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From our Counselor
With the pandemic still keeping us home, you may be looking for extracurricular activities that you (or your kids) can safely participate in. Extracurricular activities are a great way to develop new interests and skills that will help prepare you (or your kids) for applying to university, as well as life in general. In the future, when you are filling out applications, admissions officers will know that you were limited with options for participating in clubs, sports, and volunteering during this time.
This does not mean you just get to play video games or be on social media when not attending classes, as admissions counselors will want to see that you did do something productive with the extra time you have during online learning. There are plenty of opportunities to take advantage of during the pandemic. Here are some suggestions to make good use of your time:
- Reading for pleasure, increases vocabulary which is helpful for the SAT/ACT
- Learn a new language, Duolingo is a free app with lots of languages to choose from
- Teach yourself how to play an instrument, YouTube has tutorial videos
- Sign up on Khan Academy and practice for the SATs- https://www.khanacademy.org/
- Take on online class for fun! There are several online platforms that offer free or low cost classes on many topics
Remember when it comes to your university application and resume, think quality over quantity. The important part of extracurricular activities is that you enjoy yourself. Universities want to see that you participated in these activities to learn something about yourself, the world around you, and maybe even develop a passion about something, not that you just did it to build your resume or because your parents made you do it.
And while having activities to put on your resume and listening to your parents is important, being an interesting person with varied experiences and interests, who can express themselves and why they want to go to university is what they are looking for in high school graduates.
See also: Transition: Navigating Elementary to Middle School with Confidence
From our Activities & Athletics Director
I trust that you all had a restful break. We are excited to be back and start the new year and the high hopes of better things to come.
We ended 2020 on a high note with our students’ impressive performance in the National High School Debate League of China Online Debate. We had three teams participate and four SIS debaters landed in the top 10 speakers among 118 debaters. Franklin and Shafira’s team came out on top while Roshaanay and Soo Yoon’s team landed 3rd over-all. Kudos to Ms. Pipit for guiding our debaters.
Our student organizations have lined up activities for the second semester. The Virtual SIS Got Talent, presented by the HS StuCo, will take place on February 19. Watch for more information about this activity. ES StuCo will have after school zoom meetings with interested elementary students for some craft activities. They are also planning some fun activities for the Chinese New Year. The NJHS will continue with the KTK (Kid Teaching Kids) starting February and they are also planning to do an activity called Brainout. It is a zoom meeting where students answer tricky questions and riddles. More information about this activity will be out soon.
We are looking forward to being back on campus and being able to do all the fun activities. For the meantime, take care of yourselves and make sure to spend time away from your screens.
