What are your chances of acceptance?

Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance.

Duke University

Your chancing factors

Extracurriculars.

essay on development activities

3 Successful Extracurricular Activity Essay Examples

The purpose of the extracurricular activities essay is for admissions officers to better understand how your extracurricular activities have shaped and motivated you. This essay shouldn’t restate the activities you’ve already shared in your resume, but should elaborate on their impact and significance to you as a person.

In this post, we will share three extracurricular essays, written by real students, that are strong responses. Read them to be inspired in your own essay writing!

Please note: Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. You should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and will not view students favorably if they plagiarized. 

Essay Example #1

My fingers raced across the keys, rapidly striking one after another. My body swayed with the music as my hands raced across the piano. Crashing onto the final chord, it was over as quickly as it had begun. My shoulders relaxed and I couldn’t help but break into a satisfied grin. I had just played the Moonlight Sonata’s third movement, a longtime dream of mine.

Four short months ago, though, I had considered it impossible. The piece’s tempo was impossibly fast, its notes stretching between each end of the piano, forcing me to reach farther than I had ever dared. It was 17 pages of the most fragile and intricate melodies I had ever encountered.

But that summer, I found myself ready to take on the challenge. With the end of the school year, I was released from my commitment to practicing for band and solo performances. I was now free to determine my own musical path: either succeed in learning the piece, or let it defeat me for the third summer in a row.

Over those few months, I spent countless hours practicing the same notes until they burned a permanent place in my memory, creating a soundtrack for even my dreams. Some would say I’ve mastered the piece, but as a musician I know better. Now that I can play it, I am eager to take the next step and add in layers of musicality and expression to make the once-impossible piece even more beautiful.

What the Essay Did Well

This essay has a descriptive and engaging hook that immediately places the reader in the middle of the action and captivates us for the rest of the essay. The way the student describes playing piano as a full-body experience, from their splayed out fingers to their tensed shoulders, allows the reader to envision the student in front of them, passionately losing themselves in the music. Seeing the way they write about the piano is a sign that this student is dedicated to this extracurricular. 

Another strength of this essay is how it shows this student’s character, particularly their determination. By describing the challenge of playing this piece, we can fully appreciate all that they had to overcome to be successful. Rather than simply saying it was a hard song, they show us how it was physically and mentally daunting: “ The piece’s tempo was impossibly fast, its notes stretching between each end of the piano, forcing me to reach farther than I had ever dared. It was 17 pages of the most fragile and intricate melodies I had ever encountered.”

This student knows how to make music in their writing, as well as on the piano. The use of elevated and creative language throughout the essay makes it flow smoothly for the reader. They take a rather simple story, but through their deft writing the student makes it both enjoyable and reveals details about themself.

What Could Be Improved

This essay could have been made even stronger if this student included details about them actually practicing. They go from telling us about how daunting this piece was to suddenly being able to play it months later, but admissions officers are curious about how you overcome challenges, not just the fact that you did.

Two or three sentences that describe the tedious process of practicing a particular scale or how they continuously messed up a certain bar of music would be sufficient to express what this student actually accomplished. Although space is tight in this essay, this would have been a better use of the third paragraph than what the student currently has. 

Essay Example #2

My school’s newspaper and I have a typical love-hate relationship; some days I want nothing more than to pass two hours writing and formatting articles, while on others the mere thought of student journalism makes me shiver. Still, as we’re entering our fourth year together, you could consider us relatively stable. We’ve learned to accept each other’s differences; at this point I’ve become comfortable spending an entire Friday night preparing for an upcoming issue, and I hardly even notice the snail-like speed of our computers. I’ve even benefitted from the polygamous nature of our relationship—with twelve other editors, there’s a lot of cooperation involved. Perverse as it may be, from that teamwork I’ve both gained some of my closest friends and improved my organizational and time-management skills. And though leaving it in the hands of new editors next year will be difficult, I know our time together has only better prepared me for future relationships.

This response is great. It’s cute and endearing and, importantly, tells readers a lot about the student who wrote it. Framing this essay in the context of a “love-hate relationship,” then supplementing with comments like “We’ve learned to accept each other’s differences” allows this student to advertise their maturity in a unique and engaging way. 

Personifying the newspaper is a creative way to demonstrate the role it plays in this student’s life. Because it is an unexpected tactic, it lets the reader appreciate the humor and wit of the author, while also being a lighthearted and fun response to read. 

While Extracurricular Essays can be a place to show how you’ve grown within an activity, they can also be a place to show how you’ve grown through an activity. At the end of this essay, readers think that this student is mature and enjoyable, and we think that their experience with the school newspaper helped make them that way.

One strike against this essay is that in the first sentence it claims the student has a love-hate relationship with the newspaper, but the rest of the essay really only addresses their experience from a positive perspective. They say the “ mere thought of student journalism makes me shiver ” but there is little-to-no elaboration about the negatives. Since they poised their essay as a love-hate relationship, it feels like it is missing something without any discussion about the hate aspect of the relationship. 

Essay Example #3

The cool, white halls of the Rayburn House office building contrasted with the bustling energy of interns entertaining tourists, staffers rushing to cover committee meetings, and my fellow conference attendees separating to meet with our respective congresspeople. Through civics and US history classes, I had learned about our government, but simply hearing the legislative process outlined didn’t prepare me to navigate it. It was my first political conference, and, after learning about congressional mechanics during breakout sessions, I was lobbying my representative about an upcoming vote crucial to the US-Middle East relationship. As the daughter of Iranian immigrants, my whole life had led me to the moment when I could speak on behalf of the family members who had not emigrated with my parents.

As I sat down with my congresswoman’s chief of staff, I truly felt like a participant in democracy; I was exercising my right to be heard as a young American. Through this educational conference, I developed a plan of action to raise my voice. When I returned home, I signed up to volunteer with the state chapter of the Democratic Party. I sponsored letter-writing campaigns, canvassed for local elections, and even pursued an internship with a state senate campaign. I know that I don’t need to be old enough to vote to effect change. Most importantly, I also know that I want to study government—I want to make a difference for my communities in the United States and the Middle East throughout my career.

The strength of this essay comes from its connections. It connects the student’s extracurricular activity to their studies and connects theirs studies to their personal history.

While this prompt is about extracurricular activities, it specifically references the idea that the extracurricular should support the curricular. It is focused on experiential learning for future career success. This student wants to study government, so they chose to describe an experience of hands-on learning within their field—an apt choice!

As this student discusses their extracurricular experience, they also clue readers into their future goals—they want to help Middle Eastern communities. Admissions officers love when students mention concrete plans with a solid foundation. Here, the foundation comes from this student’s ethnicity. With lines like “my whole life had led me to the moment when I could speak on behalf of the family members who had not emigrated with my parents,” the student assures admissions officers of their emotional connection to their future field.

Something that is missing from this essay is the emotional reflection this student has from their experiences in politics. They tell us they felt like a participant in democracy and they know they want to study government and make a difference, but for a really strong essay you need to dig deeper and tell the reader more about how this extracurricular makes you feel.

What does it feel like to be a participant in democracy? Liberating? Empowering? How did volunteering impact them personally? Did they develop a new appreciation for what it means to be an American? What feeling is this student trying to elicit by studying government? While all of these questions don’t have to be addressed, the idea is to inject more of the student’s feelings and emotion into the essay to help us better understand exactly what this extracurricular meant to them. 

More Supplemental Essay Tips

4 Tips for Writing a Diversity College Essay

How to Write the “Why This College” Essay

Where to Get Your Extracurricular Activity Essays Edited

Do you want feedback on your Extracurricular Activity essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

essay on development activities

  • Essay Editor

Student Development and Extra-Curricular Activities Essay

1. introduction.

Student development is a crucial aspect of education which is often overlooked or taken for granted by students, educators, and academic institutions. While most education focuses on the intellectual development of a learner, enough emphasis is not placed on motivation, enthusiasm, determination, perseverance, confidence, responsibility consciousness, and talent. These affective and psychomotor qualities are crucial for personal and professional success in life. Education is ultimately about performance: how to actualize one's potential and translate it into competence. This process needs to be approached from a holistic perspective where students are concerned. In this regard, upholding the quality of higher education is heavily based on the experiences professors and academic institutions provide to students. This includes more than classroom interaction and formal learning. How students develop as self-learners and individuals must be added to the equation. The prime objective for students is to learn how to learn. Rescue (2002) suggests that learning to learn is the vehicle that carries students from their first encounters with a subject to a real understanding. If students can be given the tools to self-organize, self-monitor, and self-evaluate, they will be well on the way to becoming independent learners. This, in itself, is a major form of student development. Learning is a self-directed activity, and good teaching only gets students so far. High-quality experiences that promote student development are the ingredients of higher education (Astin, 1999, p. 25). High-quality experiences come in many forms, one of the most effective being extracurricular activities.

1.1 Importance of Student Development

The objective of this essay is to introduce the importance of student development and extra-curricular activities. It will describe the definition of extra-curricular and the emergence of student development from the community and education. To gain a better understanding of the importance of extra-curricular activities to student development, the essay will explore an extra-curricular activity in depth. Overall, it will connect student development and extra-curricular activities by applying theory to practice. Student development is the process of growth and evolution within the student, with the professional and personal development and identifying their interests and views. Hopkins (2010, p7) enlightens us by the fact that student development is a result of what students do and the experience they obtain from that. It is further explored when considering 'self-authorship' where, according to Pizzolato (2011), the ability to write one's own script and be authentic in one's beliefs and actions is the ultimate goal. This is clearly manifested when the student can truly represent themselves...who they are, what they believe and what they stand for. This concept has shown us that there is a pathway students take in their journey of development. Student development is not just a product of academic success, but what is achieved outside the classroom. The past half century has seen a fundamental change. Student development was originally centered on young adults learning how to live in a diverse and changing society and preparing them for adult life. In recent years, student development theory has become an important tool for educators in understanding the complexities of the college experience, and how students develop and succeed in making the best of their educational experience (Evans et al, p25). This is very true in the case of Singapore Polytechnic. College life is not just about getting a diploma, but it is a learning experience that changes and molds an individual's perception of what the world holds for them. It enables students to be able to make decisions, both good and bad, understand the consequences of the choices they have made, and be able to learn from them. This is what it means to truly experience the learning in life.

1.2 Role of Extra-Curricular Activities

Extra-curricular activities (ECA) have been regarded as essential for the students' holistic development. This claim has been widely supported by many educators, parents, and also students themselves. It is believed that participation in ECA is very important in giving a great impact on the students' development. ECA can be in the form of co-curricular or school-based activities such as clubs or societies. It can also be activities that are not related to the academic and are considered non-formal. This includes activities such as sports, camping, drama, music, martial arts, and many others. Studies have shown that involvement in ECA has several effects on the students. The role of ECA in contributing to the personal development of the students cannot be denied. ECA offers the students opportunities to develop and discover their interests, abilities, and passions. The students are exposed to various activities and they have the freedom of choice to participate in the activities that they prefer. In this manner, they can discover talents that they never knew they had and develop their areas of interest. For example, a student who is interested in writing can join the school's journalism club and develop his skills in writing. A student who has a passion for playing the guitar can join the music club and learn to play the guitar. It is through ECA that students can learn the most as they are doing something which they are truly interested or passionate about. This is important for the students' personal development as knowing and developing themselves is crucial for their own identity. ECA provides a constructive use of the students' leisure time. Leisure time is a time where students have no idea what to do. The students are exposed to various unnecessary activities such as loitering, smoking, and getting involved with moral misconduct. A study in New Zealand found that the majority of the students' misconduct, particularly in skipping classes, smoking, and alcohol abuse, took place in their leisure time. It is during ECA that the students have something beneficial to do and it prevents them from involving in the above-mentioned misconduct.

2. Benefits of Extra-Curricular Activities

Personal growth can be seen from the many benefits provided by extracurricular activities. These activities allow students to try new things that can help them discover what they are talented in and even the areas in which they can improve. It also allows a student to step out of their comfort zone where they can learn things about themselves that they previously did not know. It helps build self-confidence and self-esteem. Through the wide range of activities, kids can discover their niche whether it is in drama, art, music, mechanics, public speaking, writing, sports, and many more. This can help them form an identity and help them associate with others who share the same interest, thus making new friends and improving social skills. It has also been shown that involved students are more likely to have better academic achievement and are provided with greater knowledge to help them through tough situations. This may be because involved students have an easier time making connections between what they learn inside the classroom and what is needed outside the classroom. Finally, in the long run, through trial and error, students will be better prepared when choosing their career path as they have a better understanding of what they are good at and what they are interested in. This will lead to a more satisfactory adult life.

2.1 Personal Growth and Skill Development

Personal growth is one of the key benefits of extracurricular activities. Extracurricular activities are a great way for your student to make a change in himself for the better. This is because extracurricular activities help with personal growth in so many ways. Children always tend to learn better when they are enjoying themselves, and extracurricular activities make this possible. Through enjoyable extracurricular activities, your student will learn about himself and about life. He will learn about his strengths and weaknesses, in a way that is different from the classroom. He will learn what he enjoys and what he doesn't. This form of self-realization is important as it gives a child a better understanding of himself. For instance, by finding out that he is talented at something like drawing, he may gain confidence in himself and take that newfound confidence into something unrelated to drawing in the future. On the other hand, through learning that he is not good at sports, your child might make a decision to focus on something unrelated to sports that he feels he might be better at. By doing so, he is setting a goal to improve at something, and goals are another important part of personal growth. Any learned skill can be said to be a goal because it is an achievement that is worked towards and completed. By learning that changes happen to everyone, he will be prepared to take on change in a way that best helps him to reach his goals. This is the most important type of growth, and extracurricular activities set the stage for it. By applying skills learned in extracurricular activities to everyday life, your child will be taking steps in the right direction.

2.2 Social and Emotional Development

If students have social and emotional skills, it would help with their overall personal and social development, as well as help them to feel more accepted and included in school. When students feel accepted, they are able to adapt themselves to the school environment and make the best of all the opportunities for both academic and developmental success. All students can benefit from this, particularly students with learning difficulties. Specifically, social competence enhances academic performance because it helps students to be more focused and organized. Socially competent students are more likely to plan out and structure study sessions with friends, as well as help and encourage each other. Social competence also leads to more positive attitudes about school and academic work. Because of these attitudes, students are more likely to enroll in challenging courses and complete a higher education. Students who stay in school and get more education have a lower likelihood of engaging in health risk behaviors. Finally, social competence helps students to be more successful in the workforce after leaving education. This will allow them to be more independent and have a better quality of life. Social competence is a long-term goal of parents and educators and it can be achieved through participation in extracurricular activities. Time spent in these activities has a positive impact on the social development of students as well as various effects on personal development.

