The future. Everyone wonders what it will look like, what it will be like but that is up to our future generations . The young people today will eventually be our future. They will be the ones we look up to for solutions and ideas. By having extracurricular activities be a must in schools we are only making school systems better and by making school systems better we are making our future better. There are so many fun yet different extracurricular activities for everyone such as dance, student council or debate. Schools should make participating in an extracurricular activity mandatory for students because it will give the students a chance to explore their passions, it will provide them an opportunity to make life-long friends and it will benefit the schools participating.

Scientist, doctor, musician, teacher...the list for jobs goes on and on. Through this program students will be able to figure out what their passion is and what career they want to have. By providing students the chance to participate in extracurricular activities, you are letting them get a head-start in life. By trying out different activities, they will be able to determine which one they like the most and want to pursue as a career. Many students in high school still don't know what career path they want to pursue, but students who had to do an extracurricular will already know which one they prefer to others. Thus, they won't be puzzled by the time they have to choose a career. Additionally, participating in extracurricular activities will help strengthen their resume when they need it. A student who has done multiple extracurricular activities will be preferred to another student who has not done any. Furthermore, my sister, Generic_Name, never knew what career she wanted to pursue until she took a building class as an extracurricular in 9th grade. She instantly fell in love with it and could use that extracurricular class as a bonus on her resume. She is now in her first year at Yale, studying engineering. This shows why extracurricular activities will help students discover their passion.

If this program is put in place, students will have a chance to meet new people and make lots of friends that share similar interests. Every year, many new kids will move to the area and come to a new school so providing an additional way to get to know others is needed. The new kid will be able to connect with others that share similar interests and it will make the whole moving process much easier. In addition, having a friend that shares the same interests as you will make your bond much stronger and make you much better friends. This program will also benefit shy kids or students who are more quiet and reserved. It will help them because in school they might be more quiet if they don't feel comfortable or if none of the subjects interest them. However, if they are in an environment where they enjoy what they are doing and are with people like them they will be more likely to branch out. When I was nine, my school required I do a sport. Thus, I decided to do swim team. When I started the sport I was new to town. We had just moved from California to Virginia so I did not have many friends. However, I made many friends quite easily because of swim team. I made friends faster than usual since we shared similar interests. We all liked swimming and we would all have friendly competitions. We even took trips together which made our bond even stronger. We helped each other through hard times. Even though, two of my friends from swim team switched schools I am still very close friends with all of them. The bond we created will last a life time.

Having kids do at least one extracurricular activity will benefit schools in many ways.

It will keep students busy and occupied; thus, they won't get into trouble as much. I was once told that if you are bored, it can often lead to trouble because if you're busy you have no time to make trouble.

Also, by having students do extracurricular activities it will seem as if the school gives off lots of well rounded students who have many skills. This will seem very impressive. Lastly, the school's students will most likely have a higher grade point average (GPA) and better scores in general compared to schools who don't require extracurricular activities. This is because studies show that students who do extracurricular activities such as sports or clubs have done better in academics and will learn time management and balance better than other kids. This is why enforcing extracurricular activities will improve schools.

In conclusion, schools should adopt a new policy of having students preform at least one extracurricular activity. This is a great way to help students find their passion, make new friends and better the schools. Students will be to find an extracurricular that sparks interest for them and hopefully it will turn out to be their career. They will also be able to make strong friendships through this program. It will also ease the anxiety of making friends for new kids. Lastly, the program will benefit schools by making their students more well rounded, increasing the overall GPA of their students and help keep students occupied and out of trouble after school. In fact, all schools in America should decide to make this a requirement. Not only will it make our school systems better but it will also improve our students; which are our future. The students in our schools today will eventually become leaders, officials, activists, doctors, lawyers, actors and politicians. So if this program will better schools and the lives that hold our future then there should be no question about implementing it.