activities offer great opportunities for students to express themselves and what they really believe in. Guyer offers a large variety of these activities. There are many sports and clubs that the school offers to make this possible. For example, the school offers clubs like UMOJA, but that isn’t all.
“Extracurricular activities keep students busy for sure. It’s something that students sacrifice their time for.” Erasta Estrada, a student at Guyer High School said.
How else can these extracurricular activities that the school offers benefit the students as a whole? Many people ask these questions over and over again. Well, the truth is that it can benefit the students in many ways, more than usually is imagined! For example, it can help with social opportunities, mental health, and even help academically. It can also help the students expand on everyday skills. And overall, they can promote personal growth
“It can make the students feel more connected to one another,” Nate Carrasco, a student at Guyer High School said.
So, when the question appears about whether Guyer should add more extracurricular activities it’s kind of a 50/50 split right down the middle. Some students believe that there should definitely be more activities for them to participate in and that overall, more is better. Others think that the mix of clubs and sports the school currently offers, are enough and that it is more about quality than quantity.
“I think the school covers most of the activities in the sports category, plus there are after-school clubs and more.” “There’s an activity for everybody at Guyer.” Nate said.
But, on the other hand, what do the students at Guyer feel should be added to the activities that the school offers to the students? The opinions vary on a wide spectrum. Well, some believe there should be more clubs, some believe that there should be more sports activities, and others think that there should be a good mix of both. Clubs offer a good way to dive deep into personal niche interests and can offer a great way to make a difference in the school’s community. For sports enthusiasts, some believe that schools should add sports like lacrosse, and many feel like sports can offer a great way to build leadership skills.
“Maybe pickleball. I think it’s an interesting sport and I could see a lot of people getting involved in it. I also believe that sports like these can help build crucial life skills,” Erasta said.
A lot of good things can come from getting involved in extracurricular activities. When students join clubs or sports, it can heavily impact their confidence and self-esteem. According to an article written by “At Your Own Risk” about the benefits of sports, being a part of these activities can greatly improve and strengthen relationships with peers.
On the other hand some students reported that there was an obvious lack of interest in the club or sport they had joined. This can be due to a multitude of factors. For example, there can be scheduling conflicts that cross with the student’s personal life. Also, students could feel like there is a lack of inclusivity in these activities. Some ways the school could address these issues and gain greater engagement fro students is by making the schedules more flexible, allocating certain resources, providing evaluation and feedback, and much more.
In conclusion, extracurricular activities play a pivotal role in the development and overall mental and physical health of students at Guyer High school. It is evident that these activities can provide numerous benefits to students such as personal growth, enhanced academic performance, and social opportunities among students. However, challenges such as lack of interest and inclusivity issues need to be addressed by the school to ensure more engagement from the students.
