How do extracurricular activities make you feel when you are in one? For me they make me feel happy and good about myself. It is a chance for me to interact with people that have one or more of the same interests as me.

If my principal was to make joining an extracurricular activity mandatory I would love that. It would give others a little nudge to join a team or be part of a group doing something they enjoy. Extracurricular activities provide an opportunity to make new friends with same interests as you, contribute to your school and or get you active.

In elementary school, at Generic_School, there was a club called Green Team. This club center was building a garden for the school to use and making sure that Generic_School is as green as can be. My mom had originally forced me to be in this club (like the principal is doing now) to learn more about gardening. At first, I did not really care for what we were doing with the T-Shirt design, the research on flowers and vegetables, the measurements for the garden and some other things. Then we started talking about a compost maker and how it works. Learning the science behind it got me intrigued in gardening and I looked at it a different way, my way. Being forced to do something isn't all that bad because who knows you might end up enjoying it. When the club ended I hadn't just been part of a group doing something I like, I had made the school a better place.

A couple years after we moved here my dad made me retry lacrosse. It was Fourth grade and we moved here in second. I didn't want to do it because my experience with it on Long Island ruined it for me. He wanted me to try again because he knew I liked the sport lacrosse, just that for me to get back into the swing of things I would need a push. I went to Western Loudoun Lacrosse tryouts and was put on a team. I wasn't the best and was probably really close to being the worst, but I played the whole season. It is a good thing I didn't quit because if I had I wouldn't be friends with one of my best friends today. Now me and him do a lot of things together and I still play lacrosse.

Some kids at school just try to get through the day to just go home and play video games till they fall asleep. The principal forcing us to get active and join a club or team is what these kids need. For starters colleges don't just look at your grades and tests scores, they look at what you do outside of school too. Those kids who don't want to put themselves out there because they are too scared of failure or humiliation need a little push to get them to do something they love and is good for them too. Being required to join an extracurricular activity is a good thing to happen and should.

Being required to do an extracurricular activity has many benefits such as contributing to you school, making new friends with similar or same interests and becoming active or increasing your activity. You are just required to do one and you get to choose. You are not being forced to do an extracurricular activity you dislike. It is just one activity that you might like.