The Importance of Extracurricular Activities

Hi Family,

School is in and we are getting into our study and homework routines.  Our children are learning.  The teachers are teaching.  The classroom routines are well on the way.  What more could there be?  Well, there are the extracurricular activities offered through the school.  Are you on the fence about your child being involved in extracurricular activities?  Let's talk about the benefits.

Cultural Integration

Many new students can experience “culture shock” when they first arrive at JCIB PG Campus. It's literally a whole new world. Some are in a school far from home with new students and new teachers.  The teaching style may be very different from what they are accustomed to. Getting involved in extracurricular activities can help students overcome this sensation and allow them to intimately understand the culture at their new school in a way that the typical classroom environment may not provide. For example, joining a student group can help a student meet a new group of people and potentially build lasting friendships with people who can acclimate to the new school in a way that they might not learn by only attending classes.

Social Skills

It can be a challenge for students to build relationships starting in a new place. Getting involved in activities outside of school can help these students meet new students with whom they share interests and improve their social skills as a result. The face to face social time is so important for our students in the age of social media and virtual gaming. For example, an extremely shy student may find it easier to communicate with other students who have the same interests.

Résumé Building

I know résumé building may seem far off, but it's not.  Our students will soon be creating portfolios and completing scholarship and college applications. For some of them, it will be their first résumé. Participating in extracurricular activities is a superb résumé builder, and there are multiple reasons why:

• It tells a story of who you are and what causes you care about.
• In conjunction with good grades, it can prove you have effective time-management skills.
• It shows that you are successful both inside and outside of the classroom.
• It can set you apart from a stack of applications that primarily list academic achievements.

Extracurricular activities can add more personality to the application and improve the quality of the student’s overall application. For example, if a student was heavily involved in the debate team and held a leadership position, an application reviewer might be more inclined to request an interview with the debate team student who showed initiative rather than other students who had no extracurricular activities to show on their application.

JCIB PG Campus Offerings

If you're convinced about the benefits but have no clue about what's available to your child at JCIB, here's a list of what's offered:

Club Name	Description	Sponsor	Meets Before or After School?	Meeting Days	Competition Information (if applicable
Debate	Debate gives our students the opportunity to exhibit the skills they are acquiring at the classroom level in a competition among other local and non-local students. The students will write argumentative essays that will build their research and writing skills.	Telisha Hollamon and Allison Rohrer	Meets after school 3:00-4:00	Every Tues Some Thu	Debate competes in one debate tournament every month beginning in October. Tournaments take place Tuesday afternoons at Samford University.
Destination  Imagination	In D.I. students work in teams of 2 -7 developing a solution to one of six challenges presented for the year. As they work through the problem-solving process, students build skills including creative and critical thinking, collaboration, and project management. Teams showcase their innovative challenge solutions at a tournament in the spring.  https://www.destinationimagination.org/	Laura Hume	Meets mornings 7:20-7:50 before school	Thu & Fri	The team competes in February at Regionals. April for State. The global competition is the end of May. Teams must place in the top 2 at each competition level to move on to the next tournament.
Drama/ Theatre	In drama club students rehearse and perform a scripted play. Students learn the basics of stagecraft, self-discipline and the importance of hard work, creativity, and imaginative play, listening and observation skills, and self-confidence.	Samantha Durham	Meets after School	TBD
Future  Problem Solvers	Future Problem Solving (FPS) teaches a six-step model to students who define challenges and create solutions for solving problems in their community as well as globally in future scenes.	Hannah McCauley  and  Charity  Jaspering	Meets 3:00-4:00 after school	Thu
JUNA	JUNA (Junior United NationsAssembly) demonstrates how the United Nations (UN) works and emphasizes the importance of diplomacy and problem-solving among nations, peoples, and cultures. Students are assigned a country to represent, and they research the current issue to write a resolution about how the UN could help them solve that issue. They present their resolution and vote on others in an assembly of about 300 students.	Casey Waites  and Jessica Alexander	Meets 3:15-5:00  after School	Every Tues & some Mon until February	Students dress as residents from their assigned country and present about their country and their resolution in an assembly of “countries.” This assembly takes place over 2 days at Birmingham Southern College on January 23 and 24. This is an excused field trip. Students and countries may win awards at the end of the assembly. The fee for the assembly is $55.
Robotics	In robotics, students work in teams of 4-5 developing, engineering, and programming a robot to compete at local, state, and national events. Students will work to document the building and testing process in their engineering notebooks. The team working collaboratively to build a robot that can earn the maximum amount of points in the competition. The VEX IQ challenge this year is Squared Away.  https://www.robotevents.com https://www.vexrobotics.com/vexiq/competition/vex-iq-challenge-overView	Rachel Barksdale	Meets mornings  before  school	Every Mon, Tues, & Wed Thurs - once a month	The team competes in Jefferson County league competitions and Jefferson County Championship. Dates to be determined. Teams must qualify in one of the top 4 slots at the county championship to advance to the state championship. Dates to be determined. Teams must qualify at the state competition to qualify for nationals held in Kentucky. Dates to be determined.
Science Olympiad	Science Olympiad competitions are like academic track meets, consisting of a series of 23 team events in each division. Every year, a portion of the events are rotated to reflect the ever-changing nature of genetics, earth science, chemistry, anatomy, physics, geology, mechanical engineering, and technology. Science Olympiad places an emphasis on active, hands-on group participation to learn skills in various scientific fields.  https://www.soinc.org/info/about-science-olympiad	Samantha Durham	After school 3:00-5:00	Every Wed	The team competes in one invitational tournament with other Jefferson County Schools in early February and one Regional competition at UAH near the end of February. Top 3 teams at each regional competition will qualify to go to the Alabama state competition. Date TBD.

We'd love to know your thoughts!  Go ahead add a comment below.

The Board

https://www.wes.org/advisor-blog/extracurricular-activities-for-education-abroad/