What extracurricular programs had an important impact on your life?
Posted at 5:00 AM on April 19, 2010
by Eric Ringham
(36 Comments)
Filed under: Education
The St. Paul School Board will vote this week on whether to cut elementary band and orchestra programs, as well as middle school athletics. Today's Question: What extracurricular programs had an important impact on your life?
Comments (36)
for and get big save to your friends
I worked in St Paul Public schools... Mississippi Creative Arts Magnet School for 17 years and saw how the arts changed the lives of so many inner city children. Many of these students come from families who cannot afford the money to put them in special art classes or activities outside of school. Most do not have the resources or time to take their families to arts events or galleries. The drama, music, band and creative writing provided by the Mississippi Creative Arts specialists taught teamwork. You MUST be part of a TEAM while participating in a music group or performing in drama.. to be part of the ensemble, you must learn your part through work, practice and preparation, then bring this to the team by learning to blend with and recognize the importance of others. This is a critically important lesson to bring into adult life! Students also learned how to be good listeners and to be supportive and respectful as an audience, as well as experiencing the confidence gained while performing in front of audiences.
Financially, it is important to note that the arts are open to all... you do not need physical strength or stature to participate, therefore, arts education is also cost effective for the number of students who can participate compared to athletics.
Success in all of the creative arts hinges on the work you put into it... every student can experience some measure of personal success and enjoyment. Learning to work to achieve as an individual and as part of an ensemble is a critical lifelong lesson.
Speech team: friends -- smart and funny friends -- and a place for an uncoordinated "brainy" student to fit in, compete and excel. Thanks to Emily Perkins, who always encouraged me to be myself -- even if the judges disparaged my unique wardrobe!
Theater: see above, plus costumes, make-up and singing. Also, competition here was replaced by teamwork.
Band and choir: I agree with all those who say music should be core curriculum.
Swim team: Thanks to Coach Brobin at Mounds View who saw the big picture and made everyone feel like a valuable part of the team, whether her skills were already there or still developing....
Without a doubt, it was Band. I was floundering through junior high academics, suffering under the weight of my parents' marital discord, and in general, friendless, when I was rescued by the baritone saxophone! Thank you Mr. Mettler, Mr. Winter, and Doc Noice for helping me to discover my voice as a saxophonist and composer.
PLEASE don't take away the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument from the kids of St. Paul!
Music, by far, was the most important activity I participated in. I started singing in fifth grade, and can still remember the solos I sang. I started guitar in third grade and play almost every day, even now. In high school I was in all the musicals, and we even performed the opera "Hansel and Gretel." I am still in contact with most of the people I did music with in high school. Music is my solace when times were tough, and the way to celebrate when times are good. I married a man who plays trombone, and we have two children who both play instruments and sing. I can't imagine life without music, and starting instrumentalists in elementary school paves a way for life-long learning. If the programs aren't there, the parents will move to where the programs are.
I would definitely say band because music lets you into another world, where you can let go of stress, or any other issues, and it's taught me to just go with the flow.
Music definitely had the biggest extracurricular impact during my school years. Band director Jim Green somehow managed a rowdy bunch of high school kids and turned us into musicians. We were regularly competing well at conference and state competitions.
Along the way we learned that you can improve: in the beginning, everything pretty much sounds awful, but through practice, persistence, and cooperation, you can achieve much.
And we had fun. The highlight was a trip to Disneyworld. So many of us hadn't been much beyond the midwest, so the travel across country gave us sights (of the Blue Ridge Mountains, spanish moss, gators, orange trees), tastes (grits) and experiences we'd never forget.
DRAMA! No question. I could never handle sports, just was NOT my thing. I was not coordinated in any way/shape/or form and when you get to HS you need to be good at a sport to play it. Drama in HS helped me grow as an adult, get out of my shy shell, have a sense of family/friendship that I really needed and was critical at that point in my life. I understand that others get that same thing through sports but that was not an option for me as I know it isnt an option for many other young children. I just dont know where I would be if I didnt have those four fabulous years of memories and friendships.
High school wrestling - taught me how to work hard and keep going no matter what.
From 4th grade on both sports and music played a huge part in my life and my experiences! I moved to a new school and my first and longest friend (15 years later) was met on the tennis team in 7th grade and some of my best friends were met in music programs. Now, as a teacher, I encourage my students to be involved in ANYTHING that interests them be it music, sports, peer leader groups...anything. While I do not yet have children of my own but would not be at all interested in sending my children to a school that didn't offer these programs.
Me AGAIN!
