What extracurricular activities were you involved in while you were in school?

I was in band in 5th grade. After that, nothing. Not even if I had wanted to be. My parents weren’t really… involved.

Almost everything that involved teamwork. I just hated, hated them in a passion. When you work in a team you expect to be able to voice your ideas and opinions and contribute something worthwhile to the project. Not at all in my case. No one ever listened to me. I felt like I was just part of the air. After people had done their discussing they began to divide work. I was often given the most tedious and ridiculous job and I had to obey everything without questioning.

The situation was even worse in class projects, especially those plays and dances. You already know how my job looked like, but it wasn’t all. I worked like an animal trying to do my job perfectly, only to realize that no one noticed me at all. In a play you wouldn’t see me until the very end, when you had to use a telescope and look carefully in the crowd of people bowing in front of everyone (yeah, my job was bowing). In a dance I blended into the background to the point that I couldn’t convince anyone that I participated in that dance.

That was partly the reason why I hated high school so much.

I was in the Math Club; we competed against other schools.

And I was manager of the swim team, meaning I handled all the equipment and helped run the meets.

My other big extracurricular activity, but not at school, was being very active in Scouts from age 11 until I was 17.

All bands (concert, marching, parades)
Percussion Ensemble
Volleyball
One year of academic decathlon

College:
Math Club, first 3 semeseters
Sociology Club, first 3 semesters

This is just the stuff that was through the school.

Dance. I had grown up dancing, and then playing on rec leagues for soccer, basketball, and swimming. By the time I got to 8th grade, it had become routine for me to wear tights underneath my soccer shorts, and then change into a leotard in the car as my mom raced me over to dance class. Also both dance and soccer were asking for a greater commitment from me—I was on the studio’s dancing companies, and my rec league soccer coach was encouraging me to go try out for my high school soccer team. My mom said I really needed to pick one or the other, because I wouldn’t have enough time for both. It was a good call.

I liked dance better, so I went with dance—and without the sports taking up time in my schedule, I was even able to convince her to let me take more dance classes (yay!!!)—many hours of dance a night, and weekend practices when approaching competitions/performances… I was busy but it was good for me. Without dance I feel less in tune with myself and the things going on around me.

I was in band both years in jr. high. After giving up on baseball, I continued playing basketball, volleyball and ran track through HS. I was a member of the chess team from jr. high until my sophmore year in HS. When I dropped the chess team, I joined our hydroponics and aquaculture program, along with the spanish club.

I could choose between school, or work during the summer months (actually had a cool job at a bank searching for forged checks one summer and another was spent in a Duty Free warehouse —awesome first gigs). I did workout in the off season for sports as well.

It seems to me that you very much want a good “balance” for your child and by seeking out additional information you feel you’ll be able to better prepare a game plan moving forward. That’s awesome! Your child/children are lucky to have you as a parent!

I was on the gymnastics team at Van Nuys High school.

I was in the choir, I did gymnastics, and my school offered an after school class on anthropology, if that counts.

I attended a performing and visual arts high school where a full half of every day was devoted to fine arts for those that chose to and met certain qualifications.

I studied graphic and communication art, my sister studied piano and violin.

I was also on the road cycling and soccer team. I was also on the unofficial Goth team. So hard to stay pale as an athlete in Florida…

Football (proper football not the yank version) Track athletics & chess.
For a brief period I was appointed prefect where my duties included weeding out annoying pupils, shit stirrers who talked shit & actually believed what they said :D

None.

Band. The public school band teacher kicked me out saying that I know so little about music that I shouldn’t be able to even play the radio. I went on to be a semi-pro musician/songwriter playing several different instruments. Typical results from public schools, of course.

A badminton club for a while. Tried another couple of things like canoeing/kayaking, horse riding, netball but I lived in a rural area with not much spare cash in the family so it was doubly difficult to get my parents to pay for things and transport me to and from them. I moved to a town when I was 13 but had grown out of wanting to go to clubs. Apart from the badminton.

