" Mom i'm getting very stressed out with all this work that i'm being assigned," says Generic_Name. Her mom replies to her saying, "You should try doing an after school sport or activity which will teach you new skills, or allow you to express yourself." Many students may be enrolled in rigorous classes in school giving them a great deal of stress and anxiety, but if they were required to take an extracurricular they would be able to relieve there stress in a safe and productive environment. A survey shows that seven out of ten students feels he or she is getting a great amount of work and are feeling stressed, and they support the idea of having after school activities to express themselves. Students should be required to take extracurricular activities because they give them the opportunity to express themselves, they can learn new skills, and find passion in an area that they discover.

First off, students find after school activities as a great way to express themselves in a way they would not be able to in a regular classroom. Many students can join a fine arts club or a sports team where they could collaborate with others who enjoy those areas. For example, my friend Generic_Name had been in many advanced classes and was receiving a heavy work load, wanting a way to get rid of his stress he joined the track team. Before he had joined the track team he was always tired and anxious, but once he began running he was happy and was not as stressed as before. This shows that he was able to join a sports team that allowed him to express himself and create a love for a sport while also relieving his stress. To elaborate, my brother had always had anxiety about his grades and what tests he had the next day. He had always been into art, so he had decided to join the art club, when he had done this he would always come home and talk about how great it was that he had the freedom to paint whatever he had wanted and not have to worry about memorizing facts. Ultimately, this allowed his brain to think more creatively and gave him a break from memorizing facts for his test.

Secondly having students join after school activities may allow them to find skills that they possess in an area that they have not yet discovered. This is important because many students may only know about their skills that are taught in a classroom for a specific subject, rather than finding skills they hadn't known they had in a topic not taught in classrooms. One example, would be my father who had never taken any extracurricular activities which had lead him to think the only skills he had were those that were taught in the classroom. Once he had gotten to high school it was recommended to take one or more clubs, so he had decided to take a computer class. When he had finished the year, he had realized that he had a skill in working with computers and that their were other skills to be learned other than those taught in classrooms. This is important because it had created new job opportunities for him, and allowed him to discover skills he thought he never had. Furthermore, I can relate to this because I had allows thought that math and science were my only strengths and skills. This was the case because I had never really wanted to join an after school activity because I had thought they were a waste of time, until I had decided to take a stock market club which made a huge impact on my life. It was very important because I earned a passion for it and to this day I am still intrigued by the topic.

Lastly, students will have the opportunity to create a passion for the area that they discover, or have it become a hobby of theirs. This could be important because it would allow students to create a love for it early in their life making it easier for them to pursue that career later in their life. For example, one of my older friends Generic_Name had chosen to be in a club where they volunteer with children because he thought it would be an easy club participate. A couple weeks in he began to fall in love working with children, and had thought about working with children when he grew up. When he had gotten older and completed college, he started working at a day care. This shows the importance of finding hobbies when you are younger which may help find your career path. To add on, my mother when in school was required to take a real estate class which taught her many skills and gave my mom a small passion for real estate, this however did not influence her career path, but it had given her a drive to one day be able to work in real estate. After she had finished college she went on to work a job she had gotten from her degree, however since she had loved real estate so much she began doing it over the weekends and gave her two sources of income. Having taken that class gave her a love and drive for an area she may not have discovered if not being required to take that class.

In conclusion students should be required to take after school activities. Since Generic_Name's mom persuaded her to join a club, she had decided to join drama. When she came home Generic_Name said to her, "The drama club is so much fun because I wasn't worried about school, instead we were all singing and having fun, I can't wait to go back tomorrow and do it again." Because clubs allow students to learn new skills, express themselves, and find hobbies in areas they discover, Students should be required to take extracurricular activities.