2.3 Academic Performance Improvement

A study conducted by Eccles and Barber (1999) investigated the impact of extracurricular involvement on adolescents' academic performance, claiming that participation has a positive influence on school grades. It is suggested that this effect is due to the development of self-regulatory behaviors and an increase in effective use of time. Homework completion and academic aspiration were also identified as mediators of activity involvement on academic outcomes, stating that participation in extracurricular activities contributes towards a better homework completion record and increases adolescents' aspirations for higher levels of education. As a whole, these findings support the argument that extracurricular activities contribute towards improved academic performance. In addition to this, students with higher grades and test scores are more likely to participate in extracurricular activities than students with lower academic achievement (Mahoney, Harris, and Eccles, 2006). This may suggest that the type of students who participate in extracurricular activities are the same students who achieve highly in school. However, longitudinal research conducted by Feldman and Matjasko (2005) suggests that simple participation in activities increases an adolescent's GPA over the following two years. Mahoney, Larsen, and Eccles (2005) discuss the idea that extracurricular activities provide youth with an opportunity to develop a sense of initiative and commitment, suggesting that the development of these self-regulatory behaviors can be attributed to increased academic performance. This idea was supported by Fredricks and Eccles (2006) who found that a harmonious passion towards an activity predicted an increase in time management skills and increased positive affect while doing homework, providing evidence for the idea that activity participation increases academic performance through the development of specific behavioral skills.

3. Challenges and Considerations

It is the case that although extra-curricular activities and leadership experiences provide unique and invaluable opportunities for student learning and personal development, involvement in such activities also presents challenges. One of the most significant challenges is that of balancing the demands of involvement with those of academic study. Research has shown that a moderate degree of involvement in clubs and organizations is associated with positive effects on students' grade point averages; however, the same research also shows that holding a leadership or executive position can have negative effects on grades. Logically, this makes sense as the time demands of leadership positions in organizations can be considerable. Students in these positions may find it difficult to divide their time between their responsibilities to the organization and their academic work. At the extreme, students who take on too many leadership roles may find themselves unable to fulfill any of them satisfactorily. This can be a significant problem for some students, and may result in their withdrawal or dismissal from the university. High achieving students are often reluctant to reduce their involvement with extra-curricular activities, even when it is detrimental to their academic success. There is a need for these students to recognize the opportunity costs of their involvement and to make informed decisions about whether the benefits they are gaining are worth what they are foregoing. To some extent, it is the responsibility of the faculty and staff who work with these student groups to help them understand that their top priority must be their academic program and that it is better to fulfill one or two roles well than to spread themselves too thin.

3.1 Balancing Academics and Extra-Curricular Activities

Balancing then, has two dimensions: balancing involves the juggling of different activities and keeping them all in the air at the same time - and the less visible activity of compensating for adding more of one thing by adding less of another. The main point of juggling time is to keep these activities in tune with one another. The goal for students is to be involved in activities that meet varying needs and interests, to have school be well represented by their involvement in a variety of activities. For some, this means heavily involvement in a few activities, for others, this means making sure an activity is sufficient from the point of view of time and energy. Before everything, students must learn that they are students first and anything else second. If an individual involvement does not contribute to the welfare of a student's educational experience, then it is not a fruitful involvement. Access to this recently increased range of involvement is unbounded, and students need to learn to manage it early in their University of Life. But it is necessarily hard to understand our capacity for involvement (how much we can take on at once) as it is a largely passive skill stimulated by our feeling a need to take on more. This means that we often do not learn our limits until we have exceeded them and have paid the price for it. And quite often, students will find the price for juggling their activities to be a detrimental effect on their academic performance. A conscious effort to balance extra activities with scholastic activities must be made. This may call for tough decisions and discipline. Compensation involves an activity to recuperate loss. It is a reactive function arising from an insufficiency in time allocation. Some activities simply require more time to fulfill relative to others, and as the opportunity cost of the longer activity, it places the participating student at the loss of alternatives forgone at that time. This will detract from a student's involvement in other activities and, if the activity in question is academic, may be revealed as detrimental to academic performance. The decision at this point is whether to abandon the detracting activity, but often it is stared in the face as an obligation with no choice, and thus abandonment will frequently be the one activity an involuntary decision. Although the cause for volunteering point is what is considered by most to be extra-curricular activity, sometimes requiring time can be what the conventional student would consider a part of his or her life not captured under the title of activity. An example familiar to many would be a job to support the means of funding for educational endeavors. Stepwise or abrupt reduction of involvement is a whimsical matter and will depend on the significance of the activity to the individual. We make comparisons to find the best solution in loss, and hope to break even. This process is a learning experience in time management, and while for some it is a negative experience with the aforementioned effects, it is an improvement of our demonstrated ability to manage time and juggle various activities.

3.2 Financial and Accessibility Issues

The section 'Financial and Accessibility Issues' is an exploration of the challenges faced by students and institutions in funding extra-curricular activities. It argues that the unequal distribution of information about funding and support services is still a significant barrier for many students. Using a case study of 3 Canadian universities, the report breaks down the different kinds of direct costs an activity may have, as well as the indirect cost of foregone income from choosing to work less or not at all. Data was obtained from activity organizers at the 3 universities about direct costs and from student participants about time spent on the activity and foregone income. The case study outlines that even with the VAR-M analysis being skewed to favor the time spent in the activity, variances in foregone income are still considerable. This demonstrates the financial commitment extra-curricular activities may demand from students who are already financially stretched for time. Comparing this with average student income data suggests that for some students, the cost of participating may not be feasible. The report contends that a lack of information about funding options and services, combined with the variable nature of student income, means that a standard price ceiling exists for what students will consider spending on extra-curricular activities. Because pricing and costs are not flexible across students, the report states that this is the equivalent of an eligibility criterion and price barriers to certain activities. The case study also explores the role of student debt in the expenditure on activities. While there was no evidence to suggest that students commonly use student loans to finance activities, interviews with the activity organizers suggested a common misunderstanding about whether a student's loan should be used for living costs only, and that students unsure about this were less likely to participate in activities. An interview with a financial advisor also indicated that the forthcoming changes to the student loans and support package may have implications for the future level of participation in extra-curricular activities.

3.3 Ensuring Inclusivity and Diversity

Student development and extra-curricular initiatives are fertile with the promise of providing environments conducive to learning and growing. However, there is the potential for counterproductive outcomes if not enough attention is devoted to fostering attitudes and an environment which recognizes and values diversity and its importance in learning, and ways to foster an inclusive community. Too often, cultural diversity and inclusivity are seen in terms of meeting the needs of 'specific groups' such as international students or students with disabilities, rather than as a framework that needs to be reflected in all areas and at all levels of the university. A major issue in addressing inclusiveness of extra-curricular initiatives lies in the latent attitudes of both the staff members in charge of programs and activities, and the students themselves. No hierarchy of staff at any university will admit to not wanting an inclusive environment, yet there is a tendency for those initiatives designed to assist specific groups to be seen as a sufficient effort. Staff are often not aware of their own attitudes that may result in marginalization and stereotyping, or that students who do not partake in a specific activity may still feel excluded from being in an environment in which it is the 'thing to do'. This is particularly important in considering ethnic minority students, who may not be interested in an activity aimed specifically at their grouping, yet would benefit from being in an environment in which they are not the minority, and having the same options and opportunities as other students. Staff members are often under-equipped in skills and resources to meet the needs of diverse groups of students and may feel defensive or threatened when the issue is raised. High-quality professional development initiatives are required to bring the issues of diversity and inclusivity into the consciousness of all staff and to provide both theoretical frameworks and practical strategies for them to work with.

4. Recommendations and Strategies

The development of a comprehensive program of extracurricular activities will better enable community colleges to meet the needs of their students. It is essential to offer a wide array of activities. These activities should range from campus-based clubs and organizations, to intercollegiate and intramural athletic programs, to cultural events, and outdoor activities. Student input and involvement should be used to gauge the types of activities in which they are interested. Frequently administering surveys and conducting focus groups will provide an accurate gauge of the types of activities students really desire. Both the professional staff and the faculty should work to do more than just monitor these activities, but to also become involved in some of them. Professional staff involvement provides students with essential role models and mentors outside the classroom. Community colleges can only offer more activities if they have the proper funding and resources. The research work done by Pascarella and Terenzini contained in "How College Affects Students" has repeatedly found that student involvement leads to gains in leadership ability and cognitive development. In order to promote student involvement, most colleges would be wise to lower the cost of participation in activities, and in some cases make them free. This will greatly help students, especially those who are not working or are only working small amounts of time while attending school. An activity fee assessed to each student, included within tuition costs, is another means of generating funds that can only be designated for student activities. This option has proven to be quite successful at some colleges. Any generated funds should be placed in a separate budget strictly for student activities, and not simply absorbed in the overall student affairs budget.

4.1 Promoting a Variety of Activities

Promoting a variety of activities is essential in engaging a diverse student body. Different students have different interests and needs, and a program with only a limited range of activities cannot expect to meet these needs. A more varied and inclusive program increases the chance that a student will find a place to connect, resulting in an increased attachment to the institution and an increase in student satisfaction. A diverse program also increases the chance that students from different social, economic, and ethnic backgrounds will come into contact, breaking down the barriers of isolation that often exist on college campuses. This increase in interaction and understanding is an important part of the educational mission of higher education. High quality co-curricular programs are linked to increased retention and graduation rates (Astin, 1993; Pike & Dilley, 1997). Finally, a varied and inclusive program exposes students to new activities and ideas that they may grow to love, but never would have experienced without a nudge. Programs can go about increasing their variety of activities through both formal and informal means. Formal assessments of campus interests can be conducted through surveys or focus groups. It is key to ask about the interests of all types of students, and not just those who are already involved in activities. Trying to increase involvement of non-traditional students? Ask them what they would like to do. Informal assessments can be done through consulting with campus minority groups, advisors, faculty, or other persons who might have insight into specific student populations. Once a program has a good idea of the range of activities students would like to see, they can go about the business of programming to increase access and participation in these activities. New activities can be added to an existing program, or collaborating with other programs or student groups to co-sponsor events can save resources while increasing impact. For example, a recreational sports program that has traditionally focused on team sports might want to consider adding a tournament or event in an activity such as billiards, darts, or table tennis. This would be an easier alternative to starting an entirely new program in a sport that has high interest but no current outlet.

4.2 Providing Support and Resources

Support and resources are continually mentioned by the students as an important factor in student activity participation. Many students who are first-time activity participants claim that they would be more likely to participate in the future if they knew how to get started. This is even if they showed a high level of interest in a particular activity. Resources for new activity participants are important as students expressed difficulty and frustration in finding contact information for club officers. They found that the best resource for activity-related information was direct personal contact with someone involved in the activity, thus increasing the chances of building the personal skills students are looking to enhance. This information needs to be made readily available to students and one good way is to have a listing of all student clubs and organizations in a central location with posted office hours of club officers. This could be done through an online student activity bulletin board, a resource that can be available to students 24 hours a day. A central office that houses all student clubs and organizations can be the best way to provide a wide variety of information and resources to students. Personal development expands into the leadership skills students acquire and enhance through their activity involvements. A particularly significant result of the student survey was that students felt the most beneficial resource in enhancing their leadership skills was through their activity involvement. A little over half of the students felt that MSU provides enough resources for leadership skill enhancement, but this is contingent upon the type of activities students are involved in. The students who are highly involved in student clubs and organizations and hold leadership positions are more than likely to attend workshops and seminars to enhance their leadership skills. High-quality leadership is a result of the skills and experiences gained from specific training and education. This is an area that MSU can improve in providing resources for leadership development through tailored workshops and seminars for student club officers. This will serve as a way to give back to student organizations by preparing them to run a more effective and efficient organization.

4.3 Collaborating with Community Organizations

Community organizations, such as local churches, YMCAs, and boys' and girls' clubs, often have access to facilities and other resources that student affairs professionals might find useful. Community organizations frequently attract large numbers of college students as volunteers or employees. Thus, formal connections between the campus and community organizations can benefit both parties. Campuses can identify specific community organizations that provide services or experiences relevant to student development. For instance, counseling centers, mental health associations, or geriatric care facilities might be appropriate settings for internships or service learning projects for students in psychology, social work, or health-related fields. Step programs can facilitate conversations between campuses and community organizations to seek out opportunities for students designed interaction, leadership, learning, or service. Such efforts could lead to the development of internships or service learning opportunities, collaborative research projects on student development, or workshops and educational programs for students. Collaborations with community organizations provide abundant possibilities for enriching student learning and development. A variety of experience, convenience, and the potential for student employment can facilitate student involvement. Since community organizations serve non-student populations, students may have opportunities to work with and learn from people of various ages and backgrounds. Interactions with members of the local community can foster students' sense of social responsibility and citizenship, while dispelling stereotypes and fears about off-campus constituencies. Service learning experiences and internships can enhance students' vocational development by providing real-life chances to apply classroom learning, discern career fields, and develop student skills and coalitions with professionals. Research projects and educational programs can facilitate student cognitive development by partaking them in information exchange with off-campus constituencies and by challenging them to analyze and solve concrete problems. Overall, collaborations with community organizations provide complementary environments where students can continue their learning and development beyond the borders of the campus.

Related articles

Development stages: observation and application essay.

1. Introduction The essay published by Mr. Piaget in 1966 is a comprehensive essay dealing with the various stages of intellectual development in children. The author observed and interviewed a large number of children, two of whom were his own, and accumulated a considerable amount of data on their development. This essay is an attempt to review and assimilate the mass of data, primarily with respect to the 6 to 12 age group. It also formulated general methods for the study of development and ...

School Uniform Improving Discipline and Performance Essay

1. Introduction This is a detailed and interesting essay talking about how a school having a uniform can improve the discipline and motivation amongst students. In schools all around the world, each year, thousands and thousands of students are asked to comply with a very strict set of rules, these rules are for the school uniform. Uniforms are said to be a positive tool for maintaining a safe and disciplined learning environment in schools. A school uniform influences students to stay focused ...

Past, Present, and Future Personal Education Review Essay

1. Introduction This essay describes my personal academic plan and the motivation for this profile. Although I have changed my plans many times and encountered many detours along the way, my goal has always been to become a high school social studies teacher. The following is a brief outline of my academic plans and the motivation for this pursuit. When I graduated from high school, I remember my teachers discussing how the university culture was different from the community college culture. Cu ...

Absolute and Relative Grading: Comparative Analysis Essay

1. Introduction The essay is divided into 4 main parts. The first part examines current grading systems and questions what teachers are really measuring. This part also outlines an alternative assessment method. The 2nd part of the essay compares an absolute criteria reference grading system with a relative judgmental system. Data is presented to show how the different systems can treat the same work in a very different way, and it is discussed how the grades obtained from either system may not ...

The Usefulness of Educational Research

1. Introduction Make the paragraph one long block. Use longer, more complex sentences. Simplify where you see fit. Outline the different sections and themes that the book raises throughout the essay. If you don't understand what I mean, try breaking the paragraph down into its simplest forms. Summarize each sentence or group of sentences to help you analyze what is being portrayed, then rebuild the paragraph. The paragraph may seem repetitive, but focus on the basic sentence meanings. Ensure th ...

Study Abroad Essay Examples & Topics

1. Introduction Study abroad essay is synonymous with a college application essay. As in most types of academic papers, you must gather information and write a strong personal statement. If you are applying for a competitive school or program, your introduction, which carries your personal statement, can determine whether or not you will be accepted. The school wants to know your reason for studying abroad. Maybe you want culture experience or maybe you want to experience the independence of li ...

