By Jesus Vargas
Jesus Vargas is a student at LAUSD USC MaST High School
The summer of 2012 has come to an end and the 2012-2013 school year has begun! A school year that symbolizes a new beginning for some and what is the last year of high school for others. But at the end of day, this is a time in which students should be optimistic about the future. Whether some of us are beginning our high school journey or applying to colleges in order to end our journey, hard work and optimism will help us achieve greatness.
For many students in South LA, school is no longer something that excites them. With school being overshadowed by low budgets and a bad environment, this is no surprise. Once entering high school many of us seem to find comfort in socializing with our friends, which is not a bad thing at all. On the contrary, learning how to interact with peers is very important in order to be ready for college. But unfortunately, once the socializing has begun we seem to forget about our education. Once you forget about your education a negative chain reaction immediately begins. Grades begin to drop, parent conferences begin, you fail one or two classes, and last but not least you end up having to attend night or summer school to make up for these classes. Scenarios like these are very common in the South LA region, all due to the fact that many of us students don’t realize the power that we have.
Part of being successful in high school is learning how to receive the best of all the worlds that you take part in. In other words, there is a way to have fun, socialize with friends, and keep your grades up all at once. A great way for you to do that would be by starting a club at your school. Clubs around the nation range from math clubs to sports clubs. The possibilities in between are endless. You just have to come up with the idea and execute it.
* Find out what you want your club to be about
* Find a location where your club can meet
* Talk to your high school coordinator about it and receive an approval
* Recruit members
Those are the 4 basic steps to take in order to create a club at your school. But notice that recruiting members was left for last. That’s due to the fact that recruiting members may sometimes be the hardest thing to do. You may already have five friends that are willing to join, but you want to get to know new people. Making them believe that joining your club will be worth their time is not an easy task. But with hard work and optimism you will achieve to do so. Once you have created a club that is both fun and beneficial to the members, the hard work will have paid off.
And if that’s not enough to create your own club at school, do keep in mind that being part of a club counts as an extracurricular activity when applying for college. Colleges not only want to see excellent grades when applying, but want to see leaders. And what better way to show leadership than creating a small community within your school.
Well that’s just one way to be able to have a successful school year. There are plenty of others, but they will all require you to work hard. Nothing is hard, just a lot of work. Remember that.
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