Extracurriculars are just as educational as classes

Throughout my time at Maine South, I have participated in many extracurricular activities, from student government to golf to Constitution Team to cheerleading.

If it has taught me anything, it is that there is just as much, if not more, to be learned from these outlets as there is to be learned from classes.

Extracurriculars have genuinely taught me so much, not just about myself, but about the world.

Immersing myself in these realworld experiences, like internships, jobs, sports, clubs, and traveling, has made me more well-rounded.

All it took was recognizing that life is just a classroom.

Emotional intelligence is arguably the most important indicator when predicting a student's success on assessments and in the workplace.

In fact, public schools initially introduced extracurricular activities to give students an outlet to improve their “soft skills.” Soft skills are things like communication, conflict management, and interpersonal connections. Essentially, being a good teammate is a valuable life skill.

It is important for Maine South students to take advantage of our many extracurriculars so they can strengthen these skills.

Although teachers at Maine South are amazing, there are just some skills that can’t be taught in a classroom setting.

You truly do learn best from experience. When you have the opportunity to apply classroom knowledge in the real world, it is much more likely to stick with you, especially if you make mistakes.

This is because you have witnessed its effects firsthand.

Field trips are a great learning experience, and we should encourage them more at Maine South. My grandma was a teacher and always said that a field trip was worth three days of classroom instruction.

A student can read about animals and the zoo, but it is much easier for students to visualize an event if they have personally experienced it.

Experiential learning also strengthens students’ cognitive maps.

This was most true for me with foreign languages.

After visiting Spain this summer, I now have a much deeper understanding of Spanish culture.

Most importantly, extracurricular activities have revealed my true passions to me.

When I first came to Maine South, I was convinced that I wanted to study business and become an entrepreneur. At Maine South, I took five business classes and always excelled in them. However, it was only through my extracurricular activities like mock trial, peer jury, law, and debate club that I discovered my true passion for the legal field.

Without these activities, who knows when I would have come to this realization?

In college, I will have the luxury to participate in co-ops or paid internships while I’m a student.

I believe that Maine South should emulate this co-op model by urging more students to participate in internships and by encouraging teachers to have more field trips.

This will grant students the opportunity to apply everything they’ve learned in the classroom in a realworld setting.

More importantly, this will provide students with exposure to different fields.