The Importance of the Logical – Mathematical Intelligence in Mathematics Teaching Report

1. Introduction 1.1. Background Based on the syllabuses that have been compiled by the Pusat Perkembangan Kurikulum (2003, p.7), mathematical learning encompasses a variety of activities that develop mathematical knowledge. These activities can include learning to investigate, asking questions, looking for information, proving an argument, and using mathematical concepts and rules (Subanji, 2003, p.5). It can be inferred that logical-mathematical intelligence plays an important role in mathemat ...

Objective and Projective Personality Assessments Essay

1. Objective Personality Assessments Objective personality assessments are those that involve the administration of a standard set of questions or tasks with predetermined scoring rules, which in turn limit the ambiguity of results. This is the key concept: that there can be no ambiguity in answers; they must be clearly true or false. These types of tests are quite different from the projective technique assessments, which do allow for individual interpretation. The tests usually involve the cl ...

Extracurricular Activities Essay Examples

Extracurricular activities essay examples – introduction .

As you work through your college applications, you may come across a version of the extracurricular activities essay. Many college application requirements include an extracurricular supplemental essay. So, don’t be surprised if you need to write an extracurricular supplemental essay for schools on your list. As you brainstorm and draft, it can be helpful to read some extracurricular activities essay examples. 

In this guide, we’ve included several extracurricular activities essay examples to show you the ropes. By the end, you’ll see how to successfully complete the extracurricular activities essay. Take a look at these examples before you start your college applications. 

The extracurricular activities essay is exactly what it sounds like. You will use the extracurricular supplemental essay to write about the importance of one of your extracurricular activities. Later, we’ll look at several elaborate on an extracurricular activity essay examples. 

In our extracurricular activities essay examples, we’ll look at prompts from the following schools: 

  • Stanford University  
  • Rice University  
  • Bryn Mawr College  
  • Northwestern University  
  • Vanderbilt University  

University of Florida

  • Princeton University  

We’ll talk about what you can learn from each of our extracurricular activities essay examples. We will also explain how they contribute to each student’s application narrative. Before we jump into our extracurricular activities essay examples, let’s explore what counts as an extracurricular activity. 

What is an extracurricular activity? 

An extracurricular activity, or after-school activity , is something that you participate in outside of your regular classes. Extracurricular activities are important because they give you a chance to explore your interests outside the classroom. In fact, recent research suggests that being involved in extracurricular activities can even help a student’s engagement in school. 

When you submit college applications, you’ll include a list of the extracurricular activities you have participated in during high school. Being involved in multiple extracurricular activities can bolster your candidate profile and make you stand out in the admissions process. 

Extracurricular activities matter

If you plan to send college applications to top-tier schools, you’ll want to boost your participation in extracurricular activities early in your high school career. Colleges want to see that you have passions in and out of the classroom.

In other words, extracurricular activities can show admissions officers what you care about. Extracurricular activities can also help you learn more about what you enjoy, which can translate into potential extracurricular activities for college.

What are some examples of extracurricular activities? 

Extracurricular activities can be clubs, organizations, sports, jobs, or anything in between. As you’ll see in our elaborate on an extracurricular activity essay examples, extracurriculars will vary from student to student. There are four main categories of extracurricular activities: 

School-sponsored activities

  • Community activities 

Independent activities

Work experiences.

Each category has its own strengths and benefits you’ll want to show in your essay. Our extracurricular activities essay examples highlight activities from each category. As such, you’ll be able to see an activity similar to yours represented. 

Let’s take a closer look at each of these categories before we dig into our extracurricular activity essay examples.

Extracurricular Activity Categories 

School-sponsored extracurricular activities include clubs, organizations or programs that are hosted by your school. These might be sports teams, special interest clubs like technical theatre, or arts programs like band and orchestra. 

Community activities

Another popular type of extracurricular activity is community activities. Community activities include volunteer work and community service. 

Getting involved in your local community is a great way to show the admissions committee how you give back. 

These kinds of activities can also be a great topic for your extracurricular activities essay. They can include hobbies, learning new skills, or taking online courses in your favorite subject. 

Independent activities help showcase your passions and interests. These types of extracurricular activities would be perfect to explore in an extracurricular supplemental essay, especially since they fit less neatly into the activities list on the Common App. 

Many high school students have work experiences they can highlight in their college applications. Work experiences could include part-time jobs, internships, or shadowing opportunities. 

Talking about your work experiences in your extracurricular supplemental essay can be a great way to show off your time management and professional skills to admissions officers. 

Depth over breadth

However, you don’t have to participate in dozens of extracurricular activities to stand out in the college application process. It’s more important to develop depth than breadth in your extracurriculars to showcase your commitment and dedication.

In other words, it’s much more impressive for you to have a handful of extracurricular activities on your resume that you are deeply committed to than a long list of clubs and organizations that you don’t care about. 

The best extracurricular activities for you will be the ones that match your interests and goals. Don’t just join every club at your school to fill out your resume. Instead, seek out extracurricular activities where you can explore your interests, learn new things, and grow over time. 

Writing about Extracurricular Activities for College

Now that we’ve explored some extracurricular activity options that will be perfect for your extracurricular activities essay, let’s discuss how to write about your extracurricular activities on your college applications. 

Most schools use a holistic process to review college applications. This means that they will evaluate you based on your entire candidate profile . This includes test scores , GPA , essays , and extracurricular activities.

Because more students are applying to colleges than ever before, you’ll want to do everything you can to stand out in your college applications. Writing about your extracurricular activities for college can help show the admissions committee who you are, what’s important to you, and what makes you a unique applicant. 

Focus on the narrative

Use the extracurricular activities essay to tell a story about your experience. You can describe what it felt like, what it looked like, or how it helped you learn more about your own interests and goals.

When you are writing about your extracurricular activities for college, you’ll want to provide specific details about the type, length, and responsibilities of your involvements. If you’re unsure where to start, try making a list of all the extracurricular activities you have participated in since freshman year. Write down the role you had in this activity, how much time you spent doing it, and what you learned because of this involvement. 

For more tips on how to write about extracurricular activities for college, check out this article . In it, you’ll find 39 essay tips from admissions experts on how to write a great college essay, including how to write about extracurricular activities for college. 

What are some examples of extracurricular activities essay prompts? 

Before we review our extracurricular activities essay examples (along with the reasons why these are college essays that worked), let’s look at the extracurricular activities essay prompts from Stanford, Rice, Bryn Mawr, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, UF, and Princeton. 

Although the general idea is the same, each college will have a slightly different version of the extracurricular activities essay prompt. You’ll see the differences in our extracurricular activities essay examples below. 

Stanford University

If you plan to apply to Stanford University, you should know that one of the Stanford supplemental essay prompts is as follows: 

Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. 

This extracurricular activities essay prompt is intentionally broad. You’ll need to select just one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences to describe in this Stanford supplemental essay. 

This Stanford supplemental essay prompt is your opportunity to showcase one of your many involvements. It also gives you a chance to elaborate on why it is important to you. If possible, select an extracurricular activity or work experience that you have not already discussed at length anywhere else in your Stanford application.

Rice University

This essay prompt on extracurriculars from Rice University is fairly straight forward. You can see the exact wording below: 

The extracurricular activities essay prompt or Rice is the same as the one for the Stanford application. Like we mentioned above, you’ll want to highlight an activity that is not mentioned elsewhere in your application. 

There are three Bryn Mawr supplemental essays that are required for admission. The first of the Bryn Mawr supplemental essays is about your extracurricular activities: 

Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences in the space below.

This prompt is the same as the ones for the Stanford application and Rice application. Our suggestions for those essays also apply for the first prompt of the Bryn Mawr supplemental essays. 

Northwestern

Here is the Northwestern essay prompt: 

Vanderbilt  

If you are applying to Vanderbilt, you should know that the Vanderbilt application requires that you answer this extracurricular activities essay prompt: 

Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences.

Both the Northwestern essay prompt and the Vanderbilt application prompt are the same as the ones for Stanford, Rice, and Bryn Mawr.

The UF application includes the following extracurricular activities essay prompt as part of the required University of Florida essays: 

During high school, what is the most enriching long-term or ongoing activity in which you have participated outside of the classroom? Tell us about it – Why is it enriching to you? What have you gained or learned by participating in it? How do you plan to continue this type of activity in the future?

Unlike the prompts for the Stanford, Rice, Bryn Mawr, Vanderbilt, and Northwestern applications, this extracurricular activities essay prompt asks you to answer direct questions about your experience. 

You’ll want to choose an activity that is the most significant, long-term activity that you have participated in during high school. Then, you’ll want to explain why it was enriching, what you learned in this activity, and how you plan to continue with this type of activity in college and beyond. 

You’ll see how to answer these questions in our extracurricular activities essay examples. 

The Princeton extracurricular activities essay prompt is as follows: 

Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences that was particularly meaningful to you.

This prompt is similar to the ones above, but it does make an important distinction. You’ll want to choose an activity that was meaningful to you, which means you will need to spend part of your essay describing why you found this experience particularly impactful. We’ll take a look at how to do this in our extracurricular activities essay examples. 

Which schools require an extracurricular activities essay? 

In addition to the extracurricular activities essay prompts we highlighted above, many colleges include an extracurricular activities essay as part of their college application requirements. 

Each of these schools’ college applications require you to write an extracurricular activities essay: 

  • Georgetown University
  • University of California schools
  • Howard University 
  • Amherst College
  • Purdue University

Even though we won’t look at extracurricular activities essay examples for these colleges, the extracurricular activities essay examples we do highlight can help give you inspiration as you work on your college applications. 

Now, it’s time to examine some extracurricular activities essay examples. Our elaborate on an extracurricular activity essay examples include Stanford essays examples, Rice supplemental essays examples, Bryn Mawr supplemental essays, Northwestern essay examples, Vanderbilt essay examples, UF supplemental essay examples, and Princeton essay examples. 

Following each of the extracurricular activities essay examples, we’ll provide an analysis on why these are college essays that worked. 

First, let’s kick off our extracurricular activities essay examples with the Stanford essays examples. 

Extracurricular Activities Essay Examples: Stanford University

Here’s the first of our elaborate on an extracurricular activity essay examples: 

Stanford Essay Examples

In February of 2016 my neighbor texted me and asked me to tutor her third grader in math. My first thought was “Third grade math?! This will be easy.” I was wrong. The girl I tutored is dyslexic and had ADHD, so working with her challenged me in a new way. I had to devise ways of teaching where she could understand it but also remain focused for long enough to accomplish it. I had to practice my patience in a way I never have before, and I have become a better person because of it. By the end of our work together, she was excited to play the math games I made up and she was so proud every time she understood a question or a concept. I am so thankful for that opportunity.

Why this essay worked

This sample of the Stanford essays examples works for several reasons. First, the author describes how the activity challenged them to come up with new ideas as a math tutor. This shows the admissions officer how thoughtful and creative this person can be in different situations. 

In this essay (one of our Stanford essays examples), the author shows how they developed key skills, like patience, through this extracurricular activity. Highlighting new skills that you have learned through your extracurricular activities is a way to stand out from the crowd.

Showcasing personal growth, like the author did above, also shows the admissions team you are willing to change and better yourself when faced with challenges. 

How To Write The Rice Supplemental Essays

Now, let’s turn to Rice supplemental essays examples. Below, you’ll see another version of the elaborate on an extracurricular activity essay examples. 

Rice Supplemental Essay Examples

With an interest in business, it is hard to pass up the chance to become a part of the business club at my school. This competition-based club allows members to learn detailed ways to start and manage a business. Although my curiosity urged me to participate, the thought of writing 30 pages with a fast-approaching deadline seemed daunting. Prior to this program, I had very little knowledge on the basic principles of business management, however, through research and a bit of persistence, I learned countless fundamentals of business. Although I was awarded a medal and recognized as a State Finalist in the International Business Plan category, the most valuable thing I earned was the drive of an entrepreneur which taught me that even the most difficult of tasks can be accomplished if they are done with continued determination. 

Getting straight to the point

This is one of our Rice supplemental essays examples. In it, the author mentions their academic interest right away. This helps the reader understand the forthcoming connection between the extracurricular activity and this person’s interests. 

If you’re working with a tight word limit, like the one in the Rice supplemental essays examples, you’ll want to be concise with your details. The Rice supplemental essays examples only give you so many words to work with, so you have to make the most of them. In this essay, the author summarizes the purpose of their extracurricular activity quickly. This provides the reader with more context about their involvement without taking up too much space. 

This is an example of college essays that worked because the author shows what they learned as a result of their involvement in this activity. This highlights the author’s potential success in a college setting. 

How To Write The Bryn Mawr Supplemental Essays 

Like the two extracurricular activities essay examples above, the Bryn Mawr supplemental essay is another version of the elaborate on an extracurricular activity essay examples. 

Bryn Mawr Essay Example

After watching my grandfather suffer from heart ailments, it was particularly meaningful to have the opportunity to conduct echocardiography research with a pediatric cardiologist. During my summer internship at a Health and Science University, I designed and built heart models to mimic hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) disease and investigate strain comparisons in a 2D and 3D model. 

Continuously designing and analyzing my own experiments has not only taught me the value of diligence, patience and replication in the laboratory setting, but it has also instilled in me the critical-thinking and problem-solving skills that will enable me to tackle difficult, and sometimes unknown, problems with sound reasoning and confidence as I serve the underrepresented to eliminate health disparities. 

This response is one of the college essays that worked for several reasons. The author of this essay explains the personal significance of this extracurricular activity. This gives the reader more information about who this person is and why this activity is meaningful to them. 

Additionally, the author uses their response to explain what they did during their internship as well as the values and skills they learned from this activity. They even go the extra mile to describe how they will use these values and skills to reach their goals in the future. 

Extracurricular Activities Essay Examples: Northwestern University

The following essay is another of our elaborate on an extracurricular activity essay examples. 

Northwestern Essay Example

After having been a Girl Scout for over 10 years, I can confirm that the most common questions I get asked are, “When are you selling the cookies,” or “Can I get [insert favorite cookie here]”. However, Girl Scouts means so much more to me than simply selling cookies for a few months.

Being a part of Girl Scouts has entailed, as the Girl Scout Law indicates, “being a sister to every Girl Scout”. When I first joined the organization as a Brownie, I didn’t think I would interact with the older girls at all. However, I soon began to admire my older Girl Scout sisters and looked up to them the more time I spent with them. As an Ambassador now, I try to show the same level of leadership by mentoring and working with younger girls, building a strong relationship with them and helping them on their journey to the higher ranks (as well as through life).

As a Girl Scout, I have also learned to enthusiastically help my community. Whether it be through providing assistance at food pantries, cleaning up litter, donating to the homeless, or singing carols in retirement homes, Girls Scouts has taught me the importance of helping others in need around me and improving the state of the world.

So, yes, being a Girl Scout does mean selling cookies. But, more importantly, Girl Scouts has meant growing into a confident young woman, being a mentor, and providing service to better the world.

Focus on depth of involvement

This sample comes from one of our Northwestern essay examples. In it, the author mentions the length of their involvement in the Girl Scouts and their progression from a junior member to a senior member. 

