Assignments and tests always stand in your way throughout college. You believe that finishing them is the only way to succeed. Actually, it is not the only way to succeed. What other things besides studying can help you succeed? You might have seen or neglected this answer already: extracurricular activities.

1. You will gain some experience

Extracurricular activities can help you learn more about yourself. There are many things in the world that you can try out. You might have heard of this message from the song "Try Everything" by Shakira from Disney's "Zootopia." If not, then maybe you should listen to it again. Look back at the activities before you came to college. What did you do and what have you not tried out yet? For example, you were an athlete playing a sport during your high school years and you did not try out new things like cooking, yoga, or theater. Perhaps in college, you should try out these new things you have never done before. They can help you boost yourself and your résumé. When you look back on your memories, doing hundreds or thousands of things is very worthwhile.

2. They will enhance your life skills

Extracurricular activities will not only get you experience but also some new life skills to add to the ones that you currently have. Clubs like student council can help you sponsor events, fundraisers, and manage money. Plays or theater musicals can help you go on broadways, films, and voice acting. Newspaper clubs can help you understand events in the world and become a journalist or news broadcaster. Cooking classes or clubs can help you learn how to cook. After all, we all have to cook food for ourselves throughout our lives. Sports can help athletes manage business life. The coach is like a boss and the team is all the workers who have to do a specific job in the company. Playing a game against a team in a different school, college, or state is like having a conference or competition with the other company. After the game is over, the sports team practices again for the next game as if the company goes back to work to make the company better than before. In my experience, I was part of peer leadership during senior year. I had to stay overnight at Camp Bernie two times in the year, so I had to pack up plenty of stuff and take good care of myself. It prepared me for the Rutgers summer orientation and that went very well! I also gained leadership skills from peer leadership and being a peer leader was like being a teacher. At college, it is beneficial and necessary that you should learn life skills so that you are able to take good care of yourself throughout your life.

3. They will motivate yourself to do better in school

When I was in high school, I took challenging classes without taking extracurricular activities. Eventually, people who took extracurricular activities did better than me in the challenging classes. I always wondered why until the end of senior year. That year, I took peer leadership and a challenging class. I worked very hard to manage my time for both. Peer leadership was very fun and each fun moment from there gave me back the motivation needed to do well in the challenging class. At the very end, I did very well in that class and that brought joy to me. From that time forward, I was very grateful to my peer leaders and freshmen. If it were not for them, I would not be able to succeed. Hopefully, at college, students will be able to do better in their academics and time management.

4. You will become more social

Extracurricular activities give you great opportunity to make new friends. During high school, I noticed that many students have a lot of friends. I only have a few. After joining peer leadership, I made lots of friends and that increased my social circle. In classrooms, it is harder to make friends because everyone is on his or her cell phones, tired due to lack of sleep or personal responsibilities, and has to focus on his or her classwork. In extracurricular activities, it is a break from academics, fatigue, and personal responsibilities. People are awakened because not only the extracurricular activity is fun, but also because they are surrounded by others who share the same passion and goals for the extracurricular activity. At college, you might be missing your old friends from high school. As an advice, while waiting to meet your old friends again, take an extracurricular activity to increase your social circle.

5. You will create new memories

In peer leadership, the peer leaders were always happy to have me in the program. I did a very good job since the first hangout. The parents of the students in the class of 2018 learned about my impact on the program. As for the freshmen that I taught, they were really happy to have me as their mentor. Hopefully, they will become good people and peer leaders if they try out for the program during their senior year. I like that they say hello to me in the hallway. I also like that one of my freshmen danced with me during prom. If I was not in the program, I will be a stranger to them and I would not have someone to dance within prom.

As for the peer leaders, their lives will not be the same without me and my life will not be the same without them. Recently, one of the peer leaders saw me in college recently. She recorded a video of me and posted it in a group chat for the peer leaders to see. It made my day and the peer leaders' day as well. If I was not in the program, she would probably just pass by me without doing what she did. The best gift in being part of an extracurricular activity would be forming bonds with new people and becoming part of each other's treasurable memories. There should be such a chance like that waiting for you somewhere in college.

Things to consider

Whatever you are currently pursuing in college, don't limit yourself to it. Give other things a chance. In life, we only live once. Appreciate it as much as you can and do whatever your heart desires. Desires are messages from fate, saying that you should do it. Sometimes, you should listen to it because if you do not listen to it, it will haunt you for the rest of your life.