Why we need extracurricular activities

Jola lay on the lounge chair by the pool, soaking up the warm sunlight. Book in one hand and a snack in the other, she felt happy. She flipped to the next chapter when she heard a loud scream from the other end of the pool. She saw the flailing hands first before noticing the faces of the increasing crowd of people now gathered by the scene. A young girl had slipped and fallen into the deep end of the pool.

“Somebody help her!” one woman yelled.

“Where is the lifeguard?” yelled another, a teenage boy.

Jola jumped out her chair and ran to the scene. Without much thought, she jumped into the deep end of the pool and swam to the drowning girl.

Jola had saved the girl, and everyone was relieved. The parents of the girl thanked Jola as they took their child away from the premises.

“Where did you learn to swim like that?” The girl’s mother had stopped to talk to Jola.

“At school. I was part of the swimming club and we had swimming lessons every week.”

“That’s so good. Thank you again for saving my girl.”

Being part of a club at school doesn’t only mean you get to do exciting activities with friends from school. Excitement is nice, but the purpose of clubs and other extracurricular activities goes beyond entertainment. Extracurricular activities come in the form of clubs, events, competitions and other activities that fall out of the regular academic cycle. Hopefully, we won’t get to experience a situation like the one Jola was in, but if you don’t or haven’t taken part in any extracurricular activity before, then you really should. You should do so for these reasons:

It develops your social skills and performance: Extracurricular activities will usually involve you participating in different activities with fellow students from your school or even other schools. This will improve your interaction and behaviour in social settings, which is very important for you as you progress in life. Such activities can boost your confidence and self-esteem and also get you new friends!

You can learn new skills: Jola learnt how to swim from participating in an extracurricular activity- swimming. Swimming is an important survival skill and also a way to exercise and relax. Other extracurricular activities provide these benefits too, for example, joining the music club, dance club, drama club or debate club. At these clubs, you are sure to pick up a useful skill or two.

Your academic performance can be improved: You can pick up more than physical skills by participating in extracurricular activities. These activities can improve your academic performance because you will learn time management, team work, creativity and innovation skills, critical thinking and organisational skills. These attributes will help you when you’re doing academic work, and eventually, your performance will improve.

It gives you some time to relax: Doing strictly academic work back-to-back can wear you out. This is why at Grenville, we know how important it is for students to have a balance with academic and non-academic activities. They keep students engaged and provide them with an opportunity to unwind and have fun while also learning and gaining useful skills.

Time out of the classroom is very important for students because they also learn when they are not in the classroom. Grenville Schools has a number of clubs for all students to be a part of such as debate club, music club and Public speaking club. There are also sports activities like football and basketball which students are encouraged to join.