Sports mostly. Usually one sport per season. I was on the baseball, football and swimming teams in school from the time of Jr. High on. I was also on PAL football teams and Little League and Babe Ruth baseball. I did tennis for awhile, but the muscles developed in other sports were counter to this, so I had to make a choice. I was on the debate team and in drama. I had jobs after school washing dishes in restaurants, etc, to get the money for my first car and a small day sailor, a little 18-foot catboat. I was involved in Scuba after school related to my earth science courses. I sailed in Sunfish-type regattas from the time I was in grammar school. I was only allowed to do these things if I kept my grades up and I never took part in more than two or three (except during seasonal overlaps) activities per semester. I hated basketball, always have.

Grades were paramount in my family. We were seven kids. We were all expected to go to universities which my father had no idea how to pay for, so every activity was a potential scholarship. I think my parents did a lot of worrying about this. I don’t remember being coerced into anything except baseball. I think my old man was re-living his youth through his boys on this one. Once I became a decent batter, it was OK, though. I felt I’d overcome an obstacle and began to like baseball after that.

Softball, wrestling, baseball, soccer and swim team.

Newspaper (editor senior yr)
Soccer
Drama club
Potty patrol (I failed to make hall monitor)

I know there were others, but it’s been too long. I remember working concessions at games for some group, and I was in some sort of governmental body.

Volleyball.

You’ll all laugh. I was a cheerleader in 7th and 8th grade, but that was enough of that crap for me. I liked cheering, so I got talked back into it when they needed someone to put on the mascot outfit. I was a big, cheering, blue bulldog for a year and a half. I started playing the flute in 5th grade (got a scholarship for it) and continue to this day, so I was in concert band and marching band. We had too many flutes in Marching Band, so our conductor added rifle squad, which I promptly sighed up for. You see those soldiers flip those rifles around and throw them up spinning? Yeah, I did that. I was in Pep Club where we made posters for the hall ways and cheered in a group for our team. I was in choir and (omg….) Show Choir. I was in FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) (got a scholarship for it). I was Dark Room Editor Junior year (we took photos and developed them in our art department dark room) and then Editor senior year of our school publication. Forensics (which was a club about public speaking in several forms). And I tutored underclassmen my senior year.

I was the official scorer for the varsity baseball team. I kept the box score for each game and maintained the team’s statistics. I was the sole girl doing this for any of my high school’s sports teams, which was cool. Also, I was considered to be a member of the team, so I received a varsity letter each year and went to the awards banquet.

I was active in some more typical activities, such as the newspaper and yearbook, but the baseball connection is much more interesting.

Drinking and getting high.

I was a cheerleader for one year. But then it conflicted with my theater, so that ended that. I was in Concert Choir and all the Plays and Musicals.

Fencing and Dungeons and Dragons.

None. In the 7th grade my PE teacher was desperate to get me into cross country. I might have been into it but we were broke as fuck and my mom wasn’t the type that would want to deal with extra shit. She didn’t even care if I went to school.

But I was very good at running long distances. I can pretty much turn my brain off so there wasn’t any real sense of pain while running 3 miles. I could pretty much go at 80% the whole time. I assume it helps that I have the body of a giraffe.

I took ballet through part of 7th grade. I started ballet at age 3. I took tennis for a couple of months in 7th I think? I took ice skating lessons for a short time in 8th or 9th, but I skated quite a bit on my own for fun in jr. high and high school.

I started working when I was 14, 9th grade. I worked part time off and on throughout high school. 9th grade was actually in our jr. high.

Mostly, I watched a lot of TV, and once I had a boyfriend, 11th grade, I hung out with him, unless I was working.

I was a majorette one year.

This is fun imagining you all as teens.

@tinyfaery. I forgot to add those two to my list.

Quill and Scroll society?
It just came to me, and I don’t remember exactly what it was.