Like we mentioned earlier, it’s important to have extracurricular activities on your list that show depth, especially in your Northwestern application. In other words, the longer you participate in an activity, the more significant it is to your college applications. 

This is another example of college essays that worked because the author can describe how they eventually moved into a leadership role and what that new role entails. If you are a leader in your organization, be sure to mention it on your Northwestern application and in your essay. 

Finally, the author concludes with a description of who they are and what this activity has taught them. We saw similar versions of this conclusion in the extracurricular activities essay examples above, which goes to show that these are college essays that worked.  

Extracurricular Activities Essay Examples: Vanderbilt University

Next, let’s look at Vanderbilt essay examples. This essay is one of the longer samples of our extracurricular activities essay examples. Please note that the name of the program described has been removed for anonymity.

Vanderbilt Essay Examples

I silently sat in the passenger seat of my mother’s car with a churning feeling in my stomach. My legs bounced wildly, and my body was tense. My anxiety came from the fact I would be starting my first day at a pre-college program to which I was recently accepted.

When my mother dropped me off at the building where my first class would be held, I nervously walked in, surprised to be greeted by the smiling faces of my peers. Looking around, I saw faces of all shades. This amazed me, having been surrounded by people who looked like me for most of my life. As I engaged in conversation with students already present, I increasingly became more comfortable.

Though class began with typical icebreakers, we quickly transitioned into math topics, beginning with algebra and progressing into trigonometry and summations. When the professor concluded the lecture, I was shocked to find that the class had passed by so quickly. Similar sentiments arose after completing my critical thinking class in the afternoon. When my mother picked me up after that class, I enthusiastically spilled my experiences from the day.

The following six weeks of that summer (and ensuing summers) comprised of me being introduced to new perspectives. Being surrounded by peers that were different in lifestyle and socioeconomic status made me more open-minded to unfamiliar concepts and interpretations.

The brother and sisterhood I formed with my peers made me way less dependent on my twin sister and increased my confidence in my beliefs and individuality.

Additionally, being taught by university professors in rigorous subject matter instilled in me a newfound passion in exploring challenging topics. This program has assisted in developing me into a more well-rounded, cultured individual not only through exposure to a research program at the university hospital, but through enrichment activities during the school year (watching plays, attending politic and STEM-based talks, and experiencing cultural shows). Though I was initially apprehensive in applying to this program, I now look back at the program as life-altering and am thankful for the experience. Three years ago, I was just a “twin” who did well in school, however today I am an individual with my own unique views, eager to learn the endless knowledge the world has to offer me.

Unlike the extracurricular activities essay examples above, this essay puts you right in the middle of the story. This can be an effective way to grab your reader’s attention as they review your Vanderbilt application. 

Additionally, this is a great example of college essays that worked because the author describes self-growth because of their involvement. In this sample from our Vanderbilt essay examples, the writer explains the new skills they learned and details the type of experiences they had while in this extracurricular activity. 

Extracurricular Activities Essay Examples: University of Florida

Now, let’s look at UF supplemental essay examples. This essay is a little different from our previous extracurricular activities essay examples. 

This is a slightly elevated take on the elaborate on an extracurricular activity essay examples prompt. It asks you to do more than just explain your involvement in an extracurricular activity.

UF Supplemental Essay Examples

“Thaka-dhimi thaka- janu! Strike your foot higher! Sit more! Discipline yourself!”

To most, these phrases and commands would have sounded like gibberish. But to me, it meant beauty and grace. It meant dedication and determination. It invoked a sense of community and contentment. It meant Bharatantyam.

From the ripe age of 5 years old, I’ve had the opportunity to learn an Indian Classical Dance form, Bharatanatyam, from my mother. I took this opportunity seriously in tenth grade. Once I chose to commit fully to Bharatantyam, it was life changing. 

Bharatantyam has transformed me for the good as a person. Countless hours spent in practice disciplined me. Preparing mentally for a more sophisticated piece or dance item allowed me to expand my brain’s depth. From a physical standpoint, one can see that Bharatantyam is a beautiful dance that harmonizes your brain and body. 

Viewing Bharatanatyam from a scientific standpoint is what made it so much more enriching. Watching a video from my mother’s guru, I began to understand the neurological benefits of both dancing and watching Bharatantyam. Viewing that clip gave me a revolutionary idea: treating neurological diseases for senior citizens through Bharatanatyam.

I began to perform at senior assisted living facilities around my city. Many of the seniors I performed for weren’t able to even stay awake for it. While at times discouraging, small moments of joy kept me going. Every smile I received from my audience and every conversation I had with the seniors were the reasons why I kept dancing.

Now, I plan to expand this activity more at UF. Creating a non-profit in which dancers have paid performances and donate that money to neurological research institutes is how I believe I should start. With UF’s resources, I easily see this idea becoming reality.

Extracurricular activities essay prompt

With this extracurricular activities essay examples prompt, you must answer all three parts of the University of Florida essays question to complete your UF application. 

Like the extracurricular activities essay examples for Vanderbilt, this sample from our UF supplemental essay examples puts you right in the middle of the story. It starts off with a quote, grabbing the reader’s attention. This sample of the University of Florida essays also shows you the length of involvement this author had in the activity while highlighting aspects of their unique culture. 

This is one of our college essays that worked because this response details the author’s experience, growth, and future goals. On top of that, this sample from our UF supplemental essay examples further strengthens the writer’s UF application by connecting their experience to how they hope to continue this activity at UF.

Extracurricular Activities Essay Examples: Princeton University

This sample from the Princeton essay examples is the last of our college essays that worked.

Princeton Essay Examples

Serving as a Student Government leader at my college has taught me the power of student voice and collaborative leadership. During my Junior year, I began attending Senate Meetings and was elected as a Senator a few months later. I began proposing solutions to problems my college faces, from lack of STEM programming to low voter turnout rates to poor multicultural outreach programs. I created student committees to tackle these problems, the most recent being a committee working to bring a series of local STEM professionals for our artist-in-residence series. I was appointed as a student voice to faculty committees, such as the Diversity and Equity Committee. I use this position to bring student concerns I hear from SG directly to the college board to catalyze changes in our college, such as the introduction of STEM cohort groups or providing resources for students of color.

The last of our extracurricular activities essay examples mentions the activity right away. It also mentions what the activity taught the author. Like the extracurricular activities essay examples above, this response adds specific details. Moreover, the author describes the impact of their leadership role.

In addition to describing the experience itself, this essay highlights how the author implemented solutions to the problems they recognized within their community, another key skill that will be important in college. 

How To Write A Great Extracurricular Activities Essay

In our extracurricular activities essay examples, you saw different ways to write a great extracurricular activities essay. Now let’s talk about how you can use these extracurricular activities essay examples to help you write your own.

When you write your own extracurricular activities essay, be sure to refer to the extracurricular activities essay examples above. Each of the extracurricular activities essay examples highlights a different aspect of each applicant’s candidate profile—from backgrounds to passions to academic interests and goals.

Read every prompt carefully

Remember, some colleges might have different ways of approaching the extracurricular activities essay, which will be evident in the essay prompt. Like some of the extracurricular activities essay examples above, you might be working with a shorter or longer word limit. You also may have specific questions you need to address when elaborating on your extracurriculars.

There’s no specific formula on how to write a great extracurricular activities essay. However, here are a few tips to help you write a strong response that will stand out from the crowd. 

Additional Tips for Writing Extracurricular Activities Essays

Choosing which activities to write about and how to present them is key to writing a successful extracurricular activities essay. Reading some elaborate on an extracurricular activity essay examples can help you learn how to structure your own essays. You’ll likely need to write about your extracurriculars to complete your college application requirements. So, use this as a chance to show the admissions committee what matters to you. 

In this guide, we’ve reviewed extracurricular activities essay examples from some of the top colleges in the nation. We hope this helps you as you write your own extracurricular activities essay. 

Three tips to help you write your extracurricular activities essays: 

1. demonstrate your passion . .

Like we saw in the extracurricular activities essay examples, this is your opportunity to show what’s important to you. Use your essays to demonstrate your passion. 

2. Show your dedication. 

Many of our extracurricular activities essay examples discussed how long the author was involved in the activity. Show your dedication to your hobby, club, or organization through your essay responses. 

3. Match your extracurricular activities essay examples to a school’s mission or values. 

There are plenty of applicants who can fill out all the college application requirements. However, to truly stand out, you’ll want to show the admissions office why you are a great fit for their university. Match your extracurricular activities essay examples to a college’s mission or values to prove that you are committed to attending that university. 

Other CollegeAdvisor Resources on Extracurricular Activities 

If you need help figuring out how to get involved, watch our webinar for tips on how to join new extracurricular activities in high school. For more ideas on which extracurricular activities might be right for you, check out our article on 38 high school extracurricular ideas for college applicants. 

38 High School Extracurricular Ideas for College Applicants

Wondering how to showcase your extracurricular activities in your college applications? Check out our guide for more information on how to approach extracurricular activities in the college admissions process. 

How to Showcase Extracurricular Activities In Your College Applications

Finally, check out our panel for additional tips on how to craft your activity and extracurriculars list for college. 

Crafting Your Activity and Extracurriculars List

Extracurricular Activities Essay Examples – Final Thoughts 

We hope that our guide on extracurricular activities essay examples (and college essays that worked) help you prepare your own extracurricular activities essay. If an extracurricular activities essay is part of your college application requirements, be sure to refer back to our extracurricular activities essay examples for guidance.

As you likely noticed from our extracurricular activities essay examples, college essays that worked tend to highlight students’ passion. This is even more true when it comes to extracurriculars. Don’t feel daunted by the extracurricular supplemental essay requirement. Instead, use it as a chance to highlight how you engage deeply with the world around you. 

Not all prompts are the same

Remember, the prompt to your extracurricular activities essay might look different than the ones we highlighted in our extracurricular activities essay examples above. Even if your prompt is different from our ‘elaborate on an extracurricular activity essay examples’, you can still use them to brainstorm ideas for your own extracurricular activities essay. 

Do you need help with other college application requirements? CollegeAdvisor.com can help. Register today to get one-on-one support as you begin your college application process.

This article was written by Claire Babbs . Looking for more admissions support? Click here to schedule a free meeting with one of our Admissions Specialists. During your meeting, our team will discuss your profile. We will help you increase your admissions odds at top schools. We’ll also answer any questions and discuss how CollegeAdvisor.com can support you in the college application process.

Personalized and effective college advising for high school students.

  • Advisor Application
  • Popular Colleges
  • Privacy Policy and Cookie Notice
  • Student Login
  • California Privacy Notice
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Your Privacy Choices

By using the College Advisor site and/or working with College Advisor, you agree to our updated Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy , including an arbitration clause that covers any disputes relating to our policies and your use of our products and services.

essay on development activities

essay on development activities

How to Write a Strong Extracurricular Activity Essay

A female student writing a strong extracurricular essay

Written by:

Former Admissions Committee Member, Columbia University

Written: 2/12/24

Landing a seat in your dream university requires more than just showcasing your academic abilities; it's about highlighting your life beyond the books, your sources of inspiration, and the experiences that have played a crucial role in shaping your individuality.

A great way to show off your many sides is by skillfully writing an essay about your extracurricular activities. This piece of writing offers a unique opportunity for admissions officers to peek into your world outside of academics by highlighting your passions, unwavering commitment, leadership prowess, and personal evolution. 

This comprehensive guide will delve into the intricate yet rewarding process of crafting an engaging and compelling extracurricular activity essay. It helps you figure out which activities are best for you to focus on. It also gives you a bunch of interesting questions to get your creativity going.

We’ll also provide you with a curated list of extracurricular activity essay examples, Acting like a guide and a good example for you to follow as you write.

By being thoughtful, real, and creative, your essay about your outside-of-school activities could be the special thing that helps you get into the college you really want.

Keep reading to learn how to turn your passions and experiences into an engaging narrative that truly reflects who you are.

How to Choose Which Extracurricular to Write About

Selecting the most suitable extracurricular activity to write about for your college application essay requires careful consideration and introspection. Each choice holds the potential to shape the narrative of your essay and provide valuable insights into your character, values, and personal growth. 

To ensure a comprehensive exploration of this topic, let's discuss a few factors you should consider when choosing which extracurricular to focus on:

1. Personal Significance

When contemplating which extracurriculars to highlight in your essay, take the time to reflect on the experiences that have had the most profound impact on your life. Consider the activities that have shaped your character, influenced your values, and ignited your passions. 

It could be a community service project that opened your eyes to social injustices, a musical instrument that became your creative outlet, or a sports team that taught you the value of teamwork and perseverance. 

Choose an activity that resonates with you on a deeply personal level, as this will enable you to authentically convey your emotions and the growth you have experienced.

2. Depth of Involvement

While it may be tempting to showcase a long list of extracurricular activities, it is important to prioritize quality over quantity. Admissions officers are interested in understanding how deeply you are engaged with an activity, as it demonstrates commitment, dedication, and the potential for impact. 

Evaluate the level of your involvement in each activity and focus on the one where you invested significant time and effort. This could involve leadership roles, taking on challenging responsibilities, or contributing to the activity's growth and success. 

By selecting an extracurricular where you had a meaningful and substantial involvement, you can provide a more detailed and insightful account of your experiences.

3. Leadership and Initiative

If you have taken on leadership roles or demonstrated initiative within a particular extracurricular activity, it can add an extra layer of depth to your essay. Admissions officers value applicants who display leadership qualities and the drive to initiate positive change. 

Reflect on instances where you assumed leadership responsibilities, whether it was captaining a team, organizing events, or spearheading projects. Share how you influenced others, made strategic decisions, and motivated team members to achieve common goals. 

Highlight any innovative ideas or initiatives you introduced and the impact they had on the activity and its participants.

4. Unique Experiences

Consider highlighting an extracurricular activity that stands out from the crowd. While popular activities like sports or clubs can still make for compelling essays, choosing a less common or unconventional activity can help your essay stand out and capture the reader's attention. 

Think about unique experiences you have had outside the mainstream activities, such as starting a niche interest group , participating in an underrepresented sport, or pursuing an uncommon hobby. These experiences can provide a fresh perspective and reveal different aspects of your personality and interests.

5. Alignment with Your Goals

When choosing an extracurricular activity to write about, consider its alignment with your future goals and aspirations. Admissions officers are interested in understanding your passions and how you plan to pursue them in college and beyond. 

Select an activity that showcases your dedication to a particular field of study, career path, or cause. Explain how your involvement in the activity has shaped your understanding of your chosen path and provided valuable insights into the skills, knowledge, and experiences required to succeed in that area.

Demonstrate how the activity has fueled your ambition and inspired you to make a meaningful impact in the future.

6. Overcoming Challenges

Admissions officers appreciate stories of resilience and personal growth. Consider discussing an extracurricular activity in which you encountered obstacles or adversity and how you overcame them. Reflect on the challenges you faced and the strategies you employed to navigate through them. 

This could involve overcoming physical limitations, balancing demanding commitments, or addressing conflicts within the activity. By sharing the lessons you learned from these challenges, you can showcase your determination, adaptability, and problem-solving skills.

