Close your eyes and imagine that it is your junior year in high school. You are sitting in a disorganized mess trying to figure out what to put on your college resume before the deadline, which happens to be in exactly two hours. This could have been prevented if you had actually done any extracurricular activities in the past. To prevent these types of scenarios, all students should participate in at least one extracurricular activity because it can give them future opportunities, make them gain many skills, and help them find a passion to pursue.

Everyone wants many opportunities in life, and extracurricular activities do just that. If you play an instrument, you can travel abroad to play your favorite pieces. You can join competitions and get recognized so that orchestras and symphonies ask you to play with them. It is not just playing an instrument that can get you opportunities, but sports too. If your team makes championships, you both can travel places for that competition. We cannot forget about college scouts either. If they see you play and they think you are good enough to be on their team, then they could give you a full-ride scholarship to their school. If that is not an amazing opportunity, then I don't know what is.

The next reason why students should participate in extracurricular activities is because they can learn many valuable skills they will need in the future. In leadership clubs like National Honor Society or your school's student council, you can learn how to communicate with people and get your ideas out. You can also learn to lead people, plan or organize events, and help your community. You can even overcome almost everyone's biggest fear, public speaking. That is definitely a huge benefit. With sports, you can also not only build up your communication skills, but also learn to collaborate by becoming a team player. If you are in a chess club, you can gain patience and critical thinking skills which will definitely help you in the future.

The last reason why all students should participate in extracurricular activities is so that they can find a passion to pursue. Sometimes, people do not always know what they want to do or become someday and extracurricular activities just happen to help with that. By doing them, you can find out your interests and hobbies, what you are good and bad at, and what abilities you posses. If you love that sport or that instrument, pursue it! Work harder than anyone, and you just might find yourself in the Olympics. Practice with your whole heart and soul and next thing you know, you could be inviting your family to come see you perform with the National Symphony. The point is, all these passions can start from you just wanting to try out an activity.

Overall, students should definitely participate in extracurricular activities. These activities can bring you many opportunities, valuable skills, and help you pursue a passion you never knew you had. There are so many more reasons to participate in extracurricular activities, but these are some of the most beneficial ones. If you had chosen any of the hundreds of extracurricular activities available, you would not be frantically trying to finish up your college resume two hours before it is due. Instead, you could have been stress free doing what you love the most.