"SCORE! Three points to the Wildcats," an announcer exclaims. The crowd goes absolutely wild, and the players feel proud about their effort. Basketball is only one of the many amazing and exciting extracurricular activities students have the privilege to pick from. There's a variety to what's available, from art to softball to helping produce the school yearbook. Each of those activities are creative, entertaining, and helpful one way or another. In addition, our principal has decided that all students should take part in at least one extracurricular activity. As a result, some students are complaining and disapproving about this decision while others, such as me, think this is an opportunity for students to have a incredible time doing whatever activity they choose. Our school should have these extracurricular activities because it gives students a chance to socialize with new people, learn new skills and experience new things, and entertain themselves while impacting the school as well as the community.

First of all, these additional activities give students the opportunity to have a conversation with new people and bond with others. To elaborate, drama, or theater, involves everyone to communicate with each other to create a scene that will dazzle the audience. They must decide how to react, talk, and act to one another to make the performance truly spectacular.

Additionally, students don't just see their classmates when they go to their chosen activity, there are other kids from other grades there as well, so it's the perfect chance to meet unfamiliar people, and chat with familiar people, too. To add to that, the activity likely brings out skills in others that you didn't know they had, and that enables students to connect with one another and find out more about each other.

Secondly, many of these activities teach a student something new and interesting, and give them experiences they'll remember for a long time. Most activity leaders allow field trips at least once a year. As an effect, students get to go places they've never been before, and if they have, they get to share their experience at that place with different people. Also, multiple activities, such as art, teach students to make certain things. In artistic cases, you get to learn about pottery, clay, watercolor and acrylic painting, different drawing tools, and more. In addition, music lets you explore your voice, public speaking lets you learn how to be a motivational speaker, marching band lets you play more pieces of music with your instrument, and experience more with it, and so many more activities teach you a variety of different things.

To top it off, multiple of the activities offered at our school are not only fun and enjoyable for students, but a great number of them in some way, shape, or form help the school and even our community. For example, teens in charge of the yearbook have a entertaining time making sure their product is pleasing to the eye, so that our school has something valuable to sell to students, and so that they can look back on all the great memories they had at our precious school. Nevertheless, at the same time they're expressing their creativity into the book. Also, the art students create posters and fliers to advertise upcoming school events so that everyone can enjoy that event with their friends. I know by experience that creating colorful, bright papers is a fun-filled activity to do. Plus, some students who are in the Environment Protection Youths of Virginia group volunteer to pick up litter along the sidewalks, in parks, and many other places that would harm the environment of our beloved state if they weren't cleared and cleaned. They have a wonderful time doing just that while chatting to their friends.

To summarize, because students get to socialize with people they never got the opportunity to talk to before, experience new things and get taught new skills, and impact the community as well as themselves, I believe extracurricular activities should definitely be included at our school. They are a very bright part of anyone's day, something that a kid could look forward to on a boring Monday. Also, they could find out new things they didn't have a clue about. A teen gets to talk to others near their age group who started out just being part of a crowd, but because they met them while playing the part of Juliet, they turned into a best friend. Additionally, we get to help the whole state while having a incredible time. So whether it's the applause of an audience at a play, the encouraging comment of a friend on a picture, or the announcement of a score it took a team effort to achieve, the activity that got someone there made a mark on their heart.