High school is a tumultuous time for adolescents. At the end of their four years, they may plan to apply to college to further their education and earn a college degree. Some people, when it comes to work, don’t really care what they do as long as they make a living. Others sacrifice money in order to do something they enjoy. The same principle applies to high school resumes. With the common goal of applying to college, students at the school may prefer their extracurricular involvement to be driven by passion or they may prefer to prioritize impressing colleges.
Students may be lucky enough to know what they’re passionate about before high school. Senior Maddie Zincke, who will be attending the University of Virginia in the fall, has been playing soccer since elementary school and the guitar since sixth grade. Going into high school, Zincke knew she wanted to continue pursuing these passions by playing soccer for the school. In high school, she also got involved with the BBQ Club, Patriot Ambassadors, the Spanish Honor Society and the Art Honor Society. “In general I’ve genuinely enjoyed dedicating my time to all of [these activities] and I believe that they all looked good for college as it made me look like a well-rounded student for UVA,” Zincke said.
Senior Ashi Stanislaus, who will be attending Emory University in the fall, was involved in extracurricular activities. Most notably, she was a co-president of this schools’ Student Government Association, School Communications Director for the Montgomery County Student Government Association, a co-captain of the poms team, a co-president of the school chapter of So What Else, secretary for the Spanish Honor Society, and a Senior Board Member for the National Honor Society. Though Stanislaus was involved in a wide variety of activities, she felt differently about them. “The activities I participated in because of genuine passion were definitely Wootton Student Government and also the poms team. The ones that look good for college I would definitely say were the honor societies and a little bit of the Montgomery County SGA,” Stanislaus said.
Students may have started activities meant to look good for college, but discovered genuine passions for them later on. Senior Charlie Balian, who will be attending the University of Georgia, took part in a school club called Small Things Matter initially to appeal to colleges. However, as he got more involved in it, he began to grow passionate about its cause. “I think with Small Things Matter, it initially started as a way to have a better college application. When I did start attending events, I gained more of a genuine passion, but initially it was more of a college application ideal,” Balian said.
For senior Emma Yuan, who will be attending Rice University, involvement in extracurriculars allowed her to continue to develop her interests as well as appeal to colleges. “DECA was more for college when I initially joined because I wanted to show interest in the business field. I’ve been doing SGA since middle school so it wasn’t something I decided to do spontaneously, however I did continue it in big parts because I knew it would help me develop as a person in college. I want to be a developed person and student,” Yuan said.
