Community Involvement

     Participation in extracurricular activities demonstrates the importance of community involvement. Students need more exposure to the whole community rather than the smaller school network (Gatto, 2005), and participating in extracurricular activities creates a network between individuals and their community, including the elderly and the working class (Gatto, 2005). 

     Students can learn the importance of giving back to the community and helping those in need. Students are also more likely to volunteer in their community after high school if they participate in extracurricular activities during adolescence (Barber, Mueller, & Ogata, 2013). These activities generate a sense of belonging to the community as a whole (Barber et al., 2013), which inspires them to be contributing members of society.