The Viewpoint April/May 2017 Extra

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Mountain View High School 2135 Mountain View Road Stafford, VA 22556

STUDENT NEWS Magazine MVHS VOLUME 11 ISSUE 6 March Extra

Pictured above is athlete Jon Paul Erickson. Read about how athletes differ from full IB students on page 8.

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The Viewpoint APRIL|MAY2017 VOLUME XI ISSUE VIII

EDITORIAL When environmental issues are brought up in conversation, some people roll their eyes and sigh, while others launch into a long-winded speech about how society should be doing more to protect the environment. Whatever you believe, it’s clear America could do more. The United States isn’t the largest contributor to pollution and global warming, but it is one of the leaders. While it would be ridiculous to suggest we should only use environmentally friendly cars or that we shouldn’t use fossil fuels, there are many fields in which we could do better. Eighty-eight percent of American’s believe taking care of the environment is important according to the Green’s Industry Analysis of 2017, but only 52 percent believe that the government should be acting to take care of it.

Despite those numbers, the US government does have measures in place to care for the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) oversees many

Managing Editors

of those measures. However, Trump’s new budget plan would cut the EPA by 31 percent, Trump also plans to repeal the Obama administration’s “Waters of the United States” rule within the Clean Water Act. Trump’s actions aren’t inherently wrong, with these changes, he hopes to create new jobs for American citizens in the coal mining industry, an industry left obsolete in the last decade with environmental reforms.

However, this shows that the environment is not the top priority to the United States government, which presents a new problem: how do we protect the environment but also protect the citizens of the United States?

The answer lies in finding a balance between the two, and not sacrificing the environment because it’s inconvenient to do otherwise. When that can happen, then the conversation of how to help the environment can truly start.

Hailey Bullis Morgan Ocetnik

Social Media Editors

Lexi Strawder Abbey Whitehead Copy Editors

Leah Garza Reagan King

Photography Editor

Emilee Holmquist Extra Editor

Paige Doerfler

Briefs Editor

Ruby Jackson Adviser

Trisha Strahl The Viewpoint is a cross-section of the news and opinions of the student body of Mountain View High School. It is a forum of expression published by aPrintis. Letters to the editorial board are welcome and should be submitted to rooms 303 or 311.

Feature Figure

Staff Writers

by Jenny Bullers

Jenny BUllers

Junior Riley Croce traveled to Denmark in February for a professional soccer team tryout.

Croce has been playing soccer for as long as he can remember and the professional league has always been a goal of his.

“I went to Denmark on a trial tryout for a small professional club,” said Croce. The club had a local tryout in Fairfax and Croce’s coach persuaded him to go. After the local tryout, the club recruited Croce.

It took two to three months for Croce and the club to get everything together and then he was sent on his way. “Overall, I think I got a lot better because the competition over there is better than it is here so I had to raise my level to compete with them,” said Croce.

Croce had practice every day and two games on the weekends while overseas; therefore, he was unable to sight-see as much as he had hoped. However, on his last day, he went to the center of Copenhagen and saw the capitol building and visited many small shops.

“The soccer is a lot slower here as opposed to the fast-paced play in Denmark,” said Croce. Being gone for three weeks, Croce

missed a lot of school and had to readjust to his original school routine.

“Some teachers were hard on me when I came back because I missed so much; I am still catching up,” said Croce.

“It was my first time flying and I was alone so I was definitely a little nervous and scared,” said Croce. Luckily, Croce got there safely without any complications and was able to compete in the sport he loves in a new environment.

“This experience was a great one and I would definitely do it again; it was probably the best experience of my life so far,” said Croce.

Croce heard back from the coaches regarding the tryout in Denmark and will be returning to Europe in the summer, more specifically Portugal and the Netherlands.

Croce is not entirely interested in playing soccer in college unless it is a strong Division 1 school. As of right now, his top school is VCU. If he does not play in college, he will continue to strictly train to pursue a career in a professional league or plan to stay in Europe for a longer period of time.

