Participation in school-sponsored extra-curricular activities has a significant function and effect in the overall lives of students and the people around them.
Although these extra-curricular activities demand for time, effort, and money, as well as result in a lot of studies and arguments, their benefits are undeniable. During this period of tightening school and family budgets, the benefits derived by the students in participating in extracurricular activities should be clearly identified and emphasized.This is because in so doing, what the students gain from this practice could be identified, as manifested by their better performance in school particularly with an acceptable and stable, if not increased, academic grades. In view, therefore, of the positive relationship between extracurricular activities and higher academic grades, it is highly critical that students are encouraged to join such practice in order to sustain the benefits and for the students to develop their overall well-being and personality that ultimately contribute to the standing of their respective schools.
A study made by Rombokas (1995) correctly compared and noted the direct relationship of extracurricular activities to students' outcome variable such as high academic grades. The Rombokas study involved an interview with some 292 college students of the Middle Tennessee State University who previously participated in high school extracurricular activities. The result disclosed that of the 292 subjects, those who are engaged in extracurricular activities manifested “a higher intellectual and social development than those who did not” (Rombokas, 1995, p. 4). The said study presented that engagement by the college students in high school extracurricular activities gave a significant, advantageous, or beneficial effects that intensified their academic achievements in college (Rombokas, 1995).
According to Rombokas, although a lot of components influenced the intellectual improvements of the college students, these higher grades are attributed to their active participation in their high school extracurricular activities.The author was able to determine that those students, who have participated in extracurricular activities during high school, have performed excellently in college. Rombokas utilized a “self-report questionnaire” that measured the level of students' participation in high school extracurricular activities. The method indicated that because of the specific areas of extracurricular activities such as “sports, music, dance, theater, and other activities” that the students have participated in high school, they were motivated and challenged to perform well in college.This is primarily because the extracurricular activities have inculcated in the minds and personalities of the students positive attitudes and outlooks that helped them overcome the demands of college life and made them excel in their respective fields. Specifically, the study clearly reported that there is positive relationship or link between extracurricular activities and students' “academic grade point average” or GPA.
The author even stated that an extracurricular activity is frequently the “only component” that causes a student to report and perform well in school (Rombokas, 1995).A lot of similar studies have affirmed the results of Rombokas' research. For instance, citing the outcome of a research conducted by the “National Education Longitudinal Study” or NELS, O'Brien and Rollefson (1995) also showed the positive connection between extracurricular engagement and students' performance in school. The NELS determined that extracurricular activities improved the standing of students' attendance, and as a result, gave them a better chance to learn more and improve their academic status (O'Brien & Rollefson, 1995).The article of Woodard (2008) also confirms the outcome of aforementioned studies.
According to Woodard (2008), extracurricular activities are necessary components of the overall learning of students. This is because as the students mature, their human needs, which include their participation in activities beyond the four corners of their classrooms, are their momentous and essential growth factors (Woodard, 2008).Extracurricular activities not only make school experience more enjoyable, but also boost school spirit and healthy social life (Woodard, 2008). Moreover, students' participation in extracurricular activities deviate their attention to more meaningful endeavors, thereby preventing them from being exposed to the dangers of alcohol and drug use (Woodard, 2008). Thus, it is through extracurricular activities that students learn discipline, obligation and organization (Woodard, 2008).
