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high school extracurricular activities
what did you participate in?
i'm encouraging (one might say "pushing") the teen to get super involved when she starts high school in september. *gulp* she went with a friend to a cheer clinic yesterday and hated every moment, so cheerleading is most definitely out. obviously, she inherited none of her mother's AWness or dorkiness. heh. and she's never been much into sports, but mentioned that she would be interested in maybe going out for tennis - the one sport she actually does enjoy playing.
she also wants to be a photographer. you should see this awesome mock resume we created for an english assignment - in it, she graduates from ucla's school of photography, works on the school newspaper, goes into a job working at us weekly to seventeen magazine to ok! in the UK and then to paris vogue. haha! pretty lofty goals, but i'm totally cheering her on.
so the hub and i are suggesting maybe tennis, ASB, yearbook. any other suggestions as to what might be good for her?
Re: high school extracurricular activities
My school had a photography club, which sounds like it would be a good fit if her school has one.
I also liked the foreign-language based clubs because they would have some fun excursions to restaurants and movies.
Does she like public speaking, especially to prove a point? If so, debate team or forensics might be of interest to her.
I was a total nerd who was super involved. I did a ton of crap...mock trial, twirling, dancing, chorus, etc.
Yearbook sounds like it would be a great fit for her. As far as sports go I'm not sure....my school was a bit different than this area ...I.e. We actually had a rifle team that was considered a sport...
i liked being on the tennis team, despite my unathletic self. good mixture of team/individual sport, you get a workout, make friends, get to leave class early for some away games, and wear cute skirts/skorts.
sounds like yearbook and a photography club would be good. also, a service organization might be good, like key club or something.
I did MUN (4 years), yearbook (4 years), Homecoming committee (4 years), diving (2 years) and field hockey (2 years)
each was fulfilling in a different way, but I think MUN was a great experience for the nerdy type. I had classes with the same kids for 4 years and we did a lot of travel conferences together which made for a good experience.
ps - not calling her the nerdy type. I was the nerdy type.
Yearbook would be a great fit for her. You might want to contact the yearbook teacher and ask him/her if there are opportunities for freshman. I know at my hs and the hs I work at, it's only for 10-12th grade.
The major things I was in...yearbook, drama, dance team
I can tell you, as a teacher, I just notice that the involved kids do so much better in school and get so much more out of their hs experience, so I'm glad to hear you are pushing her to get into stuff.
My high school activities included, but were not limited to, the following:
Academic Decathlon
Asian Student Union
Badminton
California Scholarship Federation
Candystriping
Future Business Leaders of America
Key Club
Literary Magazine
Model United Nations
Newspaper
Piano
School Site Council
Science Fair
Spanish Honor Society
Young Democrats
I was president/captain of four of these groups, an officer of another three, and just a member of the rest.
At our school, newspaper was much more prestigious than yearbook. This is not the case at every school. I would encourage The Teen to join the more vaunted of the two publications at her school.
I was in sports all 4 years but I also was in a college prep program which was a lot of fun. We had several projects, field trips, and we helped out at the elementary schools. I don't know if her high school has something similar.
Also, what about badminton? Is that a different season than tennis? Usually the PE requirement is 2 years and if tennis is only one semester than she'll have to take it all 4 years. I'd try and get the PE requirement done, then that way she can have the option of taking other classes, (ROP, electives, foreign language).
I think its great that you're encouraging her to do these things!
If she can make the tennis team, don't bother with badminton. Badminton is the same season. Everyone on badminton is a nerd who couldn't make the tennis team.
Our team's average GPA was 4.1ish.
Average!
4.1. damn.
we're working our asses off to keep her 3.3!
Again, mind you, that was the average. Many of our GPAs were much higher.
And, for the record, nothing about you "pushes" The Teen.
You don't know pushy until you've met my mother.
Oh, really? Hmm. Maybe I've mis-remembered.
In any event, badminton = last resort.
this is making me super nervous.
i told her yesterday that i wouldn't push her into anything she didn't want to do, but that i WOULD push her to do SOMETHING. i just want her to be involved and really get a lot out of high school. perhaps i'm trying to live vicariously through her. don't lots of parents do this?
If I lived vicariously through my imaginary child, said child would be a pothead with blue hair.
