The perceived benefits and difficulties students who participate in extracurricular activities experience

Abstract

In early 2016, I conducted a study to examine how students felt they were impacted by their participation in extracurricular activities. An initial survey was conducted to examine what extracurricular activities students were participating in, from which 10 female students and 8 male students were purposefully selected to be interviewed. These 18 students were asked to describe their motivations for participation, positive and negative impacts from participation, post-secondary goals, and the impact of their participation on those post-secondary goals. The study found that students felt their participation in extracurricular activities had a positive impact on their grade point averages, school attendance and was helping them achieve their post-secondary goals. These findings support the conclusion that participation in extracurricular activities has a mostly positive impact on students, and that their participation is a contributing factor to those positive effects. [from abstract]