I am passionate about science and I plan on doing some citizen science projects. I was wondering if they could count as legitimate extracurriculars and how much value they add to the college application.
You should do this because you are interested in it, not solely for college admissions.
That said, anything you do outside of schoolwork is extra-curricular. School clubs and sports teams aren’t the only things that fall into that category. So yes, active participation in citizen science projects would count.
Yes, I am genuinely interested in doing it. It’s not only to look good on college application. I plan to participate in Zooniverse. What do you mean by active participation? I am not sure how exactly that would apply to this.
Active participation means that you actually do do something.
I.e., volunteer in some way.
I think it best if you are part of some organization which it sounds like Zooniverse is.
"Participated in citizen scientist program via Zooniverse that helped identify loss of structures as the result of hurricanes. 5 hours/week x 30 weeks per year. (or how much you actually worked on this)