An extracurricular activity is a hobby that is performed by students that falls outside of the realm of the regular day-to-day school curriculum.

At Lakeland Regional High School, with 39 set clubs, not including all of the additional ones being added continuously, and 25 sports to participate in, students at LRHS have endless opportunities to spend time enjoyably outside of school. But, along with having fun, there are some consequences that may affect a student’s schoolwork.

The opportunity to be part of social settings through extracurricular activities helps kids and students grow their minds and reach new possibilities that they may not learn about or gain access to inside of the educational setting. As said by St. Johnsbury Academy, students being part of extracurriculars “cultivates leadership opportunities, enhances teamwork experience, develops time management skills, promotes networking skills, fosters confidence, and increases academic performance.” Having access and the chance to build all of these skills on their own produces smart, and hardworking students. Even if there is a chance that these skill-building programs can take up some extra homework or studying time from a student, in the end the student will inevitably gain so many more helpful skills and lessons that they can take with them into their future.

Having a busy schedule can keep students away from the assignments that they may need to finish up to keep up a steady grade in school. After more and more missed assignments, everything piles up on itself and can bring down grades quickly. This is the reason that parents and teachers are more aware of how students are spending their time outside of school. It becomes very obvious when a student’s grade drops at a rapid speed, and it is safe to say that extracurricular activities might be the cause of this. Having what some people and parents may call a “distraction” can negatively impact a student’s school life and performance.

While this may be a major con for most parents, there are so many more benefits of doing extracurricular activities.

From a student’s perspective, extracurricular activities give students the chance to, according to kwylie5, a student that is part of the sorority Delta Gamma at the University of Oregon, “grow and cultivate skills that strict school work cannot possibly provide.”

School is sometimes a very professional setting for most students which can become stressful and having that afterschool pastime that they get to partake in can really bring up a student’s mood. Hobbies and extracurricular activities will always help the mind grow even if it isn’t directly related to school. Time can be spent productively and being able to learn new lessons and skills from participating in something that is fun and enjoyable like a sport or a club can help make learning more fun for students rather than having to sit at a desk for about seven hours a day listening to lectures.

Although to parents and teachers extracurricular activities may be a distraction to many students, there are many additional positive effects of afterschool activities.