Extracurriculars: Saviors or Killers?

It has been determined that students with more extracurriculars tend to have higher grades and SAT scores, meaning that once they go to college, according to the University of South Florida, they perform better. However, when sport seasons, extracurricular activities, and schoolwork piles up, so does the amount of stress students are under. Some students excel under this amount of pressure while others quickly become overwhelmed. 

Although not all students are negatively affected by stress, a Research.com article “50 Current Student Stress Statistics: 2023 Data, Analysis & Predictions” claims that around 34% of students struggle from feeling depressed and a much larger percentage of about 80% of students report they feel stressed at times. Many experts have begun to wonder: why are students this stressed?

One large theory surrounds extracurricular activities and the effect they have on students’ grades. If students take on too much all at once, they may feel more stressed if they are unable to stay on top of all of their activities and work. However, others disagree with this idea. Many people believe that extracurricular activities help students’ grades improve as student-athletes are more likely to have a higher GPA during their sport season. 

“Being busy can have a positive and a negative aspect to students, it depends on what the student prefers,” Mr. Imperatore, a guidance counselor here at Wayne Valley, explains. “Stress affects students’ performance in both sports and academics. Stress is something that no one can avoid, it is how the individual handles that stress in the situation.”

Many students believe that working after school and participating in activities helps them learn valuable life skills including time management. Additionally, “Some students love to have the go go go mentality,” Mr. Imperatore comments, just like sophomore Ayla Homsy. “I believe that doing extracurricular activities can help me manage my stress to a certain extent,” she explains. “It depends on the amount of extracurriculars, but in my experience, being around people and doing these activities helps me.”

This year, Homsy joined track for the first time. “I wasn’t able to run a lot but over time as I stayed consistently running and working hard, I was able to achieve my goals,” she describes. “It was certainly rewarding.”

Another sophomore, Sara Wojohk, believes that there is a fine line when it comes to extracurriculars. Sara comments, “I was surrounded by stress that I lost focus on my school work,” causing her grades to drop at certain times. Although Homsy has a very positive outlook on extracurriculars, she admits the same thing. “It is hard to focus on all these different extracurriculars while maintaining good grades,” she states. 

Mr. Imperatore also elaborates that personally, he has not had students drop a course because they are too overwhelmed with their after-school activities. However, he does realize that freshmen and sophomores are the students that have the most issues at the beginning of sports seasons but eventually, they adjust. 

“If a student is feeling stressed they are always more than welcome to come down to the guidance department,” Mr. Imperatore notes. Each individual person has their own methods to handle their stress, whether it be focusing on a lot of activities at once or a few.