I am currently a high school freshman. My high school, which is a relatively new school, shut down most of it’s extracurriculars due to COVID. I was planning on joining clubs that sounded fun and interesting but now I can’t. I don’t have any passions or interests and was planning on finding some but now I have no options. My school didn’t even have many extracurriculars to start with because it’s new.
My question is: How can I find things to do for extracurriculars. It’s kind of hard to look for things to do outside of school when I don’t know what kinds of things, I want to do in the first place. At school, I could’ve just looked at a club list and picked whatever sounded interesting, but now, I can’t do that.
So you have to be thoughtful and creative now. Some ideas include: 1) see if any of the school’s ECs can be done online; 2) think about things that interest you in your community and try to get involved in some of those; 3) find a part-time job.
sports leagues, community service - i.e. big brothers, tutor…start a business…we had one young person started to offer to pick up and take people’s recyclables to the recycling center when our town stopped picking up. We paid him $5 a run. He was doing so many runs each week. Or start a lawn care business.
You might look, with Afghanistan, there are groups that assist refugees and maybe that would be of interest.
-community service (not because it looks good for college, but because helping others in an authentic way that interests you helps make you feel more connected and whole as a human being)
It’s good to think about trying things in each of the four above categories. Because the past year and-a-half has been so unprecedented, you will have to break a bit away from being told what options your school has, and find freedom in seeking out what could interest you.
Be prepared to try something and have it not feel right - let it lead to something that does. For arts, you may not like painting, but enjoy baking. Or woodworking. See what is offered in your community at a minimum cost, and explore this year. Look online at videos that show an artist’s life - do they do something that looks cool, and that you’d like to try in real life?
When you find an interest, that can authentically lead to “leadership” positions down the road, and community service where you can be an asset - not just racking up hours to impress.
Some school districts let you join ECs at another high school if they aren’t offered in your school.
If that’s not possible, you could at least look at the listing of ECs at other schools and see what might be interesting along with any interests you have outside of those ECs.
Then figure out how to start a club at your school (virtual or in-person) or find opportunities outside of school.
You could also look at your city/town/county’s list of teen clubs and activities. And there are volunteer opportunities all over the place.
I am so sorry. COVID is affecting so many people in so many ways.
If your school does not have any EC’s right now due to COVID, are you going in person, masked? What is the situation? If you are going to school in person, why aren’t there any EC’s? Can you start one?
My kids are in different places in the country. We find that things are not back to normal in a lot of areas. I would still be hesitant to recommend getting involved in community actitivies, art, job, or anything else other than virtual.
We are back in caution mode here.
Professors’ unions that we know of are protesting teaching in person. Things are still pretty uncertain. I am not sure how a young person like yourself copes with this year and a half of COVID. Let alone worry about EC’s for college admission when they aren’t available or maybe not safe if available.
This is a good point. Many of your ECs can be, on the safe side, individual ones to a certain degree. Reading challenges (perhaps tackling a certain genre of literature or poetry or non-fiction), personal hobby challenges (mastering a type of cuisine, type of art painting/drawing, etc.), fitness challenges… Try to think out of the box generating ideas.
With online video, it’s a lot easier to discover other people doing hobbies than for previous generations of students. Take advantage of that and keep exploring options. It’ll make you a more interesting person.
I agree. Start a club. My son did in high school and in college. Maybe you can do something outside of school. One club could just be a game club. Each person just brings an interesting game and teaches the others. It doesn’t have to be educational. Your allowed to have some fun. But being the President of it or the like shows leadership. Kinda cool to start a club when one doesn’t exists. Usually need a teacher to sign off on it…
As stated anything community service is great also. Follow your interests. Others will follow. There are always opportunities if you allow yourself to see them.
My son started an aviation club junior year - for kids interested in aviation. Some kids would go plane spotting. They got a control tower tour at the Nashville airport and while they didn’t pull it off, they planned to ask a professor or admissions counselor from the local state college to come speak.
Totally agree. My son with friends did a few clubs but actually started the game club but it was like games from around the world also. Kinda cool. But this drove him to start an augmented Reality /mixed reality club at Michigan that really took off and they invited speakers weekly etc so getting someone to speak even with zoom is doable. They did it every week.
Yep - if he enjoyed it, even if it was monopoly. A lot is involved - recruiting, marketing, membership growth, etc. In the end, the college wants to know if you’ll contribute to campus - and this shows that you will.
I don’t understand these suggestions. COVID is strong enough in OP’s area that EC’s are shut down at the school. Yet people are suggesting in-person and community activities. Are high schoolers going back to normal even when their schools are not?
I am not saying that EC’s are impossible, and much can be done online or with friends who are safe. But the reality of the situation right now is that things are much worse again with the virus.
Well then bring it all online. Online tutoring, online gaming club… There are online football and baseball leagues. Make a team. My son is on one with people from around the United States. His league just raised over $15,000 for a members kid (adults), that had a rare form of cancer. Peer to peer tutoring club or homework online club. Etc etc
OP did not list any concerns going in person and some of the suggestions(including mine) have been taken to Zoom by organizers. I do agree though that the current situation should be taken into account.
I suggested in-person because there are some clubs and activities where it would be safe (ex., a hiking club or a club that could meet outside). It would be really nice to be able to meet in person in a way that was safe. Otherwise, definitely online.
This is actually the biggest problem you have. A 13/14/15 year old who isn’t interested in anything? has no ideas for what a great adult life might look like?
What did you do all summer? You must have done more than sleep and eat. Did you read? play video games? do chores? play music? when you couldn’t go anywhere or do anything, what did you want to be doing?
ECs are important to AOs for two reasons. The lesser reason is giving an indication of what you might be involved in on their campus.
The bigger reason is that it is a proxy for students who are engaged in the world, who have the interest / motivation / drive / self-discipline to get involved with something and stick with it, becoming more proficient and taking on more responsibility over time.
Are you really a student who isn’t interested in anything?