Amen Eugene Monnig! And PE is crucial too. And to Steve who says "children can branch out on their own"...whence the inspiration and opportunity if their lives outside school don't provide the window for them to even know what they could do? And how many opportunities are there outside of school for a youngster of limited means to branch out on her (or his) own? Do they walk down the street and see Jazz musicians jammin' on the street corner at Rice and Front? Old time fiddle and banjo jams and impromptu gatherings of songsters or classical musicians with bassoons and flutes and timpanis in the parks and at the bus-stops on St. Paul's lovely East Side, West side, Como neighborhoods?? Summer and winter?
Hardly! Get out there, Musicians! Play on the streets and in the parks and anywhere these kids can hear you! Invite them to join you! Make it informal --because if there is no music in schools...you've got to entrap those children on their way home from school, or on that stoop where they are just hangin' with their homeboys.
Parents, even INVOLVED parents, can only expose their children to a narrow slice of what is out there. If school is nothing but reading, writing (in ONE language), and Arithmetic (ok, a second language here), how diverse can our powers of thinking, discerning, figuring become? If bodies are ignored, the brains will also suffer.
MUSIC and PHYSICAL EDUCATION can NOT be optional.
Musicals, Orchestra, and Choir were absolutly the most important extra-curriculars I had in my school years! I would have been lost without the opportunity to be a part of a team of teens coming together to create something exciting, beautiful, fun, and touching to the soul....and I STILL sing and play 30+ years later!!
MUSIC AND THEATRE!! How many more studies do administrators and politicians need to finally understand that the arts are ridiculously important?!?!?!?!?
Music, music, music- especially orchestra changed my life growing up in a small town in WI. My family could not afford a piano or private lessons, but a great public school music program gave me my start. Actually music should not be extracurricular- it should be a part of the core curriculum. All children can make music- it saddens me when I hear of an adult who says they can't sing - I always tell them it is just a result of bad teaching. Zoltan Kodály was right- Music is for Everyone!
Look at the positive correlation between grades and instrumental music.
Look at the positive correlation between citizenship and instrumental music.
Look at the positive correlation between test scores and instrumental music.
Instrumental music should be a required course!
I played in the band from 4th grade on, and on, and on. After 40 years, the people I know from school are the friends from band, jazz band, pep band, the pit orchestra for the school plays. Mr. Getsgo (really!) had a huge influence on our lives -- the band room was the best hangout in town.
We learned about cooperating, striving to achieve perfection, listening to each other, respecting authority -- and we all got into college and have had good careers. Instrumental music definitely had the most significant impact of any subject in school!
As a 30 year old adult, two extra curricular activities had an impact on me, reading books at Borders and playing sports (volleyball and softball). Reading helped broaden my understanding of important social and historical issues while the competitive and interdependency nature of sports enabled me to relate to the career world and other adults. As a young elementary and high school student, field trips had the most impact for me because I saw people and places different from my own, which helped me understand that everybody's world of line of thinking generally has some validity to it, and the best goals to strive for are common ones.
One more comment: Academic subjects are frequently not the number one motivator to get kids to school, or inspire them to love school. To get them eager to be at school, those integrated other things, music, P.E., science projects outdoors, chess clubs, debate opportunities, poetry slams, dance, shop,photography, and other things, all play a role. If "Academics" is narrowly defined to include only Math, history, Social Science, Natural Sciences, and language studies, we aren't providing a whole integrated education for our kids who will all grow up and join us in the larger society. Kids often love to go to school because they love something in particular that they can show off. They get excited about the stuff they can get really good at and share with peers and parents, and relatives. They do the stuff they aren't as excited about because it is associated with the stuff they love by way of it all being under the general term, "school". If a school is a community of diverse people with a plethora of learning opportunities, it is far more likely to be a positive experience for everyone.
BAND! Band was the greatest school-related experience in High school. For us, a school district where K-12 were all together in the same building (except 4th grade, which was special). We could start band in 4th grade. In 3rd grade we were all taken to the school band room, and offered several instruments to try playing. The one that we were the best at producing a sound on is the one that we were assigned to the next year. We could rent instruments from the school for $5 - $15/year, and lessons were part of the deal .The band teacher gave lessons to all band participants during the school day.
It wasn't mandatory to participate, but it really got fun in high school, when the marching practiced every day after school in the spring and fall, and even on weekends sometimes. The concert band (same kids) met during one period of the school day. Then we did the pregame show (National Anthem), and half-time shows at all the football games, firemen's field day parades all summer, and a big band competition in the spring.
When I was in school, the highschool band was all band members 7th through 12th grades, and there were about 105 - 110 kids in band. The average number of kids in the school per grade level was probably 70, so that would mean about 1/3 of the kids in the school were in band.
It was very enriching and character-building and we had many opportunities for leadership, and furthering our musical aspirations if we chose.
