Parents get their kids involved in extracurricular activities at very young ages. Not just sticking to one activity, kids get the opportunity to experience and explore many different paths and discover their passions. After time, they begin to become focused on one activity that has captured their attention more than the others. But what happens, if after all these years of sticking to one activity, you simply become burnt out? The passion or love for the activity fades away and the urge to search for something new arises. What’s the right step?

Seniors in high school tend to be great examples of how this elapsed time can take on so many different paths for many reasons. Many think that the choice is easy.

As a senior, after dedicating so much time to the activity at hand, you have to finish strong. Use the momentum from previous years to complete your final year and have one last go at it. Be the leader of the team and soak up every last memory you can. To some, these words are convincing enough to stick around, but for others there are different motives drawing them away from their extracurricular activities.

Senior year is seen as a chance to get a look into what the transition into adulthood will be like with bigger responsibilities placed upon them. One of these responsibilities that they have to take on is financial responsibility. They feel the need to make money so they can go out with their friends and have fun experiences, or simply go out and have the pride of being financially able to buy things independently. Specific to senior year though, many students are trying to come up with ways to pay for college or contribute to their college funds in any way they can. As people grow, priorities change. At this age, kids may see working as a priority, or even a necessity due to personal situations. Either way, this draws them away from the activities that have been the priority for years. It draws the attention away from the enjoyment of fun activities. 

Furthermore, after years of focusing on a solo activity, we see kids quit their sport or drop out of their extracurricular activities due to being burnt out. Repetition of the same constant thing could be tiring to a child. The pressure to compete just due to the fact that that’s the only activity they know is something that is defeating the child’s love of the activity. Once they reach senior year, some feel that they simply can not go through another year of dedicating their time to something their heart isn’t 100% interested in anymore. 

Change is inevitable and with four whole years of high school, it is easy to see change in people multiple times. Being able to accept these changes in priorities for seniors, rather than bash their decisions, shows support to them while they start to make their own choices for themselves before heading off into the real world… where new passions are found and new activities are abound.