Many students at our school are furious with the principal's new decision that requires students to participate in at least one extracurricular activity. Extracurricular activities are any activities that take place after the school day at school or one's school-related. A few examples of the many extracurricular activities our school offers are playing on the school's sports team, working on the yearbook, or serving on school council. I agree with our principal's decision stating all students must participate in at least one extracurricular activity because students will be able to explore new interests and feel a greater connection with their school.

Exploring new interests and learning about yourself is an important part about growing up, and extracurricular activities do a great job providing this. I participate in some of the fun extracurricular activities at our school and I've been able to learn new things about myself, such as I enjoy cooking. When I heard that our school offered a cooking club I thought that sounded like something fun, but at the time I didn't know much about cooking. I was worried I'd be bad at it, but I decided to join anyways since I had always wanted to try and learn to cook. By participating in cooking club I was able to make new friends that I would have never met if I hadn't joined. Also, I realized that cooking was actually something I enjoyed a lot and am pretty good at. Since it's now mandatory that students participate in extracurricular activities, they could join a club that they may have never thought they'd like, but by joining they could realize it's something they genuinely enjoy and are good at.

It's important that you like school and have school spirit since school is a place where you spend so much of your time. Not many middle schools have sports teams, but I think it's really cool that our school allows us to have a basketball team for both genders and both grade levels that plays against another local middle school one night. The week leading up to the game is super fun because it's a spirit week, and everyone gets to go to school dressed up and showcasing their school spirit. Going to the basketball game is such a fun extracurricular activity to participate in since you get to cheer for all of your classmates that worked hard, you get to show your school spirit, and you get to have a fun time in a new environment with your friends. Extracurricular activities really allow you to have school spirit and enjoy things in school that go beyond your daily classes.

Students being able to explore new interests and feeling a greater connection with their school is something important that extracurricular activities are able to provide. Since you must participate in an extracurricular activity now, students could join a club that they wouldn't have previously, and they could possibly find out that it's something their interested in and good at. As well as learning about yourself, extracurricular activities give students the opportunity to have a deeper connection with their school by allowing you to get the chance to enjoy something that isn't apart of your daily school schedule. I truly believe that the principal made an outstanding decision making it mandatory that students participate in at least one extracurricular activity in hopes to make the school a better place. Now go ahead and learn about some of the other amazing extracurricular activities our school offers!