First, I would like to apologize for sharing my personal thoughts so often, I am sure it is becoming tedious. I promise this is the second to last time. 

This year I had a revelation about three years too late, and I do not wish it on anyone else. 

I realized that trying to be in every activity at school is a recipe for disaster. During my freshman year I joined as many clubs and extracurriculars as I could. Then as I moved up I tried to be an officer in every single one of those clubs too, I achieved it. This may seem like a great accomplishment but in reality I feel that I did myself and those clubs really dirty. 

I was trying to manage a full academic schedule, work, speech, the play/musical and about four different clubs all at the same time. It is not a cute look. 

I feel that North Polk has made it feel like every student needs to be as active within the school as possible to succeed, and that is simply not true. Yes, students should be active within the school, but they should not risk burnout to do so. 

I feel very guilty that I tried to do so many things because not only did I overwork myself, but I did not give those clubs and additional activities the time and effort they deserve. When you are in ten activities, you only give ten percent of your effort to each. 

I have personally seen so many students join organizations because they feel that I will look good on their college application, and the clubs suffer because of it. 

What looks better? Being in ten clubs but not doing anything significant in any of them, or being in one club and dedicating your entire being into making it a success? I know the answer, but I feel that many of my peers do not. 

Do not make the same mistake that I did.