Then there was our wonderful Choir, and school musicals! And Sports! And our phenomenal Color Guard! And that was only school related. There was still 4-H, which had nothing to do with the school. As far as impact...oh and another was the speech and debate teams! All of those had huge impact on my life.
I felt then and still feel that the most important thing I received from school was the education in academic subjects. I learned how to think and when something interested me later on, I was able to explore it. Due to the schools' focus on extracurricular activities at the expense of academics, our youth cannot read, understand, or speak. The schools should focus their efforts and their budgets on teaching our children the basics. Then the children can branch out on their own.
For me, music was the most important thing in my middle school years. We didn't have sports teams in middle school. If you wanted to play a sport, you did it through Parks & Rec. I started band in the summer before 5th grade, and I still play in a local band, 15 years later. In seventh grade, I joined SEMYO, a youth orchestra out of Rochester, MN. They switched their rehearsal days to Sundays, so I went to MAYSO (out of Mankato, MN) instead. This was not through the school, but something that my junior high band teacher recommended. I played in the orchestra until my senior year in high school. During high school, I was in nearly every musical option available: pep band, marching band, jazz band, choir, carolers, orchestra, solo/ensemble contests (singing and playing), pit orchestra. About the only thing I couldn't do was the small orchestra group (strings only). Ever since I can remember, I've been playing instruments or singing in groups. I played in the orchestra and band in college as well. I've never had any regrets. Though I didn't have much free time, it was well worth it. My grades were decent (not straight A's), but I truly believe they would've been far worse if I hadn't been in the music program. In the local band here, there're people who've been playing for well over 60 years! Being able to do anything, for that long, is a triumph. No child should ever have to do without at least the option to learn an instrument, or sing in a choir.
Comments texted to MPR at 677-677:
Speech, newspaper and marching band! -Sarah Rose, St. Paul
Choir! I was in choir from 5th-11th grade, instructed by Mrs. Bobbi Foote at Sartell Middle and High Schools. Knowing her all those years had such a positive impacted on mine and many other student's lives. -Renae Wesenberg, Stillwater
Music ls CURRICULAR! not extra-curricular. Students who study music score consistently higher on SAT and ACT tests. -Steve Wright, college music professor, St. Peter
Chess club did more to enhance my public school experience then anything else. -Patrick V., graduated from Armstrong High School
Orchestra! It makes better students. Cutting it makes a school worse, not better. -James Berka, St. Paul
Sports made a huge difference in my life. -Jean Brandl
Speech team. I became a speaker in part because a coach decades earlier convinced me that it's normal to feel like you're going to throw up and it's possible not to. -anonymous
Band, speech, track and fla all had a huge impact on my confidence and in shaping me into the person i am today. -anonymous
Speech, marching band and newspaper! -anonymous
Extracurricular activities, whether artistic, intellectual or athletic, usually entail a public exhibition of one’s skills. This dimension provides a motivating factor not found in the more private feedback of grades. These moments, when the student must perform, put into sharp focus the relationship between preparation and success, providing unique learning opportunities.
The largest part of my time in middle school and high school was spent on music and band. I participated in almost every extracurricular music activity. I played in the pit orchestra for musicals, marching band, winter drumline, pepband, and spent at least half of my day in the music department. What made music so important in my life was that there were no judgments, anyone could participate, you didn't have to be an athlete or be exceptionally talented. Of all the activities I was involved with throughout school, I was able to make the most connections and grow the most with music. I was fortunate to have the most compassionate and understanding music instructor, who not only shared his love for music with us, but taught us all a lot about life; and we listened.
Throughout high school I was involved in forensics: speech, debate and student congress. While forensics helped me become a more confident, successful public speaker, that is only the first of a long list of benefits I received from participating in these activities. I also developed life-long friendships, learned leadership skills, learned to appreciate different perspectives, and developed an appreciation for rationale public discourse.
However, the biggest benefit I can identify is that I became a better student. Before participating in forensics, I was an average "C" student without much focus. As a result of the discipline required to participate in forensics, I went to college and stayed on the Dean's List for four years, attended law school on an academic scholarship, and graduated in the top 10 percent of my law school class. I owe my success to high school forensics.
As I look to the future, I am sad for my children, as they may not have the same option to participate in these activities. More and more schools have cut these programs as they are seen as expensive and non-revenue generating. I am an example of a person that greatly benefited from these sorts of activities.
As I think of the people who are the most important and influential in my life, I come across a variety of job choices...business owners and corporate managers, human resources directors, an airplane mechanic, K-12 teachers, engineers, computer programmers, college professors, administrators, etc. These brilliant folks came from a variety of backgrounds and from a variety of cities and small towns. They have enjoyed their careers and their lives. What do they have in common? The ARTS! Band, choir, speech, debate, theater, and more. Through those activities they learned confidence, working together as a group, intellectual skills, and a lifelong love for something that began as kids.
