extra curricular activities as necessary in order to become successful in the future participating in these extra activities outside of school means that students have to learn how to balance and manage their time studies show that well balanced students receive better grades but for some people staying balance can be very difficult most people want to procrastinate as much as possible when it comes to school work and study when students procrastinate it is not preparing them to be successful down the road whenever they have to manage and balance everything on their own when you think about playing a sport during high school you think of a lot of commitment in time while still having a great experience but is all that time really worth it studies show that only seven percent of athletes that played in high school will go on to playing college that means that one in fourteen people will end up actually pursuing their athletic career at the collegiate level less than two percent of players purse for go on to play professionally most athletes at the high school level focus so hard on trying to strive to be the best in athletics that they leave academics behind many people feel as if practices in games come before studying and homework but that is not the case to be able to thrive athletically students grades must also be kept up to the standards while playing a sport is a great high school experience grades should definitely come for trying to balance school work between these extracurricular activities can become very stressful and trying to balance multiple of them can become very difficult participating in out of school activities can be very beneficial but how do you know if you are doing too much in the article successful high school students it says dedicated students and active members of the school community also risk over extending themselves and activities and outside commitments that basically means that while being involved in multiple activities it can become too stressful on the student because of all that they have to balance most colleges want to see that you have commitment and dedication to one or two clubs or activities rather than having multiple and not being able to stay organized if students choose to commit to one or two then they will be able to focus more on school and be more successful in the future hi i'm morgan murder in and today i am joined with miss simmons who is peter central high school guidance counselor thank you so much for coming i'm sure absolutely it's nice to do this on a coach and good perspective so why do you think people like to participate in extracurricular activities there's a lot of reasons students get involved in sports early on something to do something to keep them active and out in the community and doing things like that so it's something that they like to continue as they go along because like you said oftentimes going off to college they don't continue to pursue those athletic careers or things like that so this is sometimes their last their last chance to really play with their peers their friends but also just to kind of have that team mentality do you think that it's beneficial for students to participate in these oh absolutely the more that you get involved into something and get passionate about it you have more ability to talk about it so when it comes down to college applications you have something to kind of show about yourself things that you've done things that you're doing colleges like to see that you're passionate about something it doesn't have to be a sport but if it is  sport it's something that you can talk about why do you think students often put those extra activities ahead of school sometimes they're easier in terms of their i'm their commitment is it's a time commitment for sure but it's maybe once or twice a week three times a week for two hours school seven hours a day five days a week and then you go home and do homework so school that there's a lot more time to it when a sport can sometimes be an outlet rather than a commitment of something you feel you have to do so sometimes sports is that thing that gets your mind off of your schoolwork do you think that colleges look first students to participate in extracurricular activities absolutely it doesn't have to be a sport sports are great students  involved in but what it comes down to is colleges and universities and even employers if you're not going straight off to college or university if you're joining the military they still want to see that you've actively involved yourself and something so whether it's a club an activity a sport they want to see that you're giving your time to something that you enjoy or you're passionate about do you think that students find it hard to stay organized with school and these extra activities can if you don't get yourself into a good system from the beginning it's hard to kind of save yourself later in terms of time management student sometimes feel that their brains are good enough to remember the things that they need to remember but realistically we can only remember so much in our bra at a certain time so if you do you get yourself involved in activities and sports it's good to kind of find a system that works for you whether it's a calendar phone a plan or a school planner those types of things are helpful to students get themselves into the memory game where i remember that later and not remember it absolutely but adults do that too but it's finding that system that works for you and making sure that you can work through all of that with your sports and activities do you feel that the more organized students are more successful in the long term absolutely the more organized you have yourself the more you kind of can step back and say ok i have this coming up i'm a person that i need a full month calendar in front of me i can't do day to day that's my organizational system i have to see everything coming up because i need to know that's just my way of doing it some students are really good about like i need to know what's happening today and then i need to know what's happening tomorrow so it's really a system that works for you but if you're not organized you find that you start missing things more often and then when you stay on top of checking off a box that you've done something why do you feel that people feel the need to participate in more than one extracurricular than just one i think there's the notion that's out there that colleges want to see a huge long resume that you've participated in a lot of things but that's not always the case if you're passionate a those things absolutely do them