<p>Allmusic, I do get your point. By the way, I have another kid who gave up all of her sports (she did a few for many years including soccer, ski racing, figure skating) by middle school to devote herself to one area of passion (though several areas within it), Performing Arts. Both my kids' schedules were as heavy as one another every afternoon, night and weekend. One was engaged in more areas than the other. The one doing Performing arts, however, was engaged in a similarly large number of activities within that area, as the one doing several different areas. The one with the singular passion is pursuing it as a college major and career, much like I think one of your kids is doing with music. The who had several different EC passions, has these as EC interests, not career interests. My daughter who chose to keep with the well rounded path with several areas of passion that she is heavily engaged in and has achieved in since a young age, is not doing any of these field as a college major or career but as strong extracurricular passions. She is going into architecture as a college major/career, which is not related to her EC passions. </p>
<p>Yes, this D, but frankly this is true fo the D with the many activities in the performing arts as well, had schedule conflicts. She just worked them out as best as possible to do these areas of passion. For instance, all her in school student government work involved meetings many mornings each week BEFORE school quite early. Other work she did for it was independent. Every afternoon, as well as often into the early evening, she had varsity sports practices (three sports teams, one in each season) and sometimes game/matches during the week. In the evenings, she'd go straight from those events to either dance classes or piano lessons. All of these things were very spread out in our rural state by the way with a lot of travel time. She did concert band (clarinet) and jazz band (piano) during the school day. She had wind ensemble after school and when she could she made it and sometimes she could not. She took private clarinet lessons during the school day with the teacher coming into the HS to meet with her or my D driving over to her house once she drove. On weekends, she had games/matches for her sports but particularly in winter, she had them ALL day Sat. and Sunday far away because she raced on both the HS Varsity team AND trained in a private ski racing program and raced on the USSA circuit too. One year she also coached a grade 5/6 soccer team. For two years, she was a dinner server at a country inn on Sat. nights. She also tended to work 3-5 hours per night on homework once she got home mid evening (usually by 8:30 but later some nights), and worked about 10 hours on weekends on homework. I'd say she was busy from early AM til very late at night, out of choice. To get straight A's in the most demanding curriculum was not such an easy feat in itself. In terms of schedule conflicts, while these were a fact of life for her, she made one EC decision over that matter. She had played softball from the time she was six through JV in ninth grade and had intended to play Varsity softball. However, the softball coach would not allow her to attend All States in Music or her annual dance recitals, but the tennis team (same season: spring)'s coach was very supportive of my D and would allow her to miss to be in such a big thing as All States in music or the annual dance performance (outside of school). Thus, my D switched her spring sport after ninth grade to tennis, a sport she played well and in fact, became the number one seeded singles player the day she joined the varsity squad in tenth (the coach said he was glad she "defected" to his team). She also had to give up being in the school musicals, though she had done musicals her whole life but she rectified that in that she went to a performing arts camp where she was in musicals in summers. </p>
<p>One thing when a kid opts to pursue several passions, rather than one, is that it pretty much precludes becoming TOPS in any of these endeavors. By "tops" I mean on a national scale. That was OK with this D. However, even with several passions and pursuits that were and continue to be lifelong, she still was able to achieve at a very decent level such as All States in Music (clarinet), doing National Piano Auditions each year, being in state level championships in her sports. Now, in one of her sports, a very deep passion, ski racing, she competes at the collegiate varsity level and has done quite well regionally on the college level and placed 16th in an event at National Collegiate Championships last year. But to be the tops in any of these fields.....example, ski racing...she'd have had to do just ONE thing....for ski racing, it would have meant she'd have had to attend a ski academy, not public school. For instrumental music, she'd have had to go to summer programs in music and also been in our state youth symphony like some friends were, but that conflicted with her sports on weekends. For tennis, she'd have had to play year round to be seeded regionally and nationally, but she did well at the state level as a HS athlete. So, she achieved in her ECs at a pretty high level but could not at a national level unless she had chosen to focus and train year round in just ONE thing. But that was more than OK to her. She loved each pursuit, and would not wish to give any of them up. Other D has focused on just one main area and thus has achieved similarly and a bit more nationally than her sister but her field is also her field of study and her career. </p>
<p>So, different strokes for different folks. There are advantages to pursuing one singular passion and other plusses in pursuing a well rounded path. I have kids doing both these paths and one doesn't seem more advantageous to me than the other. Both involve similar commitments and amounts of time. Each path happens to fit each of my kids and I understand fully the choices they have made. I gather the colleges that accepted them also understood that they loved what they were doing, be it several areas of passion, or just one. The motivation, commitment, devotion, leadership, and achievements existed in either path. </p>
<p>Susan</p>