The, middle school, softball player runs off of third base and sprints to home plate. She is joined by her teammates who help her celebrate her accomplishment-scoring a home run. Having students participate in an extracurricular activity after school, or during, is a statement I agree with. With the principal deciding to make extracurricular activities a must, students will boost their self-esteem, gain school spirit, and learn lessons not found on the school's curriculum.

Five out of ten students, from middle school to high school, were reported to have low self-esteem. The lack of having friends, self-respect, and confidence, has been viewed as the culprit. By joining a school sport or club, students are welcomed to the experience of being on a team. While on a team, a student can find many helpful resources: teammates as friends, confidence gained from new abilities, and even self-respect for being adaptable to new experiences. The students can take what they found through being on a team, or working with others, and find a new perspective to life; a life without shunning their self worth. Extracurricular activities do not only help improve student's self-esteem, for their school spirit is also strengthened.

For the last couple of years, school spirit has been a dimming candle. With school activities and student participation, the candle of school spirit can be brightened again. When students participate in clubs or school sports, they are representing their school as a whole. They learn that working as a team, and together, they can build their school's name into a invincible structure. Students will gain school spirit through related activities, thus helping them gain respect for their school. School spirit can be built through numerous extracurricular events, just like how students can learn lessons from them.

A student learns many valuable lessons, everyday, through their school's curriculum. Unfortunately, their school's curriculum cannot teach them the lessons found in school activities: teamwork, school spirit, or even adaptability. Students need to be exposed to more than what their teacher writes on the board; they need to be exposed to real life or constructive lessons, one that builds their characteristics. Unlike many personal views, some school enthusiasts say that certain school activities teach an unhealthy competitiveness that should not be unearthed. However, life provokes a competitiveness; for instance, students will have to be competitive while applying for a job, or when operating a competitive business. Life is competitive, and being exposed to that planted seed is a beneficial lesson. Extracurricular activities teach students lessons that stretch what they have learned while sitting at a desk.

Boosting self-esteem, gaining school spirit, and learning lessons not taught in a classroom, are all effects a student will undergo, because of the principal's decision to make school activities a must. A student will benefit more and more from the addition of extracurricular activities. They will gain more confidence in themselves, learn how to represent their school through school spirit, and plant a competitive seed. I agree with the principal's decision to add school related activities to his list of must haves. Now the school's spirit will not dim, with the help of the student's participation.