Jenny Bullers, Nicholas Chechak, Charlotte Hazard, Damien Veal, Austin Venable, Adam Skoloda, Sophie Perez Front Cover LifeTouch

2014-2016 Virginia High School League State Championship First Place Award Winner 2013, 2014, 2015 Free Lance-Star Best Over All Newspaper 2011 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Medalist 2011, 2010 and 2009 Virginia High School League First Place Award Winner

Mountain View High School 2135 Mountain View Rd. Stafford, VA 22556

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“The Tale as old as time” remade again The Centuries old fairytale brought to life by Alexis O’Brien As a Disney fan, of course I saw the 2017 remake of “Beauty and the Beast.”

Being familiar with the original story and the Disney 1991 animation, I thought this version was quite dazzling. A work of art blending real life and animation together in such a magical way, describes every feeling of awe and amazement that I felt upon seeing this movie.

The film takes the traditional fairy tale and brings it to life as Emma Watson, who played Belle and Dan Stevens who played The Beast performed their roles beautifully, as if they were truly feeling every moment. They really

made the story bright and lively as they told it with such energy and passion. Though I do have to say I didn’t feel the same for Kevin Kline, who played Maurice, Belle’s father. I don’t feel that he was really connected to his role as it was quite dull and bland. For example he never really showed much emotion or passion during the scenes he was in when the emotions were needed.

“Beauty and the Beast” fits it’s rating as the scene with the wolves could be viewed as potentially scary. However, my 7-year-old sister loved the movie all the way through even though she usually gets scared easily.

My Grandmother’s favorite line to say after every movie is “It was cute,” but after seeing this movie it was changed to, “Really good.

Excellent. The combination of animation and real life was perfect.”

The story of a girl falling in love with a cursed prince and the girl breaking the curse is a story that’s been around for centuries and loved by many. When you see 2017 “Beauty and the Beast”, I’m sure you’ll fall under it’s spell too.

“He fell into despair and lost all hope, for who could ever learn to love a beast” -Narrator “Beauty and the Beast” review q april | may 2017 q the viewpoint q

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Memorial Day Memorial Day is an important holiday to celebrate, but most don’t know why by Adam Skoloda

Freshman Jodee Sablan said, “People risk their lives everyday for us and our freedoms.”

Senior Michael Meade said, “It’s important because they fought for our country’s freedom.”

Memorial Day is national holiday to honor the troops who died serving in America’s armed forces.

Memorial Day is an widely unpopular holiday to celebrate, but is debatably the most important holiday of all because it honors the military veterans who died during their service to our country.

Senior Michael Meade said, “It’s important because they fought for our country’s freedom.”

History General John A. Logan established Decoration Day on May 5, 1868, which was a day of remembrance for fallen troops in the Civil War. In 1971, Congress made Memorial Day a federal holiday and a three-day weekend for the last Monday in May. It was first called Decoration Day because General Logan wanted people to celebrate this day by decorating peoples’ graves who died serving America.

Memorial Day just eventually gained its name, but both names refer to the same holiday.

Celebrations Many people celebrate Memorial Day with parties, parades, or laying flowers by the graves of those who served and died in America’s armed forces. The most well known parades are in Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C. Additionally, many people use Memorial Day weekend for vacation, which is why traffic tends to pick up on the Friday and Monday of that weekend. People use this time to go to the beach, visit family, or travel to other destinations.

Many people visit the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum, the Flight 93 National Memorial, and the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial. They are common Memorial Day destinations as they bring back the tragic memories of those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

Memorial Day is an important day to celebrate those who have lost their lives protecting America’s borders and fighting for our freedom. It is an unappreciated holiday that deserves more widespread recognition. feature q april | may 2017 q the viewpoint q7

Student Athletes vs. Full IB

Read how the busy lives of students compare to each other by Damien Veal

Mental Physical Student-athletes spend lots of time focusing on keeping their bodies in peak condition for themselves and their sports. By eating healthy foods and being involved in physical activity daily, athletes push their limits, but their craft can have much more of a physical toll on them. Tweedy said “You come home from practice beat down and you don’t feel like doing anything. Then you realize you gotta do your homework,” .