but what colleges really look for is leadership if you're joined into five different activities in three sports throughout the year are you really putting in the time that you need to to show that i'm just checking off a box  it's my resume so when when we do multiple things it's finding the meaning behind those things are you doing them just to put them on your resume because that comes through a lot when you give your resume to teachers for recommendation letters but it also comes through to colleges when you have a lot on your resume but you don't have a lot to talk about and if you are doing a spore in high school why do you think athletes feel that their sport should be the first thing their first priority why do you think they put it ahead of everything else sometimes it's the coaches sometimes the coaches make students feel that their sport is the only sport it's the only thing that's going on right this minute right this time in this semester and that's not all coaches but sometimes students want to be please and they want to please their teachers but they also want to please their coach but if they don't come to practice and they don't know what they need to know they're not going to play so there's a lot that goes into it but it's also if they're not managing their time if they are managing their time then they're not going to feel as bogged down with their practices and their activities and their homework so there's a lot of things that go into it and i think that the more you're in class and the more you see your teacher and have a conversation with them students feel that they can just make it up tomorrow or they can turn something in late and that's not always the case so it's good to be communicating with your teachers your coaches and as a coach myself as a student as having a hard time in school  or not doing well in classes i would rather them come talk to me so that we can work out a way to get them better and they're managing of their time do you think that this puts a bigger stress on the students i think they put the stress on themselves i don't necessarily think it's the activities of the sports doing it i think they feel they have to be everything for everyone at all times so it's kind of finding the balance for why are you pursuing this activity and this club finding the meaning for it for the student because if you find the meaning that it's not going to be as much of a burden do you think that the parents pressure the students to maybe stay in that club or activity i think it truly depends parents want the best for their student when the best for their child so i think they hear the things out in the community as well about colleges wanting all these different things so it's kind of finding that balance as well some parents my mom when i was in high school she was one that was like if you want to pursue it pursue it if you commit to it you have to go through to the end so sometimes it's finding that commitment and parents keeping students to follow through with that commitment as best as they can i think pressures come from everywhere it comes from yourself it comes from your coach comes from your parents all in different ways so it's finding that balance for all of those things what do you think are some of the negative outcomes of trying to balance these activities sometimes i think you get so bogged down that you kind of just require a lot to go into a hole and don't want to do anything and you get you get yourself kind of bogged down with trying to make things up and lack of communication is always the biggest thing if you don't communicate we don't know what's happening so i think the more that piles up the more people don't want to find way to make it better so that's usually a negative of being too much all the time how do you think that students could overcome this if it gets to that point where communication like you said  counselors were here to work things out with you talking to your coach if you have upperclassmen on your team asking them like how did you get through this like if they've already had chemistry and you're having a hard time in chemistry can they help you with chemistry so it's always reaching out and finding that we  can't always do everything on our own people are here to be our support systems whether it's your teacher asking them for help whether it's your counsellor asking the way to kind of help manage your time kind of seeing like this is what i'm doing it's not working for me and we figure something out together there's a lot of resources for you to find so just see them so often do you think that coming to a counsellor like you would be beneficial for the student and absolutely i've sat down with students and looked at their week looked at their homework if they haven't turned and stuff in the last couple times of being do you work out a way to communicate with the teacher let them know what's going on sitting and e mailing and all those types of things do you feel that parents should be more involved in like understanding how their student needs to balance their time i think that parents definitely know what their students are doing but i think it's good to be that support system not necessarily doing things for their student or reaching out to the teachers for their student but helping them navigate ok what what's going on in your daily schedule do you need to reach out to your teacher how can i help you do that i think that helps students in the future when they go to college and there's they're in their dorm room they're going to colleges there's professors there's not really any money there kind of helping them along the way as much as there is now so it's more about teaching the skills rather than doing for them when you were in high school did you ever struggle with maybe balancing a club or spore and schoolwork sure i i was a cheerleader in high school and we cheered for two sports in the fall into sports in the in the winter time so we had a lot more games going on and a lot more  practices than what we do now and it was definitely hard at first as a freshman kind of coming into that in eighth grade your practices and your games aren't as involved as when you get to the high school so it was kind of finding that balance of my overloading myself in my classes in my adding too many honors in my adding so many a p classes how do i find that balance your courses don't have to be all of these hard a p honors all the way through so it's finding that balance of like if i wan hard in one class and maybe two or three have an honors and then the rest of them how do i balance all of that did you turn to anyone