Extracurricular Activities

Contributed by Edmond Loi, Stuyvesant High School (Class of 2015)

Colleges are always on the look-out for students not only exceptional in their academic ability to achieve high grades, but are participators in afterschool extra-curricular organizations as well! There are many extra-curricular clubs and sports that colleges look extremely favorably upon, and they include but aren’t limited to:

• Academic Teams

Colleges always like students who are dedicated to the subjects they love so much that they are willing to go toe to toe with each other in competitions based around their knowledge in their respective subjects. Math team, Science Olympiad, Robotics, among others, are examples of such academic teams to join.

• Community Service

Community service is a nice way to show colleges that you’re not completely absorbed into your academic work as to ignore your duties to be a benefit to society. Examples of community service include volunteering in a soup kitchen or local homeless shelter.

• The Arts

The arts tend to be more expressive of the character and personality of the student, and colleges, always eager to bring a little more color and diversity to their campuses, always like a student who is able to express their creativity through music, painting, drawing, etc.

• Student Government

Students who participate in student government express themselves as leaders who are capable of handling the responsibility of representing their fellow peers and giving voice to their concerns. Colleges often look very highly on elected student officials. Examples include being class president, vice president, treasurer, etc.

Of course, these aren’t the only clubs/extra-curricular activities you could join! There are countless others that are just as respectable if not more in colleges’ eyes. In fact, if you find that there are no existing clubs or sports that suit your needs or you are not happy with, you can always create your own club or sports team! Just make sure to run it by the school administration first.

For more extra-curricular activities you could find an interest in and potentially put on your college application, speak with a Lee Academia college counseling expert now.