Extra-curricular actives are a normal part of the college experience, but they have become too demanding for many Florida A&M students.
Students are saying that their extra-curricular activities are too frequent and require too much time away from their studies. Second year doctorate of pharmacy candidate Deashia Crayton said that she finds herself having to attend frequent mandatory events for her organizations, and as a result she has little to no time for her studies.
“Extra-curricular activities forget that they are in fact extra-curricular, everything should not be mandatory. It feels like when you join an organization you now major in that organization,” said Crayton.
During her time at Florida A&M, Crayton has been involved in SISTUHS Inc., COPPS Ambassadors, National Society of Pershing Angels, FAMU’s Women Student Union, Big Sister Little Sister Mentoring Program, The Kinship of Big Brother Little Brother Mentoring Program, Royal Court, The Reserves Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) court, vice president of the COPPS 22 class, and the undergraduate research organization.
Crayton addressed her concerns about her availability to attend all of her organizations’ mandatory events. She said the amount of required events in a week is too much, and missing an event is frowned upon. She added that she could even be fined by the organization.
Crayton said, “It’s a battle of which event am I going to today, or even then, which activity isn’t going to exert too much energy so that way I will still have energy for studying later on.”
Second-year pre-nursing student Marcellis Dorsey shared his thoughts on the influx of student organization events on campus.
“There are an abundance of events that are held on campus. The good thing is that many events cater to different demographics but the bad thing is that most of the events are thrown together last minute and end up with a low turn-out,” said Dorsey.
Fourth-year political science major Theondre Peoples tries to makes sense of the demanding needs of on-campus organizations.
“They are very demanding, time consuming, and require discipline organization and commitment so that you fulfill all the roles and responsibilities of those organizations,” said Peoples.
Peoples has been involved with The Kinship of Big Brother Little Brother Mentoring Program, an Orientation Leader, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Campus All Stars, Michigan Club, Omicron Delta Kappa Honors Society, FAMU Royal Court, FAMU Royal Court Adviser, and College of Social Sciences Arts and Humanities Ambassadors.
His main concerns with demanding organizations is if the social aspect of organizations will take a back seat to philanthropic efforts.
“We as students in organizations should get back to giving back to the community or to the student body instead of wasting a lot of time putting on parties for our organizations for clout; it creates unnecessary work,” said Peoples.