7. Diversity of Experiences

If you have been involved in multiple extracurricular activities, consider showcasing a variety of experiences to demonstrate your versatility and well-roundedness. Admissions officers value applicants who have explored different interests and engaged in diverse pursuits. 

Discuss how each activity has contributed to your personal growth and provided you with unique perspectives and skills. Show how your various involvements have influenced and complemented each other, highlighting the valuable transferable skills and insights you have gained from navigating different domains.

8. Impact on Others

Consider the impact your participation in an extracurricular activity has had on others. Admissions officers are interested in applicants who not only excel individually but also contribute to the growth and well-being of their communities. Reflect on the ways your involvement has positively influenced others. 

This could involve mentoring teammates, organizing community service projects, or supporting fellow participants. Share specific examples of how your actions have made a difference, emphasizing the values of compassion, empathy, and leadership you have demonstrated.

By considering these factors when selecting which extracurricular activity to write about, you can choose the most compelling and meaningful topic for your essay. Remember, the goal is to provide a genuine and insightful portrayal of your experiences, passions, and personal growth. 

Through thoughtful introspection and effective storytelling, you can craft an engaging and impactful essay that leaves a lasting impression on admissions officers.

Extracurricular Activities Essay Prompts

To help you kickstart your writing process, here are ten thought-provoking prompts:

1. Can you share a story of an extracurricular activity that has brought about a significant change in your life? How did it alter your outlook and contribute to your personal development?
2. Can you delve into your experience of holding a leadership role in an extracurricular activity? How has it shaped your leadership style and impacted your personality?
3. Can you narrate how an extracurricular activity influenced your future career aspirations? Can you draw connections between your pursuit and your future goals?
4. Have you ever faced a considerable challenge or failure while participating in an extracurricular activity? Can you share your journey of overcoming this challenge and the lessons it imparted?
5. Is there an extracurricular activity that has played a crucial role in your personal growth? Can you discuss this journey of transformation and the factors that contributed to it?
6. Can you elucidate on an extracurricular activity where you demonstrated a significant level of commitment and dedication over a long period of time? How did this consistent engagement contribute to your development and learning?
7. Has there been an extracurricular activity that has allowed you to step outside of your comfort zone? Can you share your experience and how this helped you grow personally and academically?
8. Is there a unique or unusual extracurricular activity that you have participated in? How has this activity contributed to showcasing your individuality and distinguishing you from others?
 9. Have you ever started or founded an extracurricular club, event, or initiative? Can you elaborate on the motivation behind it, the process, the challenges faced, and the impact it had on you and your community.
10. Is there an extracurricular activity that has enhanced your understanding of a particular subject or field of study? Can you explain how this activity has deepened your academic interest or provided practical insights beyond the classroom?

Engaging in extracurricular activities not only enriches our lives outside the classroom but also provides us with invaluable experiences and lessons that shape our character, aspirations, and worldview. 

Whether it's leading a team, overcoming challenges, or exploring new horizons, these activities offer a unique platform to discover and showcase our true potential.

Extracurricular Activity Essay Examples

To help you grasp what an outstanding extracurricular essay looks like, let's dissect two examples and analyze why they make an impact:

1. Strings of Unity: My Dance with the Violin

A woman playing the violin

Every evening, as the sun set, the mellifluous notes of my violin would resonate through our home. I was six when I first held a violin, and it felt like an extension of my soul. Over the years, I practiced diligently, mastering complex compositions and performing at numerous recitals.
However, my most cherished moments were when I played at local nursing homes. Witnessing the joy and nostalgia my music brought to the elderly was profoundly rewarding. Inspired, I initiated "Melodies for Memories," a program where young musicians performed for seniors, bridging the generational gap through music.
The violin taught me discipline, empathy, and the power of connection. It wasn't just about playing notes; it was about touching hearts and creating moments of shared joy.

Why This Essay Was Successful

Here are a few things that made this essay successful:

  • Vivid Imagery : The essay paints a beautiful picture of the writer's relationship with the violin, making it easy for readers to visualize and connect with the narrative.
  • Community Impact : By highlighting performances at nursing homes and the "Melodies for Memories" initiative, the writer showcases their commitment to community service and the positive impact of their passion.
  • Personal Growth : The essay emphasizes the values and skills gained from playing the violin, such as discipline and empathy.
  • Concluding Thoughts : The conclusion ties back to the central theme of connection and shared joy, leaving a lasting impression on the reader.

This essay effectively conveys the writer's deep connection to the instrument, showcasing personal growth, community impact, and the transformative power of music.

2. Beyond the Board: Life Lessons from Chess

A chess board

The chessboard was my battleground, a place where strategy, patience, and foresight converged. Introduced to chess at age eight, I was captivated by its intricacies and the mental agility it demanded. As I delved deeper, I realized chess was more than a game; it mirrored life's challenges and decisions.
I began teaching chess to underprivileged children in my community, hoping to equip them with critical thinking skills. Through "Checkmate Challenges," our monthly tournaments, I saw these children grow in confidence, strategy, and resilience.
Chess taught me that every move has consequences, and foresight is crucial. It reinforced the importance of patience, strategy, and learning from mistakes. Through chess, I not only honed my cognitive skills but also discovered the joy of mentoring and making a difference.

This essay was successful because it included:

  • Engaging Start : The essay begins with a powerful statement, drawing readers into the world of chess and its significance to the writer.
  • Community Involvement : The writer's initiative to teach chess to underprivileged children showcases their dedication to community upliftment and the broader impact of their passion.
  • Life Lessons : The essay effectively draws parallels between chess and life, highlighting the invaluable lessons the writer has derived from the game.
  • Concluding Reflection : The conclusion emphasizes the dual benefits of chess: personal growth and the joy of mentoring.

Both essays effectively communicate the writers' passions and the profound impact these activities have had on their personal growth and community involvement.

FAQs: Extracurricular Activities Essay

Writing about your hobbies for an essay? Here are some common questions and answers to help you out.

1. How Do You Write an Extracurricular Essay with a Word Count of 150 Words?

Crafting an extracurricular activity essay with a 150-word limit is both a test of your brevity and your ability to make a powerful impact. To start, you need to isolate a singular, significant moment or achievement from your chosen activity. 

This should be something that is both personally meaningful and serves as a representative snapshot of your broader involvement. Then, hook your reader right from the first sentence, making them intrigued to learn more about your story. 

You might paint a vivid picture, share a quick anecdote, or open with an interesting question. Afterward, give the reader a brief context or backstory about the activity to ground your story. This is where you quickly explain what the activity is and why it matters to you. 

Next, it's time to dive into the crux of your essay—your specific role and the impact it had. Highlight the challenges faced, the initiatives you took, and the results achieved. Be careful to maintain clarity and brevity, avoiding unnecessary details that could detract from your central message. 

Finally, wrap up your essay by tying your specific experience to a broader theme, value, or life lesson, which serves to highlight the significance of your involvement beyond the activity itself.

2. How Long Should an Extracurricular Essay be?

The length of an essay can fluctuate depending on specific application instructions. However, most of them hover in the range of 150-300 words. Regardless of the word limit, remember that clarity and conciseness are your guiding principles. 

Every sentence you write should serve a specific purpose, contributing meaningfully to your overarching narrative and effectively portraying a holistic picture of you as an individual. Avoid fluff or filler content, instead focusing on delivering a tightly woven narrative that showcases your passions, commitments, and personal growth.

3. Can an Extracurricular Activity Essay Focus on More Than One Activity?

While you can mention multiple activities, it is generally better to focus on one that has had the most significant impact on you. This allows you to provide a deeper, more detailed account, revealing valuable insights about your character, passions, and learnings.

Writing an exceptional extracurricular activities essay is a journey that requires introspection, authenticity, and excellent storytelling. As you embark on this journey, remember, the goal is to bring to light not just what you did, but who you are as a person, showcasing the experiences that have enriched your life. 

So, start reflecting on your experiences, unleash your creativity, and let your story resonate with the admissions officers.

4. Why Do Colleges Require Extracurricular Essays?

Colleges require extracurricular essays because they offer a more rounded view of applicants, going beyond mere academic accomplishments. Admissions officers want to understand who you are outside the classroom.

They're interested in your passions, long-term commitments, leadership experiences, and personal growth—all aspects that may not be apparent from your grades or test scores alone. 

5. How Do I Write About Extracurricular Activities in a Personal Statement?

When it comes to incorporating extracurricular activities into your personal statement, the goal is seamless integration that enhances your overall narrative. It's important to discuss the activity in a way that highlights not just what you did, but also how it contributed to your personal growth and future ambitions.

Elaborate on your involvement, detailing the specific roles you took on, the challenges you faced, and the skills you've gained. Then, explore how these experiences tie into your personal evolution and future goals.

Final Thoughts

Writing an extracurricular activity essay is more than just recounting what you did; it's about sharing a slice of your life that speaks volumes about your character, passions, and growth. It's about crafting a narrative that not only shares your experiences but also provides a window into the person you've become as a result. 

Whether you're speaking about the time you spent backstage in theater productions, the hours you dedicated to the robotics club, or the weekends you spent volunteering at a local shelter, remember that the best essays are those that are authentic and come from the heart. 

Use this opportunity to let your experiences shape your story, let your passions shine through, and let your unique voice echo in the admissions officer's mind. 

It is your experiences that make you unique, and it is this uniqueness that can make you stand out in the sea of applicants. So, embrace your individuality and let it guide your journey as you write.

First name, vector icon of a person

Get A Free Consultation

You may also like.

The SAT Grammar Rules Cheat Sheet

The SAT Grammar Rules Cheat Sheet

125+ Persuasive Speech Topics To Amaze Your Audience

125+ Persuasive Speech Topics To Amaze Your Audience

essay on development activities

Become a Writer Today

Essays About Development: Top 5 Examples and 10 Prompts

Would you like to develop your writing skills? Our essays about development plus enriching prompts can help with this goal. 

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “constant development is the law of life.” Hence, the best way to succeed in life is to conform to this law. Once we do, we embrace the vast opportunities and surprises in the never-ending development cycle. Development, whether within ourselves, in a certain field, or the greater world we live in, requires allocating various resources in the form of time, action, and even financial capital. 

5 Essay Examples

1. why intersectional feminism matters for development by aviva stein, 2. how video games are made: the game development process by nadia stefyn, 3. why industrial development matters now more than ever before by li yong, 4. bangladesh really is a climate success story by joyashree roy, 5. what role does culture play in development by augusto lopez-claros, 1. my personal development goals, 2. importance of socialization in childhood development, 3. effects of the digital age on intellectual development, 4. economic growth vs. economic development, 5. united nations’ sustainable development goals, 6. urban development, 7. keeping pace with technological development, 8. winning strategies for career development, 9. challenges and perks of a business development manager, 10. education in development.

“Using an intersectional feminist lens to dig deeper into the factors that affect and hinder efforts for equality also allows us as development professionals to design programs, interventions, and support systems that aim to dismantle systems of inequality.”

This essay looks into intersectional feminism and the importance of inclusion. “Intersectional” means recognizing how different people live different experiences. Integrating an intersectional lens in feminist development work enables experts to design and implement programs that address inequality effectively. You might also be interested in these essays about bad habits .

“Much like a production line, the game development pipeline helps organize the flow of work so that everyone knows what they need to deliver and when. The pipeline also helps manage the game development timeline and budget, reducing inefficiencies and bottlenecks.”

This essay walks readers through the video game development process while also introducing the different critical players of the ecosystem. Overall, the piece provides budding game developers with a comprehensive resource on the basics of the industry. 

“Economists of the 20th century noted that a thriving industrial sector was crucial to the development of a modern economy, and in 2010, Cambridge economist Ha-Joon Chang observed that development without industrialization is like Shakespeare’s Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark.”

Creating a narrative out of data, this essay underscores the need to push for industrialization to further economies’ development. It sheds light on the myriad benefits of manufacturing on social development but also confronts the environmental challenges of the sector. 

Looking for more? Check out these essays about empathy and essays about gratitude .

“In the 50 years since the Bhola cyclone, the nation has carved out a path to development thanks to natural gas. Turning away from that path precipitously would strand the nation’s fossil-fuel assets and undermine its hard-won sovereignty and development gains.”

The essay demonstrates the determination of Bangladesh to bounce back from one of the deadliest cyclones in history. Now the fastest-growing economy in South Asia, Bangladesh marks a unique development journey that runs against the popular belief of patterning development strategies after those of more developed countries in the West. You might also like these essays about your mom .

“Development is not only about reducing poverty and expanding opportunities against the background of rising incomes. It is also in a very fundamental way about adopting a set of values that are compatible with humanity’s moral development.”

Integrating culture in discussions about development has been a longstanding challenge. But this essay points out that we might have been misled to categorize some development factors as cultural and, as a result, missed out on the proper way to resolve problems at their roots.

10 Unique Writing Prompts On Essays About Development

Whether it be acquiring a second language or graduating college with flying colors, use this essay to discuss your personal development goals and proudly share your progress in putting them into action. And then, write a commitment to keep sight of your personal development goals and what you think you should do more to achieve them in the most efficient way you can.

Essays About Development: Importance of socialization in childhood development

Socialization helps kids learn how to take turns and manage conflicts that arise from their play and interactions with other kids. Look for the latest research studies that show how the development of social skills relates to a child’s overall physical, intellectual, and emotional development.

Then, list the challenges in helping kids socialize more, given how gadgets are becoming a kid’s best friend for entertainment. Finally, include solutions and consider how society can encourage kids to have positive socialization experiences.

Digital technologies have certainly enabled wide-scale access to information and data that can expand our horizons. However, they also discourage the exercise of cognitive and analytical skills because the information is served on a silver platter. 

For this writing prompt, list the pros and cons of digital technologies in improving thinking skills and take the time to assess how each affects our intellectual development, including relevant studies to support your arguments. 

In this essay, aim to find out whether economic growth and economic development are independent or inextricably linked, such that economic development is not possible without economic growth and vice versa. 

For this, you can turn to the innovative insights of economists Simon Kuznets and Joseph Schumpeter. The creation of the Human Development Index is also worth delving into as it is one of the most ambitious metrics that emerged to measure the economy beyond the national income accounting framework . 

The United Nations has 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in September 2015 and targeted to be attained by 2030 to end global poverty while addressing issues such as inequality and climate change. 

In your essay, explain these goals, their origins, and their relevance to today’s challenges. Then find out whether it is on track through the latest SDG report . You can also pick just one SDG close to your personal and get updates on the world’s progress in realizing this goal. Dive into politics in this essay and determine if the UN is on track and adhering to its promises.

True urban development can happen only if security, sanitation, and climate resilience are part of the equation. In this essay, outline the challenges of balancing rapid urbanization with the need to provide people with a decent environment for living. 

Expound on the importance of urban development in reducing poverty. Finally, underscores the enormous role city governments have in steering urban development through a human-centric approach. 

We hear about incredible technological advancements every day, but there has been little development in the regulatory sphere. Elaborate on policy and lawmakers’ challenges in coping with nimble tech companies. 