“You come home from practice beat down and dont feel like doing anything...”

Practice Practice can occur from just once a week to daily. This takes away from students’ free times and time for them to study for their classes. Most after school practices take from one to two hours (not counting the time to get to and from). Tweedy said he spends two to three hours a day for practice and then comes home to do what responsibilities he has outside of his sport.

Team Student athletes usually don’t just depend on themselves but also their teammates and coaches. Team chemistry is a big part of sports and getting to know teammates takes more than just a day or two. Tweedy said that players have to make sure they’re doing their own job right first then they can start to rely on their team. He said, “It’s like a machine; once everyone starts to do their job, the machine works.”

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Full IB takes a mental toll on students who opt to take the courses. From having constant assignments during and outside of school and having to study to learn the material for each of these classes, IB students must organize their time wisely or else keeping up with their many assignments will be nearly impossible .

Study Advanced students give up most of their time to study and complete work that has been assigned to them. Most classes give out homework every night and on the rare times there isn’t homework, you’re likely using that time to study the material you’ve been given. Cunningham said he has to take at least four hours a night to complete his studies and homework leaving him with little free time, if any.

“I give up alot of sleep, I think thats the biggest toll on me”

Individual Advanced students are usually put to the task themselves to keep their grades ahead of others. Of course they can have teachers and tutors to help them do so, but for them to stay ahead they must put in the time to study and apply themselves to the class to actually understand and learn the material. If a student fails a class, blame is put on them, just as if they excel in the class, the credit is fully given to them. “I would say most of the work is individual, but there are plenty of people there to help if you need it,” said Cunningham.

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BULLIED

Will the bullies stop bullying if you speak up for the bullied? by Madison Jones

Bullying is an issue that most students and teachers are quite aware of, but if we are so conscious of the issue, what is being done to stop it?

During a social experiment conducted by four mountain view students, we staged multiple realistic bullying scenes to see how the students and faculty of Mountain View would react to the blatant acts of bullying happening right in front of them.

Eighteen people witnessed the bullying taking place, four faculty members and 14 students. Out of the 18 people that witnessed the bullying happening, only two people stood up for the person being bullied, one faculty member and one student.

Sophomore Adnan Rahman, the only student to speak up against the bullying, said, “I didn’t think it was right that people were picking on him just because he was different.” Security guard Jennifer Cooper was the only faculty member to speak up for the person being bullied; she was shocked that students would be that mean to each other.

Sophomores Lainey Breland and Garrett Cunningham witnessed the events, but both said that the event had caught them off guard. Junior Soraya Benavente explained why she didn’t feel the need to speak up; she said, “I didn’t feel like is was my business.”

According to the National Bullying Prevention Center, more than one out of every five (20.8%) students have reported being bullied in and out of school. That’s only the people who reported it, 64% of

kids don’t report being bullied, only 36% of kids do.

So why don’t students speak up and ask for help? Sophomore Grace Boles said, “I think it is because they’re embarrassed and don’t want others to know. Others might be timid to speak up because they don’t want to be known as a ‘snitch.’”

Since over half of the students that are bullied aren’t willing to ask for help, why don’t they just speak up for themselves?

Some do, but the majority of students don’t. Sophomore Luke Mehr said, “Bullied victims don’t stand up for themselves because if they do then the bully is just gonna laugh and not take them seriously and just face more bullying in the long run.”

The definition of a bully is someone who uses strength or power to harm or intimidate others, so it makes sense hat students would stay quiet in fear of being bullied even more for standing up for themselves.

