- Monday: A two-hour musical pit orchestra rehearsal run by none other than myself.
- Tuesday: A two-hour jazz band rehearsal directly after school.
- Wednesday: A chorale rehearsal and then another two-hour pit orchestra rehearsal.
- Thursday: Tutoring at the Writing Center, followed by a clarinet lesson in a town twenty-five minutes away, and then another two-hour jazz band rehearsal.
- Friday: A chorale rehearsal right after school and a saxophone lesson after that — a relatively “free day”.
And this is my non-busy season, where I don’t have marching band for seven hours a week or a second pit rehearsal to attend. Are you tired just listening to my schedule? I am.
Extracurriculars consume most high schoolers’ lives, and while many of these activities started out as a fun way to pass the time, what have they morphed into? I started playing the clarinet in fourth grade, and never once did it ever cross my mind that I would be practicing for hours a week and squeezing in a lesson after tutoring and before jazz band just so I could put it on my college application. Many extracurriculars change from being enjoyable to becoming a necessary evil, forced because we need that extra “hook” on our resume. Now that my college search is over, the question is, what does that mean for all my extracurriculars?
I’ve built up quite a list of after-school activities, most of which I began because I truly enjoyed doing them. I began to play the clarinet in fourth grade, and singing is something that I’ve always enjoyed. Others joined the list because I was cornered into them, such as jazz band. I do enjoy playing the saxophone, but I was trained as a classical musician and so my jazz skills are not exactly up to par. The tenor saxophone player graduated last year, and so as a favor to my band director, I took on the role. In turn, the jazz band improves my saxophone skills. Others made the list to fulfill requirements. Writing Center is a school-sponsored program for students to peer-edit their English class essays. Truthfully, I love editing, but my tutoring consistently every week is a result of my need to fulfill my community service credit requirement. Individually, each of these activities could be really enjoyable, but when added all together – on top of homework, eating, sleeping, and even showering – they become burdens. My goal for college? To participate in extracurriculars because I enjoy them – and only because I enjoy them.
I think that the trick is to look at the activities that I truly love, even when I’m stressed or tired. For me, these include marching band and chorale. These are definitely two groups I want to continue to be a part of once I head off to college next year. As far as the saxophone goes, I don’t think I’m much of a jazz fiend, and I might end up dropping it.
I want to keep in mind that dropping an activity from my overbooked schedule doesn’t mean it’s gone from my life forever. Even though I won’t take saxophone lessons next year, I’ll always know how to play, and the time that I spent in high school enriching my jazz knowledge will be enrichment that I will carry with me through the rest of my life. So, my advice? As the Life Is Good folks say, do what you like, like what you do—my new college activity motto!