Some primary challenges include the extraordinary complexity of technologies and the long period it takes to pass a law. In your writing, offer insights into how the government and private sector can join hands and balance strict regulations and self-regulation. 

Career development is the journey of finding your place in the professional world. Flesh out the importance of having a career development game plan and how to implement them. Then take a glimpse at the sea shift in career development amid our present VUCA world. Specifically, analyze how younger professionals are carving out their careers and how companies design professional development plans within a VUCA environment. 

With the fierce competition in today’s markets, how should business development managers think and act to drive their company’s sales growth? Strive to answer this by researching business journals and news articles to discover today’s most pressing challenges business development managers face. But also look on the bright side to flesh out the job’s pros, such as gaining new experiences and expanding your connections. 

Essays About Development: Education in development

This writing prompt highlights the critical role of schools in a child’s overall development and what teaching techniques are proven to be most effective in training a child. To expand your essay, add COVID-19’s long-term debilitating impact on human capital development and how this translates to economic losses. Then, write about the lessons teachers and parents can learn from the pandemic to arrest future global disruptions from affecting the accessibility, delivery, and quality of education.

Tip: When editing for grammar, we also recommend improving the readability score of a piece before publishing or submitting it. If you’d like more help with your essays, check out our round-up of the best essay checkers .

essay on development activities

Yna Lim is a communications specialist currently focused on policy advocacy. In her eight years of writing, she has been exposed to a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, web hosting, agriculture, marketing, intellectual property, data privacy and international trade. A former journalist in one of the top business papers in the Philippines, Yna is currently pursuing her master's degree in economics and business.

View all posts

Logo

Essay on Youth Development

Students are often asked to write an essay on Youth Development in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Youth Development

Understanding youth development.

Youth Development is a process where young people are encouraged to grow their skills, self-confidence, and independence. It’s about helping them become responsible adults.

The Importance of Youth Development

Youth Development is crucial as it prepares the young generation for future challenges. It promotes positive behaviors, making them responsible citizens.

Methods of Youth Development

Methods include education, sports, arts, and community service. These activities help youths learn important life skills.

The Role of Society

Society plays a key role in Youth Development. Parents, teachers, and community members should support and guide young people.

Also check:

  • 10 Lines on Youth Development

250 Words Essay on Youth Development

Introduction.

Youth development is a critical aspect of societal evolution, encompassing the physical, mental, and emotional growth of young individuals. It is a process that lays the foundation for a prosperous and sustainable future, shaping the trajectory of an entire generation.

Role of Education

Education plays a pivotal role in youth development. It not only imparts knowledge but also fosters critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills. The integration of technology in education can further enhance learning experiences, preparing youth for a rapidly evolving digital world.

Social and Emotional Development

Social and emotional development is equally important. It helps young individuals understand and manage their emotions, develop empathy, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. This multifaceted development is crucial in fostering resilience and adaptability.

Importance of Extracurricular Activities

Extracurricular activities offer opportunities for holistic development. Participating in sports, arts, and community service can help youth discover their passions, develop leadership skills, and understand the importance of teamwork and community engagement.

In conclusion, youth development is a multifaceted process that requires a balanced approach, focusing on education, social and emotional development, and extracurricular activities. It is the collective responsibility of families, educators, and communities to invest in youth development, shaping a generation capable of facing future challenges and driving societal progress.

500 Words Essay on Youth Development

Youth development is a critical aspect of societal progression, involving the nurturing of young individuals’ intellectual, physical, and emotional capacities. It is an ongoing process that helps young people gain the skills and competencies they need to grow into successful and contributing adults.

Youth development is a significant investment in the future. It is the process through which adolescents acquire the cognitive, social, and emotional skills and abilities required to navigate life. The importance of youth development cannot be overstated. It is crucial for the personal growth of the youth and the overall development of society.

Key Components of Youth Development

Youth development programs typically focus on a variety of components. These include education, physical health, mental health, and social skills. Education is a fundamental aspect, equipping young people with the knowledge and skills needed to excel in life. Physical health is equally important, promoting healthy habits that can last a lifetime. Mental health, often overlooked, is vital for emotional well-being and resilience. Social skills, such as communication and teamwork, are essential for establishing and maintaining relationships.

The Role of Society in Youth Development

Society plays a pivotal role in youth development. Parents, educators, and community members can contribute to the growth and development of young people. They can provide supportive environments, opportunities for learning, and positive role models. They can also help to identify and address any challenges that may hinder a young person’s development.

Challenges in Youth Development

Despite the importance of youth development, there are numerous challenges that can hinder its progress. These include poverty, inadequate education, mental health issues, and societal pressures. Addressing these challenges requires concerted efforts from individuals, communities, and governments.

The Future of Youth Development

Looking forward, it is imperative to continue investing in youth development. Innovations in technology and education provide new opportunities for growth and learning. Additionally, increased awareness about mental health can lead to better support systems for young people. By fostering a culture that values and supports youth development, we can ensure a brighter future for our young people and society as a whole.

In conclusion, youth development is a crucial aspect of societal growth and progression. It involves nurturing the intellectual, physical, and emotional capacities of young people, preparing them for successful adulthood. Despite the challenges, the future of youth development is promising, with new opportunities emerging from technological and educational advancements. As a society, we must continue to invest in our youth, recognizing their potential and providing them with the resources they need to thrive.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

  • Essay on Slum Area Development
  • Essay on Rural Development
  • Essay on Human Development

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Development in Composition: Building an Essay

Learning to support your main ideas with pertinent details

 Lisbeth Hjort/Getty Images

  • An Introduction to Punctuation
  • Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
  • M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
  • B.A., English, State University of New York

In composition , development (also known as elaboration ) is the process of adding informative and illustrative details to support the main idea in a paragraph or essay . Paragraphs and essays can be developed in many different ways. In conventional composition courses, the following patterns of exposition are often presented as the standard methods of development in expository writing :

Observations on Development

"[The] methods of development aren't empty jugs to pour full of any old, dull words. Neither are they straitjackets woven by fiendish English teachers to pin your writing arm to your side and keep you from expressing yourself naturally. The methods are tools for achieving your purpose in writing, whatever that purpose may be. They can help you discover what you know, what you need to know, how to think critically about your subject, and how to shape your writing." —From "The Bedford Reader" by X.J. and Dorothy M. Kennedy

The Importance of Providing Supporting Details

"Possibly the most serious—and most common—weakness of all essays by novice writers is the lack of effectively developed body paragraphs . The information in each paragraph must adequately explain, exemplify, define, or in some other way support your topic sentence . Therefore, you must include enough supporting information or evidence in each paragraph to make your readers understand your topic sentence. Moreover, you must make the information in the paragraph clear and specific enough for the readers to accept your ideas." —From "Steps to Writing Well" by Jean Wyrick

Body-Building

"What the opening of an essay promises, the body of the essay must deliver. This is known as 'developing your ideas,' but I like to use a body-building metaphor because it implies adding not just bulk to a framework, but musculature. In other words, good essay development strengthens , not merely fills out. . . .
"What is the best way to reinforce the main idea of your essay? You can do some by making good use of any combination of the following six methods of development:
  • Classification and Division
  • Example, case-in-point
  • Characterization ,  dialogue
"By using these bodybuilding elements, you are telling your readers, 'I don't expect you to take my word for these claims ; I want you to see for yourself!" —From "LifeWriting: Drawing from Personal Experience to Create Features You Can Publish" by Fred D. White

Multiple Patterns of Development

"Although most short papers may employ one primary pattern with other patterns woven throughout, longer papers may have two or more primary patterns of development . For example, if you are writing a paper on the causes and effects of child abuse in the foster care system, you might, after the causal analysis, shift the primary focus of the essay to prevention, thus continuing the essay with a process analysis of what the state might do to prevent child abuse. Then you might end the essay by addressing the objections from those defending the system, shifting the focus of the essay to argumentation .
"Your decision to include other primary patterns depends on your purpose and audience . Your thesis makes your purpose clear to your reader. Then as you develop your essay, you may integrate other patterns into your paragraphs." —From "Bridges to Better Writing" by Luis Nazario, Deborah Borchers, and William Lewis

Further Resources

  • Cause and Effect
  • Comparison and Contrast
  • Current-Traditional Rhetoric
  • Extended Definition
  • Models of Composition
  • Process Analysis
  • Kennedy, X.J.; Kennedy, Dorothy M. "The Bedford Reader," Seventh Edition. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000
  • White, Fred D. "LifeWriting: Drawing from Personal Experience to Create Features You Can Publish." Quill Driver Books, 2004
  • Nazario, Luis; Borchers, Deborah; Lewis, William; "Bridges to Better Writing. Wadsworth." 2010
  • Unity in Composition
  • Understanding Organization in Composition and Speech
  • Definition and Examples of Body Paragraphs in Composition
  • What Is Expository Writing?
  • 6 Steps to Writing the Perfect Personal Essay
  • How to Structure an Essay
  • Paragraph Writing
  • The Five Steps of Writing an Essay
  • Definition and Examples of Paragraphing in Essays
  • An Essay Revision Checklist
  • Writers on Writing: The Art of Paragraphing
  • How To Write an Essay
  • The Ultimate Guide to the 5-Paragraph Essay
  • Understanding General-to-Specific Order in Composition
  • Definition and Examples of Analysis in Composition

essay on development activities

25,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. Take the first step today

Meet top uk universities from the comfort of your home, here’s your new year gift, one app for all your, study abroad needs, start your journey, track your progress, grow with the community and so much more.

essay on development activities

Verification Code

An OTP has been sent to your registered mobile no. Please verify

essay on development activities

Thanks for your comment !

Our team will review it before it's shown to our readers.

Leverage Edu

  • School Education /

Essay on Social Development: Sample Essays for Students in 100, 200, and 300 Words

' src=

  • Updated on  
  • Feb 15, 2024

Essay on Social Development

Essay on Social Development: Social development entails enhancing the quality of life for all members of society to enable them to achieve their utmost potential. The prosperity of a community is intertwined with the welfare of each individual. Social development involves dedicating resources to empower individuals. It necessitates eliminating obstacles to ensure that every citizen can pursue their aspirations with assurance and respect. Also, it helps each person gravitate towards self-reliance.

essay on development activities

Also Read: Essay on Waste Management

Table of Contents

  • 1 Essay on Social Development in 100 words
  • 2 Essay on Social Development in 200 words
  • 3.1 Benefits of Social Development
  • 3.2 Ways to Encourage Social Development

Essay on Social Development in 100 words

Over time, humans go through a lot of developmental stages. One of the most important ones is social development. It helps students develop a sense of self-perception, which helps them expand their academic and social prospects. This will directly affect how students learn, and how they overcome any obstacles that may befall them and will help them in getting success in the classroom. 

Teachers play a crucial role in social development as their actions help sculpt how students treat others. They can create a positive environment where everyone feels respected. This will not only help students learn social skills, but they will also learn to respect others. 

Also Read: Essay on Athletics in 100, 200, 300 Words for Students

Essay on Social Development in 200 words

Social development can be defined as the different changes in the social as well as emotional skills all through the life of an individual including childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. There are a lot of factors that have an impact on the social development of a child. There are a lot of factors that can shape social development such as parents, peer pressure, etc. Children who can interact with others easily can have more confidence and higher self-esteem. This will in turn have a positive impact on their mental well-being.

Social development also plays a crucial role in the development of language. Those children who engage in social interaction at an early stage have better language skills . They can communicate better and express themselves properly. They are also able to form friends easily which can lead to their social identities being formed easily. One way of adding to the positive development of personal capabilities is to encourage sharing as well as cooperation among the students. By helping the students develop such concepts we are encouraging them to understand different emotions such as empathy, responsibility, etc. 

Thus, social development is a very important aspect that should be given proper attention because it can lead to a lot of positive impact on children making them positive individuals.

Also Read: Essay on My Hobby

Essay on Social Development in 300 words

Social development is a very crucial aspect of one’s life. Especially in the years of early development, it plays an important role in shaping the personalities and future relations of a child. This includes learning to communicate properly and to share. For parents, it is very important to understand the value of social development for their child’s overall development. 

In the early childhood year, social development is a gradual process that helps a child understand how to interact with others and develop a sense of self concerning others. Social development includes communication, conflict resolution, empathy, etc. These are the skills that help understand one’s own emotions along with those of others and a child build meaningful relations and navigate the social world around them. Social development lays the foundation of cognitive development as well. 

Benefits of Social Development

The benefits to social development are as follows:

  • It helps in improving the learning abilities of children. Strong social skills make them more engaged in the learning process. Hence, they can perform better in their academics. 
  • Social development helps in building self-esteem. Good social skills will automatically result in high self-esteem. This in turn will have a positive impact on mental health. 
  • Social development helps in developing a positive attitude towards the situations of life. Children become more optimistic and thus have a positive mindset. 

Ways to Encourage Social Development

One of the best ways to encourage social development is by fostering positive relationships. This can include interacting with others, engaging in social activities, etc. Better communication can also help in better social development after all use of language is an important way of communicating and expressing oneself. Also, promoting positive interactions can contribute to better social development. 

Social development should not be neglected because. It is that aspect of life that in itself, includes a lot of valuable skills. Those skills not only teach how to be social, but they also help an individual to form a unique personality. 

Also Read: ✍️Essay on Humanity in 100 to 300 Words

Related Reads:

Ans. Social development can be defined as the different changes in the social as well as emotional skills all through the life of an individual including childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

Ans: Social development is a very important aspect that should be given proper attention because it can lead to a lot of positive impact on children making them positive individuals. Social development should not be neglected because, in itself, it includes a lot of valuable skills. Those skills not only teach how to be social, but they also help an individual to form a unique personality. 

Ans: “Lev Vygotsky” is the father of Social Development.

This brings us to the end of our blog on Essay on Social Development. Hope you find this information useful. For more information on such informative topics for your school, visit our essay writing and follow Leverage Edu.

' src=

Deepansh Gautam

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Contact no. *

essay on development activities

Connect With Us

essay on development activities

25,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. Take the first step today.

essay on development activities

Resend OTP in

essay on development activities

Need help with?

Study abroad.

UK, Canada, US & More

IELTS, GRE, GMAT & More

Scholarship, Loans & Forex

Country Preference

New Zealand

Which English test are you planning to take?

Which academic test are you planning to take.

Not Sure yet

When are you planning to take the exam?

Already booked my exam slot

Within 2 Months

Want to learn about the test

Which Degree do you wish to pursue?

When do you want to start studying abroad.

January 2024

September 2024

What is your budget to study abroad?

essay on development activities

How would you describe this article ?

Please rate this article

We would like to hear more.

Have something on your mind?

essay on development activities

Make your study abroad dream a reality in January 2022 with

essay on development activities

India's Biggest Virtual University Fair

essay on development activities

Essex Direct Admission Day

Why attend .

essay on development activities

Don't Miss Out

Home — Essay Samples — Nursing & Health — Physical Exercise — The Importance of Sports and Outdoor Activities for Children’s Development

test_template

The Importance of Sports and Outdoor Activities for Children’s Development

  • Categories: Childhood Development Children Physical Exercise

About this sample

close

Words: 1196 |

Published: May 7, 2019

Words: 1196 | Pages: 3 | 6 min read

Table of contents

Physical development, in retrospect, baseball and softball.