If bullying victims won’t ask for help and they won’t speak up for themselves, then what’s going to stop the bullies from bullying? Bullies won’t stop being mean if they know that they can do it without getting called out. Mountain View, students and faculty, should be working together as a whole to stop this. It doesn’t take much speak up for someone, yet only two out of 18 people in our school said anything when the bullying was right in front of them. If you yourself can’t get the bully to stop, try removing the victim from the situation.

Only 36% of students who are bullied report being bullied or ask for help.

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Out of the 18 students and faculty that witnessed bullying, only 2 people spoke up.

BULLY

Do bullies bully because bullies were bullied?

by Gia Morreale

340 students believe that bullies hurt others because they have insecurities and/or have been bullied themselves.

“Bully”

is a common word that is heard in high school. Many teenagers usually overuse the words bully/bullying because they do not know the technical meaning of it. According to the Webster Dictionary, the definition of the word “bully” is: a person who uses strength or power to harm or intimidate those who are weaker. Students need to learn how to spot bullying and understand that it happens all around them, all the time. Coach Kimberly Sullivan said, ”I don’t know if I could say that I have bullied anyone before because bullying is an ongoing action. If someone makes me mad, I will definitely tell them what’s up.”

in something that the victim might be included in; whether it be a friend group or a club. Basically they bully out of jealousy.” In a survey completed by 400 students at Mountain View, 340 of them believe that bullies hurt others because they have insecurities and/or have been bullied before.

A social experiment was held in the middle of fourth block on March 24 and March 28. The purpose was to observe and document the reactions of bystanders when a “bully” attacks a “victim”. Freshman Jose Sablan was one of the bystanders that the experiment was done in front of. Sablan did not step in but said, “Bullies do what they do because they are jealous and have family problems.”

Senior Taggy Banghart said, “I think when teenagers are bullied it both helps and hurts them in the long run. Some people fall to pieces and they make permanent solutions to temporary problems. However others become stronger and it changes their personality which can cause them to succeed later in life. Being bullied when younger would help because when you are older it can help you face adversity. The teenage life is almost like survival of the fittest even though it sounds bad. In no way am I promoting bullying or saying it is necessary for someone to become successful.”

Bullying is a terrible but common problem among teenagers that needs to be stopped. Some bullies have rough lives at home, therefore they hurt others to get their anger out. One never really knows who is hurting inside, for this reason everyone should be nice to everyone. There is no need for rude glares or harassing comments. “Bullies can stop being bullies, and victims can stop being victims,” Juvonen said.

“What we’ve learned is that these are temporary social roles, not permanent personality characteristics.” Bringing someone down will never help one get any higher in life.

Jaana Juvonen, a professor of developmental psychology, has about a decade’s worth of research on why bullies do what they do and about their victims. Her research has found that many bullies have a very high self-esteem. According to her research, most bullies are actually found more popular and some of the coolest people in school by their classmates. This research contradicts a lot of views from high school students.

380 students believe that the majority of bullying goes on at school and online.

Many students do not agree with Juvonen’s research as sophomore Lainey Breland said, “Bullies hurt others because they feel bad about themselves, so they make others feel bad.” Senior Michael Meade also disagrees with Juvonen and said, “I think they bully other people because they aren’t included

Juvonen told the UCLA Newsroom, “Ten years ago — and even today in some parts of the country and in some families — there was a belief that bullying is just part of growing up … and that these experiences are even needed [by the victims] because they ‘help build character.”

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Mouse out of Disney

What does it mean when the world’s most famous mouse is in danger of leaving the Disney Company and entering the hands of the public?

by Mason Oberle

In almost every Walt Disney theme park, there is a statue titled “Partners.” There is something about seeing Walt holding Mickey’s hand that makes hundreds of people flock to the center of the park to get pictures.