But don't sweat the GPA thing. Seriously, the badminton team was such an anomaly. The only reason we all joined was because we needed a varsity sport to look good for college apps.
Well, grades and test scores are still the most important thing for admissions, so I'd focus on that first. Everything else is just icing on the cake.
My view is that kids shouldn't participate in too many activities to the detriment of their academic achievement.
any of the above would be great, and I totally ditto YL. The kids involved in school are always seem to do so much better in all aspects of school. (grades, friends, social skills, etc)
Also, I've heard that girls should be involved in more "team" sports. A lot of girls do individual sports (track, swimming, tennis), which is good, but doesnt build as much of the "team" skills as being on an actual team does. (ie: soccer, softball, basketball). Eh, I'm sure any sport is better than no sport, but just something else to think about.
The only sports I did in HS were lacrosse and softball.
Clubs included - yearbook, SAAD, tutoring club, freshman advisor (seniors were picked to be buddies for the incoming freshman), and homecoming committee
I don't know why I love this thread so much but I do!
Yay for tennis!
I didn't like clubs that involved any work so I stuck with tennis (which I can't really play but the boys on the team were super cute) and cheerleading. But I was more into being a social butterfly. I definitely could have benefited from an academic team or two. Is the Teen the same way - social butterfly? My only two cents would be to make sure that she's not doing any activity out of obligation to you two even if it makes her unhappy.
You're good parents! Mine never cared that much and just trusted my judgment which clearly wasn't enough.
GL!
Damn, WeeMo! You're such an overachiever!
Has anyone suggested student council? Would she like something like that? There's also things like Spanish club, Students Against Drunk Driving, etc.
I was on the Pom team and involved in theater, so you can imagine what an AW I was in high school.
it would completely hurt my mother's feelings to know this, but i strive to be the exact opposite as she was when i was growing up.
the relationship i enjoy with the teen is LIGHT YEARS away from what we had. hell, it's still eons from what we have now.
I participated in Cheer, Dance Production, Science Fair and "Leadership" - what is known at most schools as ASB. I loved Cheer and Dance (obviously), but I was chosen by the administration as the rep for our class freshman year and it absolutely set the stage for my next four years. I stayed involved even during the years when I didn't have an office and it was one of the most fun and rewarding things I did at HS. Our school was a middle income public school, so if we wanted something done we fundraised for it and did it ourselves. I met a bunch of awesome people I wouldn't have associated with much had it not been for the class and it made my HS experience something really special. I'd absolutely encourage her to get involved in that.
Also, yearbook, newspaper and any photography related clubs would be great for her.
I played volleyball and ran track. Track is a good way to be involved in something without having to be too good at something in particular. I ran Varisty my last two years but they had Frosh/Soph, JV (for those that were past Frosh/Soph but not good enough for Varsity) and Varsity. If you run short distances it does not involve large amounts of running. I gave up tennis right before high school but my sister was on the team and loved it. I love tennis now and it's something I will be able to do the rest of my life.
I was involved in some clubs, mainly to help with college. French Club, CSF, Pep Club. I did find with my extra activities it prevented me from getting in trouble because I was too busy to do anything else.
I would find out if there are tryouts for any of the sports teams. I know I had to try out for the Frosh/Soph volleyball team before school even started. There were people who did not make it. I know the same went for tennis, softball, soccer, and basketball. If you know she has to try out you can work on her tennis game over the summer. You may want to look into your city's recreation program. They usually have classes for teens for cheap. She might learn some new things and it will give her a chance to play with others her own age.
Mine were:
Varsity Cheerleading
XCountry
Track
Basketball
ASB Publicity Chairman
Girls Leauge (Board Member)
Key Club (Board Member)
Christian Club
Drama Club
Basketball (fresh/soph, JV)
Softball (JV for 2 seasons)
Cross Country (JV, Varsity)
Track (JV, Varsity)
Key Club
Jazz Ensemble
I took Drama as a class for 1/2 a semester. It was nothing like I had expected. No plays or anything. It was like glorified babysitting. So, I transferred to Chorus and loved every bit of it. We had "concerts" every few months.
If I had known of OCHSA, I would have auditioned to get in there for Opera or Musical Theatre.
I don't know if the Teen's school will offer photography, but you should have her enroll in that if they do. And she'd prolly like yearbook, also.