  • Helps build physical strength.
  • Improves hand to eye coordination.
  • Teaches balance.
  • Creates discipline.
  • Build teamwork skills.
  • Develop leadership skills.
  • Cardiovascular endurance.
  • Increases muscle strength.
  • Improves flexibility and coordination skills.
  • Brings balance and helps to control weight.
  • Teaches to be disciplined and builds sense of teamwork.
  • Leadership and fairness attributes.
  • Boosts self-esteem.
  • Helps to strengthen legs.
  • Improves Balance.
  • Physical fitness and exercise.
  • Maintains weight control.
  • Teaches discipline and self esteem.
  • Sense of community.
  • Helps with family bonding and gives a sense of freedom.
  • Environmental awareness

Walking Works Too

  • Helps bring balance.
  • Great coordination.
  • Leg strength and weight control.
  • The feeling of freedom.
  • Raises self-esteem.
  • Creates an awareness for the environment along with family bonding.

Emotional Advancement

Social advancement, mental advancement.

Image of Alex Wood

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

  • 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
  • Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

author

Dr. Karlyna PhD

Verified writer

  • Expert in: Psychology Life Nursing & Health

writer

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

2 pages / 736 words

4 pages / 1694 words

5 pages / 2350 words

2 pages / 713 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

The Importance of Sports and Outdoor Activities for Children’s Development Essay

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Physical Exercise

Today’s society is one that puts great emphasis on competition. It isn’t okay to come in last or come in second. For many, a true win is when you come in first place. From early childhood, children are taught that it is [...]

Climbing as a sport displays many different physiological demands, it relies on both aerobic and anaerobic alactic energy systems due to the short but high-intensity duration nature of the sport. Because of the strength and [...]

Solutions of turning the lifestyle from sedentary to active is that we should first set the environmental issues that how is our lifestyle and how we spend our day at office or work station. So the office management should [...]

Depo-Provera is a brand name for Medroxyprogesterone acetate, a female contraceptive injection that contains progestin hormone. Ideally called the injection or DP, it was approved in 1992 by the Federal Drug Administration as a [...]

Researchers knew that effort intensity is a major factor in setting up an exercise program, and while studies have been conducted on land environment, such as running, field sports, etc. there are different results in aquatic [...]

Greta Christina has looked at it from different scenarios in trying to provide a specific definition of sex. She begins by giving her previous sexual experiences, starting from her sexual relationship with men to a point where [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

  • Instructions Followed To The Letter
  • Deadlines Met At Every Stage
  • Unique And Plagiarism Free

essay on development activities

essay on development activities

  • Irish Writers Services
  • Childcare Assignments
  • Care Skills Fetac Level 5
  • Care Support Assignment Example
  • Care Assistant
  • QQI Child Development
  • Early Childhood Education
  • Special Need Assistant (SNA)
  • Nursing & Healthcare Assignments
  • Help With Marketing Assignment
  • Law Assignment Help
  • Essay Writing Services
  • Homework Writing Assistance

Dissertation Help

  • Thesis Writing Help
  • Research Paper Writing Service
  • Proofreading & Editing

Coursework Help

  • Ghost Writing
  • Report Writing
  • Skills Demonstration
  • SNA learner Record Sample
  • Care of Older Person
  • Care Skills Assignment Dementia
  • Work Experience Diary Fetac Level 5
  • SNA Level 6 Sample
  • Palliative Care Learner Record
  • Occupational Health and Safety Assignment
  • Infection Prevention And Control Learner
  • Social Care Worker Job Description Sample
  • Holistic Development of the Child Essay
  • Child Development Observations Fetac Level 6
  • Care Support Learner Record Sample
  • Review 4.9/5
  • Human Development Activities for College Students Ireland

Study human development activities and prepare for career goals

Interactive human development activities are not new for the students of a college; still, many universities lack in introducing the students to such activities. The students of Ireland can enhance their learning skills through open-minded questions. It is because open-minded questions come under the human development activities which require proper planning along with productive discussions.

Along with open-minded questions, some other human development activities are efficient for college students. The essay writing task on human development activities helps the students to ensure that they are seeking the right career opportunities. The students get a chance to examine the necessary stages of human psychology as well as emotional development while studying for human development activities.

Study human development activities and prepare for career goals

As a part of the human development activities, the students can brainstorm the emotional, physical, and social development milestones of human beings. The students can explore the real world and the opportunities of interacting with the development activities. In addition to it, the students of Ireland can identify whether each milestone is a combination of physical and social development, or they are interacting with the two separate terms.

In today’s time, it has become necessary for every student of graduation, post-graduation, or doctorate to get associated with suitable human development activities. The concept of essay writing on human development activities provides the students with practical knowledge related to human emotions and development.

Importance of introducing human development activities to Irish students

The first part of the essay on human development consists of the impact of development activities on adolescents and children as well. Through the interaction with the human development activities, the students can get to know about the individual difference along with the identification of the disabilities faced by the children with special needs . The students of Ireland get a chance to address the developmental issues along with human growth activities. Some of the significant outcomes gained by the students during the essay writing paper on human development activities include:

  • The students become capable of defining human development plus growth correctly. Even the students become able to explain the impact of learning and teaching successfully.
  • The essay writing on human development makes the students familiar with the theories of child development. The students learn how the research on human development activities supports effective theories and how it gets applied to improve their learning capability.
  • It becomes easy for the students of Ireland to state efficient learning goals throughout the course of human development. The students can take participate in such human development activities, which make a positive difference in the lives of children.
  • Human development activities may include interactions that are emotionally, physically, or socially relevant. The students need to identify the proper criteria for evaluating a meaningful and efficient essay on the importance of human development activities.
  • The students can learn a lesson that explains the entails of human growth and development. By conducting in-depth educational research , the students can introduce the readers to the primary purpose of interacting with social development activities.

Hire an Irish Assignment Writer to Write your Essay, Thesis & Other Academic Papers

Discussion as human development activities for college students

Change and growth is the fact of life which can be emotionally, physically, or socially. When the students get introduced to the human development activities, then firstly, they come to know about the changes in the environment. Discussion is one such practical human development activity that facilitates learning despite any stress due to developmental change. The students of Ireland who interact and have great discussions with people they meet or with their surroundings have a healthy perspective.

Moreover, the analysis does not mean judgment. Instead, the students need to identify and explain their point of view by discussing it with others. It is a part of human development activities that help the students to consider the differences between being socially active and inactive.

The students must be a part of the discussions through which they can study other’s points of view. The students of Ireland can study human growth and development activities while preparing for an essay on it where they determine positive changes. The students can answer questions related to human development and experiences.

Even the readers can learn about the work highlighted by the students through their human development activities essay. Educational psychology is one of the vital divisions of psychology which gets involved with human development activities to make the students understand with nature of learning, motivation, diversity, and development.

Learning theories as to human development activities

Learning theories generally provide the students with knowledge of having different but positive opinions. The students of Ireland can get acknowledgment about the learning behavior and results in the change in human development by preparing an essay on human development activities. Mainly, learning is the process of forming connections between the responses and stimuli.

The students need to focus on the outputs of the learning process involved in human development activities. It can be a social learning process or cognitive learning as a part of human development activities. The students have to focus on human development activity with attention and robust ideas.

Scared with Looming Deadline, Buy Plagiarism Free Paper Writing Services Now

Get reliable writing help for writing an essay on human development activities

The students can trust the reliable online writing help for essay provided by expert writers of Ireland. IrelandAssignmentHelp.com is one of the trustworthy and well-known online writing organizations which provide students with efficient essay writing services. The essay writing help provided to students is available at cheap prices. With the help of plagiarism-free essays, students can submit original work to their colleges.

It helps in making a good impression in front of their professors. The students can enhance their academic grades as well as knowledge by hiring a team of expert writers. It is easy to pay and get proficient writing services at affordable prices from an experienced team of writers.

  • 5N2668 Exercise and Fitness (QQI Level 5) Assignments
  • MH5001 Health Literacy for Health and Social Care Settings UCC Assignment Sample Ireland
  • NU5086 Complementary Therapies in Healthcare UCC Assignment Sample Ireland
  • GP5103 Fundamentals of CVD in Primary Care UCC Assignment Sample Ireland
  • FS6208 Cheese Science and Technology UCC Assignment Sample Ireland
  • CPD1707 Communication and Hearing in Paediatric and Adult Populations UCC Assignment Sample Ireland
  • STN1104 Early Intervention for People developing First Episode Psychosis Assignment Sample NUI Galway Ireland
  • STN1103 Assessing and managing Individuals Following Deliberate Self-Harm Assignment Sample NUIG Ireland
  • STN1102 Introduction to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Assignment Sample NUI Galway Ireland
  • STN1101 Therapeutic Communication Assignment Sample NUI Galway Ireland
  • STN1108 Recovery Orientated Mental Health Care Assignment Sample NUI Galway Ireland
  • National Healthy Childhood Nurture Programmes Essay Sample
  • Pre School Setting Hygiene Ireland Essay Sample
  • Regulatory Landscape Pharmaceutical Businesses Essay Sample
  • National Dementia Strategy Ireland

Ask Your Homework Today!

We have over 2500 academic writers ready and waiting to help you achieve academic success

Assignment Help Services

Homework Help

Essay Writing Help

Case Study Help

Law Assignment

Thesis Help

Ghost Writing Help

Contact Our Experienced Writing Team For Quality Writing Support

essay on development activities

It's your first order ?

Use discount code IAH15 and get 15% off

Recent reviews, efficient and swift assistance received.

Kudos to the writers on this platform. I was in urgent need of completing my assignments, and your experts delivered them to me well before the deadline. Thank you so much for your expert help!

Highly Competent and Professional Writers

I recently availed of assistance from this platform for my QQI Level 5 childcare assignments, and I must say, the writers exhibited exceptional qualifications and experience. I’m truly grateful for their expertise. Thank you!

Best Literature Review Writing Experience

This website provided me with an exceptional literature review writing service. The experts meticulously reviewed the literature, offering insightful critiques and analysis. I am thoroughly impressed with the quality of their work.

Premier Assignment Assistance!

Are you in need of top-notch experts to tackle your assignments? Look no further than Ireland Assignment Help. The specialists on this platform excel in delivering impeccable work. Highly recommended!

Exceptionally Well-executed Essay

The essay I received from QQI was exceptionally well-executed! It was meticulously structured, demonstrating a high level of clarity and coherence. However, somewhere down the line, I found myself wishing for a deeper exploration of certain concepts.

High-Quality Service from Ireland Assignment Help

High-Quality Services from Ireland Assignment Help! I am truly amazed to see the extent to which you deliver and maintain the quality standard in your writing. I am thoroughly satisfied with the assistance I received for my assignments. Keep up the excellent work!

Delighted With Your Service

Absolutely delighted with the exceptional service provided by Ireland Assignments! Their writers demonstrate remarkable quality and lightning-fast problem-solving abilities, delivering uniquely plagiarism-free essays. I couldn’t be happier with their services.

Professional Service with Exceptional Support

I recently availed myself of Nursing Assignment Help from this Ireland-based company, and I must say, their writers are truly professional and supportive. I would highly recommend this service to every student seeking assistance.

Outstanding Service

Outstanding assistance with assignment writing! I am thoroughly impressed by the exceptional operation management thesis work provided by this service. They have consistently gone above and beyond to assist me. Highly recommended to all students!

Excellent Timely Work!

I received all my assignments on time, and I’m thoroughly impressed with the skills of your writers. I’ll certainly be returning to your website soon.

UP TO 30 % DISCOUNT

Get Your Assignment Completed At Lower Prices

Assignment Help

Ireland Assignment Help

RATED 4.9 / 5 BASED ON 22945 IRISH STUDENTS

Disclaimer :The Reference papers provided by the Ireland Assignment Help serve as model and sample papers for students and are not to be submitted as it is. These papers are intended to be used for reference and research purposes only.You can also check our Privacy Policy , Terms & Condition & Warranty Policy.

© Copyright 2024 @ Ireland Assignment Help. All Rights Reserved

Organizational Development Activities

Introduction, department responsible for oda, supporting methods, it support of oda in afsa and inhibiting factor.

Organizational development (OD) is a significant, science-based, and practice-oriented process that helps an organization build its capacity to change and attain heightened effectiveness levels. It can be made through the development, improvement, and reinforcement of organizational strategies, structures, and processes. Orpen (1997), Clifford, and Thorpe (2007) stated that organizations implement the OD activities, which entail the provision of informal assistance and support to help the employees in their efforts towards being successful within the company. Ng et al. (2006) documented that organizations have recognized the growing emphasis on learning as a determinant of employee satisfaction in the workplace. Ashforth and Mael (1989) stated that factors of direct relevance to the firm increase the tendencies to self-identify with the groups. Although the military sphere’s peculiarity initially implies rigor and discipline, military professionals also need support and organizational development activities.

The organization for analysis is the Air Force Sergeants Association (AFSA) that has adopted various strategies for building their military human capacity. AFSA is a non-profit-making organization whose work focuses on protecting the interests of both active and retired representatives of the armed forces. They strive to preserve this part of the population’s rights, improve the quality of their lives, and lobby interests since their service was challenging and required many victims.

AFSA’sThe Human Resources Management Department handles AFSA’s organizational development activities. Their responsibilities include coordination, management, and supervision of this activity. Moreover, the department conducts a practical analysis of the training needs of military professionals. The HR manager also provides an analysis of the overall ODA design, streamlines the structures, delivers the required training programs, and demonstrates the returns on resources invested in this area.

Additionally, based on the assessment of the AFSA, it is demonstrating a team-building technique. The Human Resource department is utilizing high interaction group activities to increase the level of trust and openness among the military workforce. It applies the organizational development activities within the groups as well as at inter-group levels within an interdependent framework. Further, HR’s representative new task is to provide sensitivity training. It is a method concentrated on changing the behavior of military professionals through unstructured interactions within the group. For instance, the technique focuses on creating awareness of how military professionals are perceived and developing a more realistic self-image, great cohesiveness, and reduction in dysfunctional interpersonal conflicts.

Fundamentally, the organizational development activity techniques at AFSA have integrated the IT systems in its process. For instance, the AFSA’s Human Resource department has designed an information-driven system. It supports the interactions among the military professionals, encouraging the sharing of information and developing new sets of behavior to improve their capacity to cope and perform in various military assignments. Finally, from a personal perspective, I believe that the Human Resource Department at AFSA is aware of potential factors, which inhibit learning processes. For example, the United States’ military secretive culture limits the sharing of critical knowledge necessary to improve officers. To address the learning inhibitor, AFSA’s HRM has implemented information policies and regulations that ensure that the soldiers’ data remains within the organization’s boundaries.

To conclude, the organizational development activities improve the effectiveness and productivity of individuals within the administrative setup. They commence with the identification of a problem and end with the desired results. The OD activities at AFSA focus on individual military professionals and provide sensitivity training and team building to improve the members of armed forces’ performance. The specifics of the military sphere impose certain restrictions, but practice aimed at the development is as crucial as in organizations of another type.