The statue was originally meant to embody their relationship. In fact, the sculptor of the statue, Blaine Gibson, said that he felt that Walt was looking at the park saying that he was glad to have, “all these happy people here who have come to visit us.” But there is something else that the statue can represent. Walt holding Mickey’s hand can today be representative of how his death is stopping Mickey from leaving the possession of the Disney Company and entering public domain where he can be free to use by anybody needing a few extra dollars.

Since Mickey’s creation in 1928, he has legally been owned by Walt Disney and the Walt Disney Company through copyright, rather than through trademark.

Copyright is a form of ownership originally intended to protect the creation and distribution rights to any person’s creations throughout their life, with a small extension after the creator’s death. Trademark does the same, except it can be renewed an unlimited amount of times.

If Mickey had been trademarked by Walt, he would have permanently remained under the control of the Walt Disney Company, as long as the trademark was renewed. Unfortunately, this did not happen and Mickey’s ownership is forever dependant on Walt’s death, proving that it is possible to control something from the grave (or cryochamber for the readers who are conspiracy theorists). Whenever the extension begins to run short, the company asks the United States government to extend the now lengthy grace period, which is currently set at January 1, 2024.

The world’s most famous cartoon being scavenged by vultures that do not contain the mental capacity to make their own ideas.

If the U.S. government does not extend the grace period, Mickey will be transferred into the public domain, meaning that literally anyone on Earth could make Mickey Mouse products without the inconvenience of being sued by Disney.

The funny thing about this is that one could argue that this is actually karma. The Disney Company has made millions of dollars by making movies off of stories with expired copyrights. Virtually every movie produced

by Disney was based on stories with expired copyrights.

There are some exceptions, such as “Zootopia,” or “Big Hero 6” and most Pixar productions. Another example of this to support this argument was when Disney tried to hijack the Wizard of Oz franchise from Metro-GoldwynMayer by producing the movie, “Return to Oz.” Disney

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is afraid that by releasing Mickey Mouse into the public domain, karma will strike and they will have to compete with the prices and quality of rival merchandise, comic books, and whatever else someone who is looking for cash can think of.

However, their fear can be sympathized with if you look at it from another angle. In 1971, a comic book called “Air Pirates” published two parody issues with exact copies of Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters. The comics featuring him were satire, and they would make fun of his mild, “G”-rated nature in the Disney comics by having him do things such as have sex and do drugs. Needless to say, people at Disney did not find any of this amusing.

If people today were to do that, it would lead to marketplace confusion, (a fancy way of saying that there would be too many mice to keep track of). After all, nobody wants to ask if the Mickey Mouse someone is talking about is the one that is full of family friendly fun, or the one who enjoys fun on the wrong side of the law. It is sad when you think about it, the world’s most famous cartoon being scavenged by vultures that do not contain the mental capacity to make their own ideas.

One thing worth mentioning is that the end of Mickey’s copyright may not even matter, since the Disney company has trademarks on the name Mickey Mouse from his many appearances in television, video games, and even in real life, not to be confused with an actual character trademark. Additionally, the copyright only protects the original design created by Walt Disney; therefore, the modern version of Mickey could be written off as a “new character,” giving the Disney company more time to figure out how to get a trademark.

One final thing that would help Disney is trademark distinctiveness. Trademark distinctiveness (sometimes called fanciful or coined marks) means that without the association with the Disney company, the name “Mickey Mouse” would mean nothing; therefore, it is part of the company and can immediately be granted a trademark if the company pursues this defense in court. All of these points combined could create a strong enough defense to give Mickey a trademark of his own, but only if Disney chooses this course of action.

It is currently unknown what the Disney Company plans to do. In theory, the Walt Disney Company could continue lengthening the grace period although that does not seem to be their current plan, or they could stop and focus their efforts on building a case to obtain a trademark, which is most likely their wisest choice.

