Students pursue passions for reasons beyond college resume

Just as the bell rang for lunch on a Wednesday, then-freshman Mitali Shanbhag hurried to room 702 for speech and debate. Minutes later, she was running to room 003 to sign up for the upcoming Interact volunteering events.

Back then, Shanbhag, now a senior, was a member of more than 10 clubs, and often had more than two or three club meetings every lunch period.

But while some people may have thought she was trying to impress colleges with incredible school involvement, in reality, Shanbhag said she was just trying to discover her interests.

“In college, you study a specific area of interest, and while taking higher level courses can help, taking on extracurriculars you will want to study is more of a priority,” she said.

As co-president of the Interact Club, Shanbhag is familiar with the “do-it-for-the-resume” mindset. In fact, she said many people only engage in Interact for the community service hours rather than for the service experience itself.

“If you do things for college, you don’t engage in activities because you can’t motivate yourself to do so,” Shanbhag said. “It is really hard to see who has the right reasons, but as a second-semester senior, it is becoming more and more apparent.”

Shanbhag said it is easy for second-semester seniors to give up on clubs like Interact or on other extracurricular activities. But the people who truly want to be there will stay, and those are the people who are doing it for themselves rather than for the sake of a college application.

 Instead, Shanbhag follows her own mantra, “Do what you love and continue to do it.” As a service-oriented person, she plans to continue her work for as long as she can manage.

 

In the classroom

Like many students, junior Scott Moriarity initially took AP Environmental Science because he thought it was a less rigorous AP class, but he found a genuine interest in the subject as the class progressed last semester.

“I realize how anyone can help the Earth recover, but now it is being destroyed,” Moriarity said. “It is interesting that humans are the destroyers but can also play a role as the Earth’s saviors.”

AP Environmental Science teacher Kristen Thomson sees the benefit of this mentality in her students.

“Seeing how it connects to the things they are interested in, they might pursue it further,” Thomson said, “so in a way the AP kind of tricks them because otherwise they wouldn’t consider it an option.”

Thomson finds that although there is a constant pressure to take an AP class for the status, it is not as meaningful as it used to be, which is why students should only add AP classes suitable to their interests..

“It is a measurement that measures so little of who you are,” Thomson said. “The student is also defined by their passions.”

But instead of adding to the stress and constant pressure with her AP class, Thomson tries to instill different values.

“The main thing is if students make a connection, if they find an interesting thing, then I couldn’t ask for more,” Thomson said.

 

On the field

Outside the classroom, junior Adam Sturge brings the same drive that Thomson describes to his favorite sport, soccer.

He plays soccer, watches soccer and speaks soccer and is willing to make big sacrifices for it.

“I didn’t make the soccer cut this year, but that won’t stop me from playing,” Sturge said. “Never will, never has.”

Right now, his club soccer team, West Valley Vision, is not in session. So after the disappointment of not make the varsity squad,  Sturge has decided to go to the gym regularly to ensure a better start to the season.

“Soccer is my reason to get fit, to get healthy, but nothing more than that. It is simply what I do,” Sturge said.

Sturge says many of the players on the soccer team may have alternative motives, and others play to be perceived as a “well-rounded person” to colleges. But, not all of the athletes play by these rules.

“You can hear it off the field when people make excuses or skip practice. Their commitment and determination are really lacking,” Sturge said.

His commitment, however, is strong. For Surge, soccer is “a right of passage in the family.” During lunch, he plays on the field with friends, and on weekends, he watches soccer with his family.

Surge knows that in the future, his passion will continue.

“I would love to play soccer in college, but I don’t know if I am good enough,” Sturge said. “But it won’t stop me. I know of plenty of adult teams and I know I can coach in the future. It can’t end for me.”

Across the board, Surge finds a universal truth with those who have the right mindset — who don’t do it for the grade, the image or the status.

“There is a sense of hunger for those who are passionate, and they never stop running,” Sturge said.