to ask for help on how to balance your time i had an older sister so i kind of learned by watching  yeah i was in the counseling office i was a counselor in her hair as well so i kind of was the same kind of thing learn by by of watching and if i had a question i always went to my counselor do you feel bad trying to manage these puts a lot of pressure on the student and they are not sure what to do i think that can happen i think that they can definitely put too much on their plate at one time and feel that pressure but sometimes i think they don't know where to go to next so finding the way to navigate the resources that are out there and being ok by talking to the people that are there to help and would you say that students that are more organized get higher grades on like tests and homework i guess i can say that i don't have data in front of me but in my assumption i would say students that are more organized know want to test is coming you know when their homework is do you know when things are going to be turned in their one  is changed they know where to go to get the resources on that modo on the class page so be more organized definitely i can see there being an increase in grades when students organize and why do you think students choose to keep pursuing their high school s'pore if they know that they're not going to continue it in college i think it's a thing of you start with a group of people or you start with your friends and you want to finish it and see it all the way through some students they might start with soccer or with basketball but realize the sports too much but they really like the play so it might shift as you go through you know so but i think that they like to be involved i think that there's a lot of times more than just classes and that's in life as well when he gets a college there's clubs there's activities so finding the ways to fit all of that in is something i think as people we like to be involved in where we are people that like to be in relationships and see if you go and talk to people and have conversations so if you're not in activities and things like that it's where do you find those types of conversations with others do you think that if a student isn't able to balance their time in school work that they should quit their activity or spore if they have sought out the resources to see if they can manage their time better and it's still not working you need to find a way to ok my overloaded is this sport really what's best for me to stay in or should i maybe shift to like an activity or something that's a little bit less time consuming but i think you should always try to figure it out first before you think about quitting do you think that people are who are really struggling with doing this should turn t parents to ask for help for i think it's an idea i mean they're not there to just ignore your problems they definitely want to help but if they don't know that there's a problem or there's an issue they can't help so i think reaching out to your parents and asking ok did you have this type of thing in high school what was your experience or your parents were running around most of the time dropping you off that activity so it's finding a way to find that balance and talking it through with them and giving them your opinion on what you think is helping and not helping you if a parent is feeling pressured i mean a student is feeling pressure from their parents where do you think that next turning place is to go to and i think sometimes that's a place to go and sit with your counselor and talk through this is what's happening how do i manage this or if you have a teacher that you trust and you talk to it's always good to talk to an adult and kind of talk through it and even appear if you trust a peer it's always good to kind of find ways to navigate those those instances because sometimes you have to find a way to communicate with your parents it's not always easy so rather than like i mean well besides your parents around and everything how do you think parents could get involved in helping shor encouraging students and and looking at ok sometimes with my sisters and different things with all of our different activities i coach with my sister it's sitting down and saying at the beginning of the week ok what's going on this week what do we need to get done what types of things do you have going on that i have going on and kind of talking through your weekly schedule i think sometimes that's really helpful or having a family calendar of this is the mom my mom activity this is my dad's activity this is what i'm doing this week so kind of having it like a weekly check and what is your suggestion to students who have does developed anxiety through trying to balance this finding the root of the problem to start is it really the sport are you putting too much pressure on yourself do you feel too committed to your coach or your peers where is the problem really stemming from and i think that's something that you can talk to your parents about but also like i said the counselors are there to kind of work through some of those those things and if it is the homework is you have too much homework and maybe it's not that you're not organized but you haven't found time or your practice is run too late and those types of things it's finding maybe right after school you go home and take a nap and then you wake up and have to go to practice but you could have spent that time instead of napping you could have done some homework so it's fun finding that balance do you think from a coach spur specht of sometimes the coaches don't understand like how much homework students actually have and how sometimes they can always make it to practice i can see that maybe in the school and knowing that it's different for me because i see what's going on and i see and hear that there's this many tests or there's a big big test coming up so i fear that but i think other other coaches that are in the school when you're in practice it's their time so i can definitely see that being a little bit of a conflict in terms of what's going on but it's also one thing to communicate with your coach and it's not just not showing up but if i have a cheerleader that says i have a lot going on can i take this day off or it's just working through some of those situations to make sure that i want them to be successful no coach wants you guys to be failing  so that definitely just communication so you think that the coaches understand where you're coming from and will accept that i think so because that's where i come from and i and i know a lot of the other coaches that