However, if that fails, Disney will most likely try to keep Mickey’s freedom quiet to avoid any more “Air Pirates” situations. Or they could simply bite the bullet, face karma and deal with rival quality and public appeal; however, that seems the least likely out of all their options. Until then, everyone will just have to wait and wonder if Mickey will ever leave the hand of Walt Disney and scamper down Main Street and into the big world all alone.

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May I Have Your Attention Please Attention spans of the average human being are slowly becoming shorter and shorter by Rahzel Lemott Humans have become so obsessed with portable devices, such as cell phones, that we now have an attention span shorter than that of a goldfish.

Microsoft surveyed 2,000 people and used electroencephalograms (EEGs) to monitor the brain activity of another 112 people in the study, which sought to determine the impact that pocket-sized devices and the increased availability of digital media and information have had on our daily lives. In 2000 the average attention span was 12 seconds, but this has now fallen to just eight. The goldfish is believed to be able to maintain a solid nine seconds. Another recent study by the National Center for Biotechnology Information and the National Library of Medicine in the U.S. found that 79 percent of respondents used portable devices while watching television and 52 percent check their phone every 30 minutes. Many teachers noticed this problem which is why a proposal presented and stated that no phones were to be allowed inside the classroom.

According to an article posted by the New York Times, in most cases a normal attention span for adults

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is approximately 15 to 20 minutes, though a lot depends on factors like subject matter, nature of the activity, and time of day. Spans tend to be longer in the mornings and shorter in the evenings, and people often have better attentiveness when it comes to things that interest them. In general a “normal’’attentions span largely depends on the age of the individual.

Babies are usually born with a short attention span that is held only for a few seconds for about the first 10 days of life, and from there things often progress at a slow rate that can depend on certain variables. Babies often develop longer attention spans by staring into the face of their parents or caretakers for varying amounts of time.

It is important that students lessen their time spent on cellular devices or other forms of technology. Instead use this time to complete homework, talk to a friend, or even commit to some form of exercise. In doing so, a medical study done by the University of Mary Washington showed that students are more attentive and less likely to fall asleep during class.

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Kong: Skull Island will leave you on the edge of your seat filled with surprise throughtout the whole movie by Alex Wenderoth

When I first went to see “Kong: Skull Island,” I was expecting the normal Kong, but it wasn’t anything like the original. In fact the only similarities between the two are the character of Kong and the fact that Kong still likes the female journalist.

Kong: Skull Island was overall a very good movie. The action was well balanced with the calmer parts; it wasn’t overly violent, and the plot was put together very well.

The opening scene is two fighter pilots crash landing on an uncharted island. Since this was the opening scene I made the assumption that the movie was going to go overboard on action, but I was proved wrong. Right after that scene it was calm for a good bit while Skull Island was explained, the team was put together, and any other preparations needed. to make the trip to the island. The rest of the movie was long, but not to long, calm moments followed by quick bursts of action.

Kong: Skull Island was perfect on the violence. As expected it was violent, but it wasn’t so violent that you wanted to turn your head away and not look.

It wasn’t very gory either which is good because you could actually watch it without making your stomach turn.

The last part that made this a great movie was the plot. It was well explained and didn’t have you wondering what just happened or why something happened. There was surprisingly not a lot of swearing and the whole movie was well explained. However the writers did a very good job of not being predictable.

Overall this was a very great movie and I would recommend going to see the movie when you have spare time. I would personally give the movie a 10 out of 10 for every aspect of the movie.

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Poaching in Stafford The effects of poaching of Stafford’s wildlife and how people view their opinions on poaching in this county by Taylor Rose

Poaching has become such a big impact on the world, from animals going from endangered to extinct. In Stafford there are many ways that people poach, for example trespassing and unethically harvesting deer. The opinions go from that they see why someone would poach, why they completely don’t understand why people do, or they can have neutral feelings about the topic.