Even my own retired parents are currently checking schools' extra-curricular listings before they consider moving into a community. They do not want to live in a place where students do not have ways to develop their minds, be a part of the community, and have positive things to do with their extra time. I don't want my own young children to live that way either.
Karate, and Archery.
I was in hockey, it left a very bad impression, coaches kid and his favorites always skipped practice and played in the games.
An event lead me into taking karate for self defense and the individualization of the sport made sense to me. I stuck with karate into college. It gave me a deep understanding of myself both in strengths and weaknesses.
Archery taught me to be patient and exacting.
A good lead in for engineering:-)
DTOM
Speech and Debate probably had the largest impact on my life. Being forced to learn to overcome my fear of public speaking gave me an advantage later over my collegues who go through dread and shakes when asked to give a presentation in public.
Debate made me start looking at current subjects and news and to look for logical falacies and broken arguments, both of which are in excess in today's 24hr news cycle and echo chambers.
I hope that both will be available to my children as they enter high school. I'm sure they will resist it as much as I did, but I am thankfull for my father making me take the courses.
As a musician, band played a big part in my life. I was also active in FFA, theater, knowledge bowl, and speech. In my mid-twenties, I still tell people that I was a state speech competition participant in high school when they as me about my public speaking skills in a job interview. It wasn't just the skills, but getting to meet people and network that was also helpful. There are people I met in these activities from other schools that I am still great friends with.
I was in band from the time I was in 4th grade all the way through college. I can't imagine how my school experience would have been without band. I formed friendships and learned all the things kids need to learn: reasponsibility, compromise, leadership etc.
I feel sorry for the kids in the St. Paul school district if they end up cutting elementary band and extra curricular activies for middle schoolers. Those are the "formative years" of school age development on an emotional, intelluctual and social level.
Orchestra. My high school had a morning orchestra program that had me coming into school earlier than most kids, and I was and still am no morning person. But music, especially classical music, was fun and important to me. I was also in band and a few school musicals, but it was the orchestra concerts that gave me the greatest sense of fulfillment.
As and elementary and junior high aged child my extracurricular activities were all highly social, active, creative and only regulated by mom's rule of home at mealtimes and bedtime. The institutionalization of "play" is destroying childhood and the development of critical skills like creative problem-solving and social networking. The best thing that could happen is to remove extra-curriculars from the early years of school (I believe they are essential in senior high) and force children to become the masters of their own play. The skills they will need, like creative problem-solving, are best fostered in free play. However, if there's no one to play with that's impossible to develop. Our suburb in Apple Valley is full of highly-scheduled children and is a ghost-town until sports are over for the evening or weekend. In 15 years I've never seen one pick-up game of baseball in the beautiful park the city maintains. The main use for the park has become a place for the residents dogs to go to the bathroom. Tragic really.
Football. Not being a jock, and having no interest in watching big dumb guys bash each other, I was socially disadvantaged by the fact that so many of my classmates seemed to think that football was the most important thing in the world and that I was weird.
I joined choir in middle school and when I got to high school I continued with choir and also joined the musicals that occurred in the fall and the spring. These opportunities greatly influenced my life. In high school, I competed at solo and ensemble contests, participated in every musical theatre production, and took voice lessons (also at school) from 9th grade through college graduation. I went on to major in both music and computer science. Music greatly defines my life and without the music programs available at my school, I would not have pursued music to the level that I have today.
My wife also had similar experiences and now is a middle school choir director. I've seen her go through 3 different school districts in the past 3 years due to the constant cuts that are affecting music programs.
I was into speech and theater, and it was where I made most of my lifelong friends. School groups you into academic levels, extracurriculars group you into personalities and interests.
Also, extracurricular but not in the school system, I trained in the martial arts all through middle school into college. I am now an instructor teaching others how it can inspire confidence, focus, discipline, and physical fitness.
Lastly, how are we going to win the war on obesity if we improve our school food, but cut Phy. Ed. or athletics? That is like giving unlimited gasoline but taking away the car keys. If you disrupt the athletic system, more youth will get into the nasty habit of sitting around playing computer games, not learning time management that comes with weekly practice, and never get into extracurriculars at all.
I played in the school band during my junior and senior years. It was a wonderful experience. I learned how to play percussion instruments and the tenor sax. Then, my senior year in high school, one of our English teachers started a speech team. I learned to write (original oration was my category) and to compete. That improved my writing skills and made me more confident.
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