Student Involvement In Higher Education

Kimberly F. Case is part of Center for Intercultural Teaching & Learning, Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana talks about “Participating in campus clubs and organizations is one way for students to become purposefully involved in their educational experience. As students participate in these groups, they can expect to experience gains in a variety of areas: cognitive skills (Gellin, 2003); self-confidence and interpersonal skills (Huang & Chang, 2004); a variety of developmental

Students often do not take advantage of the opportunities available to them in the wider community because of a wide variety of engagement and extra-curricular opportunities offered on college campuses.

Participating in academic and extracurricular activities has helped me achieve my goals by influencing what I would like to do in the future and allowing me to learn new things I've never thought of or experienced. It has also allowed me to meet new people with similar interests like my own and has kept me involved in new things.

Involvement in non academic activities is necessary for me to be engaged and connected as a Cornell student. Being a part of a group outside the classroom and dorm will help me meet students with common interests that I didn’t have the opportunity to explore in high school. This week, I briefly attended ServaPalooza and spent more extensive time at the Involvement Fair. There were many interesting organizations including the environmental club, sustained dialogue, mock trial, latinx student union, and judo club. Instead of feeling pressured to commit to each and every club that interested me slightly, I decided to indiscriminately sign up for emails, and delay major commitments until further

If everyone gets involved with at least one club, group, or organization, they will feel as though they are getting more out of their college experience. A large majority of these student organizations are free or very inexpensive to be a part of. A lot like volunteering, getting involved on campus helps bring people together, promotes personal growth, can encourage responsibility, and may possibly allow individuals to discover hidden talents that can change views of self worth. After all, the odds of good experiences coming from joining a student organization outweigh the odds of bad.

Even though extra curricular activities aren’t a requirement to graduate high school, they are crucial for a student's success. In the article “Academic Value of Non Academic: The Case For Keeping Extracurriculars”, the author, June Kronholz, talks about the debate that schools are facing of whether or not keep all of the after school activities.

Throughout my high school and college career, I have had the opportunity to be involved in a multitude of extracurricular programs that has made my educational experience extraordinary. The programs I was involved with at Boise High School include choir, basketball, sports medicine, National Honor Society of Sports Medicine and National Honor Society. Outside of school, I was an active volunteer in my community with the Idaho Humane Society, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Idaho, and the Episcopal Diocese of Idaho. I have continued this active involvement throughout my college education by getting involved in multiple programs at Idaho State University.

It can help students discover who they are and teach them skills they would never learn otherwise. “By participating in extracurricular activities students [can] learn lessons [such as] leadership [skills], teamwork, organization, analytical thinking, problem solving, time management, learning to juggle many tasks at once and it allows them to discover their talents” (Massoni 4). As students get involved it will only help them out in the future. Every skill that is learned will be something they will use forever. Not only is it good for students to learn new skills, but students will be applying for college or jobs in their future. This is important because being involved in certain activities looks good on a resume or application. If the person hiring sees you have those skills that apply to the job they are more like to get hired. If students are getting are learning all of these skills and have a higher chance and getting accepted somewhere then why would one not think it is worth the time and stress when there is nothing but positive outcomes coming out of

Student engagement is a worthy goal and must be addressed as a just another passing fancy. It has depth, and it has substance! The Wingspread Declaration on the Civic Responsibilities of Research Universities posed a fundamental question: “Is higher education ready to commit to engagement? Our goal in calling the question is nothing less than the transformation of our nation’s colleges and universities. We believe engagement is the best hope for the future of higher education. A return to the mission in which the advancement of discovery, learning, and the common good is fueled by collaborative partnerships is a vision that is right for our time and for a world that looks to higher education for clear direction” (Brukardt, Holland, Percy, & Zimpher, 2004, p. ll). This is a key question that higher education must answer and it is closely aligned with student leadership

If elected the position, I would like to improve the student pride and student involvement on campus. Being a freshman in college is a challenging experience and circumstances may come up, which is why being involved on campus can give any student that extra support system. Also, UNCC is continuously growing and becoming greater and greater, so we need to show Niner Pride to match the expansion!

Through out high school I have worked hard to accomplish my goals of keeping my GPA high and doing my best in every class. I have always put my academics before anything else, which can be challenging at times but in the end, worth it. I have been involved in sports, church, mission trips, and school clubs during my entire high school years and it has benefited me greatly. It has taught me to juggle school while being active in my community and learning life skills. My academic performance has improved by being involved because it has taught me to organize my time, stay motivated to complete tasks, and plan well. Being able to multitask is a great skill to have during college because life becomes very busy. I feel well prepared to pursue my

Purpose of study: The purpose of this study is to examine Astin’s Theory of Involvement as it relates to community college students who participate in culturally based clubs and organizations and their level of academic success. According to Astin’s Theory of Involvement, students need to be actively engaged in their surroundings in order to learn and cultivate in college (Evans, Forney, and Guido-DiBrito, 1998). This study examines the two dependent variables (culturally based clubs and organization involvement and GPA) and the three independent variables (classification, gender, and ethnicity) in order to identity if student’s participation in culturally based clubs and organizations at community colleges equates to academic success. For this research, student’s GPA will measure academic success.

What does Involvement involvement actually mean? Involvement is “a construct that should not be either mysterious or esoteric. Quite simply, student involvement refers to the amount of physical and psychological energy that the student devotes to the academic experience. Thus, a highly involved student is one who, for example, devotes considerable energy to studying, spends much time on campus, participates actively in student organizations, and interacts frequently with faculty members and other students” (Astin, Pg 517). Now a student that is not involved is the opposite, “a typical uninvolved student neglects studies, spends little time on campus, abstains from extracurricular activities, and has infrequent contact with faculty members or other students” (Astin, Pg 518). The effects of being involved vs not being involved is huge and makes an impact over a student’s college career.

Co-curricular and extra-curricular activities are the gateway to forming lasting connections throughout the four years of college and beyond. Co-curricular activities enhance learning and encourage the application of knowledge outside of the classroom environment. In contrast, extracurricular activities are not related to what is learned in the

While being involved in extracurricular activities outside of school benefits your personal being, it also benefits your education. One of these reasons is because in order to participate in the first place, you can not have failing grades. It has also been proven that students involved in extracurricular activities generally have a higher GPA than those who do not. The College Board stated, “extracurricular activities help you show colleges who you are”. It is said that your personal extracurricular activities can really benefit you on a college application. Colleges expect more than just high grades and test scores, they actually want to see who you are and what you do with your time, because what you do with your free time reveals a person (College Board). Students who participate are also more likely to go to college (Klitsch). It was also described by the WNCN staff (a t.v. news station in North Carolina) during an interview with a college dean that college applications with extracurricular activities triumph over ones without. That could be a great reason to get involved.