Several of Stafford County residents have given their opinions and why the support, don’t support, or neutral feelings. Stafford County student Billy Cissel has said, “ Yes I do support poaching in Stafford because many of us aren’t privileged with property while others have the money to go onto guided hunts.”, this shows how it can have an affect on other people that love to hunt. While some may not see this way according to Nicole Mosher, She is stating that she doesn’t agree with poaching at all.

Nicole has many reasons why she doesn’t support it, and has said, “ No, I

don’t support it because there are laws to protect people’s and animal’s and I feel there is a level of injustice to poaching, plus animals can become endangered and extinct.” , this is a prime example of why the people of Stafford shouldn’t poach.

Mountain View Student Mekenzie Donnelly said, “ I feel in between yes and no, because I can see why people support it because they don’t have the money to support themselves with food and I can see why people don’t support it by the decrease in animal wildlife in our county.”. These reasoning’s connect to how poaching can be stopped or how it can be changed and also how it affects or doesn’t affect our community.

If poaching was to come to an end in Stafford County you will have people who support it for various reasoning’s or you will have people who will despise it. Student Billy Cissel said, “ There should be more laws that grant people the opportunity to hunt more land around the county which would eliminate the urge for people to want to

trespass.”, more public land for people to hunt in Stafford may decrease the amount of unethically harvested animals each year. Nicole Mosher said, “ There can be harsher laws and penalties to people who poach and more public land available for people to hunt.”. Funding more for public property would be the best option to do.

Harvesting animal’s illegally in Stafford isn’t just affecting the animal’s lives it’s affecting our lives as well by limiting our food sources. Billy Cissel said, “ People may illegally harvest an animal in Stafford but if they’re using it as a food source rather than shooting it and leaving the meat for fun that would be affecting our community.”. Mountain View High School student Mekenzie Donnelly has two ways of seeing it she said, “ It can have a negative effect on our environment by over hunting these animals out of season, but the positive is that overpopulation of animals won’t affect our community.”.

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Extracurricular activities: help or hinder academics Extracurricular activities support students’ academics opposed to hinder them by Caroline Pollock

The start of many sports seasons makes both parents and students contemplate the time and energy put into extracurricular activities. They ask themselves, “Do extracurricular activities help or hinder academic progress?” Extracurricular activities support academics because they have many advantages that benefit students in their academics and in their everyday lives.

Extracurricular activities build work ethic and also perseverance by teaching students to work hard to achieve a goal. That work ethic transfers into their academics. For example, if they want to get a good grade on a test, they will study hard and work every day to achieve that goal because they have seen how practice and hard work can help achieve extracurricular related goals. The work ethic that they acquire from working to achieve their goals transfers into their education.

According to the Aspen Institute, high school athletes are more likely to attend college than non-athlete students which proves that extra-

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curricular activities improve your academics. In an interview with junior, National Honor Society member and student-athlete, Mazie Wright, she explained to me that colleges look for well rounded individuals. She also said that when she met with the assistant dean at Virginia Tech for the college of liberal arts and human sciences, the assistant dean had said, “Schools want kids with strong academics and are also involved in the community and school. Extracurricular activities are probably the best way to get involved, and they not only help you get into colleges, but better you as a person.”

With homework, practice, and sleep, there doesn’t leave much time for anything else and usually students are scrambling to get all of that done, but all of that hassle teaches them time management. Time management is a skill that is very important in life and is significantly helpful in everyday life also.

Some parents might believe that kids should

focus more on their academics instead of extracurricular activities. They may also argue that the possibility of injury is too great a risk for their child’s health or safety.

In addition, parents might not want their kids to get involved in something that could distract them from their education. However, as sports may be time away from academics, that time may be needed to give them a break or release energy. If they are overwhelmed with something, extracurricular activities are a great outlet and can take their minds off the stress of school, even if only for a short period of time.

In conclusion, extracurricular activities help opposed to hinder students’ academics because they teach work ethic, goal setting and time management. They also help in the workplace and in their lives as they grow up. Extracurricular activities are very beneficial to academics and debunks the theory that they hinder them.