are at least fall sports in winter sports  they do if you communicate with them they're usually pretty understanding in saying ok i see i see what you're saying i understand what's going on so based off of that how can the coaches and teachers help their students manage and balance their time i think for for teachers it's really just making sure that everything that you have going on is posted and i think they do a good job of doing that for coaches i think that as as a team you can get together and say is there something we can help you with to better understand what we're going through or is there a way that we can get you and tell you like this week is going to be heavy week for us if it's a teacher that's in the school that also coaches i think it's kind of i think those are the better ones that can balance easier because they can see what's happening but those that aren't i think finding a system that works together and maybe that's something the captains would do and sit down with with the coach why should students consider not participating in these activities if you have too much going on sometimes you're not interested in any of the clubs that are here at the school doing extracurricular activities doesn't mean it has to be school related there are students i know that go out and volunteer and there are students that do research or do different things that aren't connected to the school so one reason is maybe if you don't have something that you feel you connect with but still making sure that you get out in the community and do something that is good for i don't understate just good for your resume but good for you moving forward and then off of that do you feel that student should participate in multiple or just stick to one i think having a few there's a fine line  too many and not enough one to two is great it's the student that says ok i'm self aware and i know that if i do more than one activity i'm going to it's going to be too much and that's absolutely ok but then there are other students that are really good at managing their time and they can be in three clubs and maybe the president of one but they are just a participant and two others so it's finding what's good for you what's good for you is not good for me or the next person so it's really kind of saying ok i know who i am and what i want to do and that's what i'm going to do not worrying about your friends in this club and they want you to be in that club and this other club and just saying sometimes you just say no and then do you think that colleges really do look to see what sports will put like extra activities like students participating and they do look at it they're not necessarily always asked for a resume like a typed out formatted resume but on the common app there's ten sections where you can add different activities they limit it at ten because sometimes kids do a lot of activities but you pick the most important to you so colleges do look to see that you are involved and doing things outside of just the classroom setting they really to see that you do have a good grades and you're challenging yourself and your horses and you do well on a secure the f c t but what it really comes down to and what college admissions officers have said is we want to see students just be decent human beings and the only way you can see that is the activities that you're involved in ok so you think that colleges do you think that they based the type of person that you are based off of the activities that you do i don't want to say they base the person you are but how you talk about it and the way that you feel it's important to you and how you can convey that to them through essays or if your teacher sponsor talks or gives you a recommendation letter those are all of the ways that they see the type of person that you are and of mold into ok i don't know this person but what they're showing me and what their teachers are saying about them tells me the type of student that they're so do you think that colleges favor good grades or participation in extracurricular activities it's a combination i don't know it's not like a black or white  answer but it's one of those things that different schools look for different things and there are some schools that don't have an essay don't have teacher recommendation letters it doesn't mean that they value grades and test scores more it's that they're usually bigger schools and there's not a lot of time for them to read through two essays teacher recommendation letter so that it's really the balance but they want to see all those things they give you the opportunity to show what their activities and sports that you are involved in so it's a combination  for students that are participating in athletics in college how do you think they manage their time a lot of schools actually require them to go to study sessions really most colleges for athletes and for particular sports some particular sports on college campuses have a team tutor or they have specific tutoring hours that they have to check in so many times a week so colleges and universities really try to make sure that their athletes are managing their time they are required campuses to get in that time to colleges that have teams have a team counsellor anything that they can turn to if they're feeling anxiety or anything i don't know about every campus but i know pitt for example before i moved back here and was applying to different jobs it actually has for its counselors so they have supposed i don't know how many they have on their campus but they do have a specific team counselor they might have a couple teams that they deal with but they do have counselors specific to the sports so you would say overall that doing these extracurricular activities do benefit people in the long term to help them be more successful well thank you so much for coming in order to become successful in life students have to put work ahead of sports and other activities students should know when they should to skip meeting or practice to stay organized with their academics they have to understand how to manage and balance their time in school work in preparation for college in college students suddenly find themselves with more freedom time and independence it is the way in which they utilize their time to focus on their academics the better prepares them for the next rapper and life with a career students are disciplined and continued to see the importance of balancing academics clubs and i to view these in college will gain experiences that will allow them to begin and build a solid resume that will hopefully help them but their career