Ashforth, B. E., &Mael, F. (1989). Social identity theory and the organization . Academy of Management Review , 14 (1), 20−39. Web.

Clifford, J., & Thorpe, S. (2007). More ways than one… exploring the use of different learning methods in organizations . Industrial and Commercial Training, 39 (5), 267−271. Web.

Ng, T. W. H., Butts, M. M., Vandenberg, R. J., DeJoy, D. M., & Wilson, M. G. (2006). Effects of management communication, opportunity for learning, and work schedule flexibility.  Journal of Vocational Behavior, 68 (3), 474–489. Web.

Orpen, C. (1997). The effects of formal mentoring on employee work motivation, organizational commitment, and job performance. The Learning Organization, 4 (2), 53−60.

Cite this paper

  • Chicago (N-B)
  • Chicago (A-D)

StudyCorgi. (2022, March 22). Organizational Development Activities. https://studycorgi.com/organizational-development-activities/

"Organizational Development Activities." StudyCorgi , 22 Mar. 2022, studycorgi.com/organizational-development-activities/.

StudyCorgi . (2022) 'Organizational Development Activities'. 22 March.

1. StudyCorgi . "Organizational Development Activities." March 22, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/organizational-development-activities/.

Bibliography

StudyCorgi . "Organizational Development Activities." March 22, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/organizational-development-activities/.

StudyCorgi . 2022. "Organizational Development Activities." March 22, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/organizational-development-activities/.

This paper, “Organizational Development Activities”, was written and voluntary submitted to our free essay database by a straight-A student. Please ensure you properly reference the paper if you're using it to write your assignment.

Before publication, the StudyCorgi editorial team proofread and checked the paper to make sure it meets the highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, fact accuracy, copyright issues, and inclusive language. Last updated: June 16, 2022 .

If you are the author of this paper and no longer wish to have it published on StudyCorgi, request the removal . Please use the “ Donate your paper ” form to submit an essay.

Cognitive Development Activities for Children Essay

Introduction, activity for infant room: game with cups, activity for early childhood room: game with colored sand, activity for adolescent room: clue/hedbanz.

An understanding of the world should grow in complexity progressively to promote normal child development and the abilities required to solve problems as students. The planned community center will promote cognitive skills in three age groups: infants, those in the early childhood stage, and adolescent visitors. Using Piaget’s developmental theory and its core concepts, this paper seeks to propose three age-appropriate activities for the specified populations.

A game with cups will be utilized in the infant room. In it, the caregiver takes a small toy and hides it under a plastic cup in front of the child. The caregiver then asks the infant where the toy is, helps the infant to lift the cup, and reveals that the toy is still there. The theoretical concept supporting this activity is object permanence (OP). OP is featured in Piaget’s developmental theory as one of the key takeaways for infants to develop in the sensorimotor stage (Misssmith891, 2011; Mossler, 2014). OP refers to knowing that objects exist even when they cannot be perceived with the help of vision. It is a crucial cognitive skill peculiar to developing real objects’ images in one’s mind (An et al., 2022). As the game involves interaction with adults, it may add to infants’ understanding of such emotions as delight and surprise (Films Media Group, 1996). The proposed activity enhances cognitive development (CD) in infants by promoting OP and helping them explore how objects disappear and reappear, thus solidifying their understanding of reality’s fixed nature.

In this activity, the caregiver shows children one tall and one wide transparent cup filled with the same amount of colored sand and then asks them if both cups contain an identical amount of sand. Children reply negatively, and the caregiver takes another tall cup, helps the children to fill it with sand from a wide cup, and reveals that sand reaches the same level in both cups. The game is supported by the concept of conservation from Piaget’s theory or an understanding that objects can change their physical appearance without losing their properties (Mossler, 2014). This concept’s development starts in children aged seven, making the task applicable to older members of the early childhood group (Mossler, 2014; Walczak, 2019). The activity can enhance CD in those aged seven and older by letting children experience the conservation of volume. It also assists them in understanding that reality can be tested and explored experimentally.

For the adolescent room, Clue and Hedbanz, both of which are games for groups, can be used to teach deductive reasoning (DR). In Clue, up to six players explore the game board and collect clues to solve a mysterious murder case, which requires thinking strategically prior to each move (Hansen & Hansen, 2019). In Hedbanz, players attach cards with the names of objects to their headbands and ask others yes/no questions to guess what is written on their cards (Watkins et al., 2021). The concept of DR supports these activities; DR is understood as the learner’s capacity to consider multiple and diverse variables/factors leading to various outcomes (Mossler, 2014). As per Piaget’s theory, DR develops in adolescents aged twelve and older and signifies their ability to make accurate inferences and predictions (Mossler, 2014). Both proposed games can improve CD in adolescents by teaching them to make decisions and inferences while keeping numerous variables and facts in mind.

On a final note, the aforementioned activities can build cognitive abilities in the three age cohorts. The interventions instrumentalize the concepts of OP, conservation, and DR, encouraging children to comprehend the stability of physical space and objects’ properties and learn to make adequate conclusions from sets of data. These skills will support and deepen community center visitors’ comprehension of the world, enabling them to succeed in life and academic settings.

An, M., Marcinowski, E. C., Hsu, L.Y., Stankus, J., Jancart, K.L., Lobo, M.A., Dusing, S.C., McCoy, S.W., Bovaird, J.A., Willett, S., & Harbourne, R. T. (2022). Object permanence and the relationship to sitting development in infants with motor delays . Pediatric Physical Therapy , 34 (3), 309-316. Web.

Films Media Group. (1996). Play: A Vygotskian approach [Video]. Films on Demand. Web.

Hansen, D. M., & Hansen, K. D. (2019). Clues about bluffing in Clue : Is conventional wisdom wise? IEEE Transactions on Games , 13 (3), 310-314. Web.

Misssmith891. (2011). Piaget’s stages of development [Video]. YouTube. Web.

Mossler, R. A. (2014). Child and adolescent development (2nd ed.). Zovio Inc.

Walczak, P. (2019). Why Piaget does not philosophize? Critical discussion of Gareth B. Mathews with the Piagetan concept of cognitive development . Childhood & Philosophy, 15, 1-25. Web.

Watkins, L., Tomeny, T., O’Reilly, M., Sillis, K. H., & Zamora, C. (2021). A naturalistic behavioral intervention to increase interaction between siblings with and without autism . Behavior Modification , 45 (6), 863-886. Web.

  • Chicago (A-D)
  • Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, February 25). Cognitive Development Activities for Children. https://ivypanda.com/essays/cognitive-development-activities-for-children/

"Cognitive Development Activities for Children." IvyPanda , 25 Feb. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/cognitive-development-activities-for-children/.

IvyPanda . (2024) 'Cognitive Development Activities for Children'. 25 February.

IvyPanda . 2024. "Cognitive Development Activities for Children." February 25, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/cognitive-development-activities-for-children/.

1. IvyPanda . "Cognitive Development Activities for Children." February 25, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/cognitive-development-activities-for-children/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Cognitive Development Activities for Children." February 25, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/cognitive-development-activities-for-children/.

  • Mountain Equipment Co-Op Strategic Plan
  • Capitalism as an Economic System: Op-Ed
  • The Lawn King Company's S&OP Strategy
  • Early Discharge Education to Reduce the Number of Post-Op Calls
  • Jean Piaget
  • Sales and Operations Planning
  • Sales and Operation Planning: Practical Analysis
  • Piaget and Erickson’s Developmental Stages
  • Analysis of an Op-Ed “She’s Not Ready “By Bob Herbert
  • Saudi Telecom Company's Co-op Program Experience
  • Progression of Reading Ability in a Child Diagnosed With Autism
  • Benefits of Learning Psychosomatics as Branches of Clinical Psychology
  • Using CTQs and CTDs to Develop Critical Thinking
  • Perceptions of Parties in Conflict
  • Factors of Learners’ and Adults’ Working Memory

IMAGES

  1. Delivering Learning and Development Activities Free Essay Example

    essay on development activities

  2. Importance of Co Curricular Activities Essay for Children

    essay on development activities

  3. Essay Piagets Theory Of Childhood Cognitive Development

    essay on development activities

  4. Human Development: Lifelong, Multifaceted, Dynamic Free Essay Example

    essay on development activities

  5. Child Development at Kindergarten Free Essay Example

    essay on development activities

  6. Child Developments Essay Example for Free

    essay on development activities

VIDEO

  1. Your essay development needs more than 48 hours to complete!

  2. My 7 Year Game Development Journey

  3. Making an Impact Using Design Based Thinking

  4. ছোট বাক্য দ্বারা খুব দ্রুত ইংরেজি শিখুন

  5. IELTS Writing Task 2: Positive/negative essay (3)

  6. Things Good Readers Do

COMMENTS

  1. How to Write a Stellar Extracurricular Activity College Essay

    As a supplemental essay, the Extracurricular Activity prompt asks you to describe a meaningful non-academic activity of yours. The goal of this essay is to better understand your passions and how you might contribute to the college community. It provides an additional way to show colleges what's important to you, and through that, who you are.

  2. 3 Successful Extracurricular Activity Essay Examples

    Essay Example #1. My fingers raced across the keys, rapidly striking one after another. My body swayed with the music as my hands raced across the piano. Crashing onto the final chord, it was over as quickly as it had begun. My shoulders relaxed and I couldn't help but break into a satisfied grin.

  3. How to Write a Great Extracurricular Activity Essay 2023

    Tip #2: Use active verbs to give a clear sense of what you've done . Check out the active verbs in the essay above: writing, delivering, editing, researching, re-writing, brainstorming, catching, polishing, leading, holding, knowing. Tip #3: Consider telling us in one good clear sentence what the activity meant to you.

  4. Student Development and Extra-Curricular Activities Essay

    1.1 Importance of Student Development. The objective of this essay is to introduce the importance of student development and extra-curricular activities. It will describe the definition of extra-curricular and the emergence of student development from the community and education. To gain a better understanding of the importance of extra ...

  5. Extracurricular Activities Essay Examples

    2. Show your dedication. Many of our extracurricular activities essay examples discussed how long the author was involved in the activity. Show your dedication to your hobby, club, or organization through your essay responses. 3. Match your extracurricular activities essay examples to a school's mission or values.

  6. How to Write a Strong Extracurricular Activity Essay

    4. Unique Experiences. Consider highlighting an extracurricular activity that stands out from the crowd. While popular activities like sports or clubs can still make for compelling essays, choosing a less common or unconventional activity can help your essay stand out and capture the reader's attention.

  7. Essays About Development: Top 5 Examples and 10 Prompts

    10 Unique Writing Prompts On Essays About Development. 1. My Personal Development Goals. Whether it be acquiring a second language or graduating college with flying colors, use this essay to discuss your personal development goals and proudly share your progress in putting them into action.

  8. Extracurricular Activities Essay

    Long Essay on Extracurricular Activities is usually given to classes 7, 8, 9, and 10. Extracurricular activities teach students to work as a "unit" and be team players. It is a non-academic activity and serves as a part of development modules which can make the students think from a somewhat simpler point of view of themselves and the ...

  9. Personal Growth and Development: My Journey of Self-discovery

    The second conflict stage is Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt. This is the stage where children figure out if they can do things themselves or if they are reliant upon the help of others.

  10. Essay on Youth Development

    In conclusion, youth development is a multifaceted process that requires a balanced approach, focusing on education, social and emotional development, and extracurricular activities. It is the collective responsibility of families, educators, and communities to invest in youth development, shaping a generation capable of facing future ...

  11. Designing Learning and Development Activities Essay

    Moreover, there are two major organisational factors, which greatly influence the process of L&D activities designing (Nguyen & Aoyama 2014, p. 637). First, the corporate culture must value and uphold development as a virtue without condemning as a distraction from other responsibilities. Second, a firm as a whole must be involved and ...

  12. Curriculum Development for Learning and Teaching Activities Essay

    Curriculum Development for Learning and Teaching Activities Essay. Exclusively available on IvyPanda. Curriculum development for any course is of crucial importance, since it ensures consistency and accuracy in the achievement of the intended goals and objectives. In choosing to write the EDSE 325 for spring 2011 syllabus, success and coherence ...

  13. PDF CHAPTER Patterns of Essay Development

    310 PART 4 Essay Development The nine different patterns of paragraph writing you learned in Part 3— exemplification, narration, description, process, cause and effect, com-parison or contrast, definition, division-classification, and argument —can also be used to write essays. Because essays are much longer works than

  14. Career Development Activities

    Internship Activities. Internships are a great way to help employees build their careers. Internship activities can help employees develop leadership skills. They acquire new experiences and interpersonal skills that help them to become more assertive especially when handling issues to do with conflict resolution.

  15. Paragraph and Essay Development

    Updated on September 21, 2019. In composition, development (also known as elaboration) is the process of adding informative and illustrative details to support the main idea in a paragraph or essay. Paragraphs and essays can be developed in many different ways. In conventional composition courses, the following patterns of exposition are often ...

  16. Essay on Social Development: Sample Essays for Students in 100, 200

    10 shares. Essay on Social Development: Social development entails enhancing the quality of life for all members of society to enable them to achieve their utmost potential. The prosperity of a community is intertwined with the welfare of each individual. Social development involves dedicating resources to empower individuals.

  17. The Importance of Sports and Outdoor Activities for Children's Development

    In Retrospect. By being active in outdoor action children become more productive. They grow up to become more versatile adults. These outdoor activities improve their physical, emotional, social, and mental health greatly.

  18. Organizational Development Activities

    The Ryanair brand opts for thoroughly structuring organizational development activities to reach the company's strategic goals. Thus, the main aim of every employee and employer is to advance the functioning of the organization's operations and enhance the working settings for the teams (Ryanair Group, 2021).

  19. Human Development Activities Essay Sample for College Students

    Human development activities may include interactions that are emotionally, physically, or socially relevant. The students need to identify the proper criteria for evaluating a meaningful and efficient essay on the importance of human development activities. The students can learn a lesson that explains the entails of human growth and development.

  20. Physical Activities for Children's Development Essay

    The idea in chapter two involves physical development and health. According to Bergin & Bergin (2019), neurons communicate with each other through electrical impulse forces and neurotransmitter synapses. The most significant learning issue in the chapter is how physical development can affect the learning ability and mental development of kids.

  21. Organizational Development Activities

    Introduction. Organizational development (OD) is a significant, science-based, and practice-oriented process that helps an organization build its capacity to change and attain heightened effectiveness levels. It can be made through the development, improvement, and reinforcement of organizational strategies, structures, and processes.

  22. Cognitive Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood Essay

    The cognitive development of infants and toddlers is associated with the acquisition of basic knowledge and skills that enables the child to become comparatively independent during the first two years of their life. Some of the central concepts related to this matter include classical and operant conditioning, memory, attention, learning ...

  23. Cognitive Development Activities for Children Essay

    This essay, "Cognitive Development Activities for Children" is published exclusively on IvyPanda's free essay examples database. You can use it for research and reference purposes to write your own paper. However, you must cite it accordingly. Donate a paper. Removal Request.