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One of the great things about our school, and many high schools around the world, is that school isn’t just a building we take classes in. We make friends, form relationships with our teachers, and find groups within the school that fit our personalities and interests.
Nashua North is a large school, so naturally, many different sports, clubs, and activities ensure almost everyone can find a group where they belong. However, as with most things, these extra activities outside of class cost money. The school is given a set amount of money by the local government, and the school board decides how to allocate that money.
As of right now, the school board does not allocate enough money to sports to run on their own, and therefore every student-athlete has to pay dues. Clubs however are free to join but to go on a field trip within the club the student has to pay for that trip themselves.
There are obvious flaws with this system, as many students within the school can not afford to pay extra dues to be on a team or club. Although there are options for students that are on free and reduced lunch to also get their extracurricular fees waived, it still puts a strain on families who maybe don’t quite meet those requirements or who have to sacrifice other things for their students to participate in activities.
This leads to the question of whether the school board should allocate more money towards extracurricular activities, and if that extra money is allocated if it should go towards sports or clubs.
Many students would say sports need extra money, even more so than clubs. Looking at the sheer numbers, sports involve more students than clubs do. Hundreds of students compete on sports teams and even more attend school sporting events like Friday night football games, or Wednesday night volleyball.
I spoke with a few students on sports teams within the school, and an overwhelming number of people said they would like new uniforms, new equipment, and better facilities for their sports. It really would not be fair to raise the number of dues on students, so the extra money to add these things that would enrich our sports programs would have to come from the school budget.
I also asked students if they would mind if that extra money to enrich sports programs would be taken out from things such as salaries, and classroom tools, and in general, students were opposed to that idea. Overall what I gathered from investigating this topic was that student-athletes want more money for their sports, and believe they need the money more than clubs do.
On the flip side, I talked to some students involved in only clubs about this issue. I found similar results to the student-athletes, where students believed more funding would greatly increase and enrich the quality of their activities. Although joining clubs doesn’t cost any money for students, that somewhat limits the opportunities of those clubs.
Very few clubs get any sort of special perks such as the ability to go on trips, have guest speakers, and acquire merchandise. Clubs are more focused on academics than sports are, and you could argue that these added benefits would help students grow intellectually and provide them with opportunities beyond high school. Several of the students involved in clubs told me that they think both clubs and sports deserve more money, but if it was a choice between the two, clubs should get the extra funding because they receive essentially no funds while sports have the funds that students pay for.
Sports and clubs at Nashua North benefit both students and faculty by enriching our school community and leaving lasting impacts on students. These extracurricular activities give so much to the community, yet receive limited funding. With increased funding sports and clubs would continue to thrive and open even more doors for the school community.
