Extra-Curricular Activities as Predictors of Academic Attainment in Latinos
By: Jorge Delmuro
Mentor: Caesar Sereseres
According to McNeal, “participation in high school extra-curricular activities is often viewed as a
non-essential and non-central element of an adolescent’s education.” As a result, extra-curricular
activities are always targeted first for budget cuts. With an increasing Latino/a student population,
there is a need to better understand the effects that extracurricular activities have on Latino/a
students’ educational attainment. This study examines and displays how extra-curricular activities
positively affect educational attainment in Latinos. Extra-curricular activities are organized into two
categories, school and non-school provided. Research indicates that both settings provide students a
greater opportunity to become more involved and successful in their academics. However, there is a
lack of research relating to extracurricular activities and its impact on Latino/a students’ academic
attainment. The goal of this study is to determine whether participation in extracurricular activities
helps Latino/a students succeed academically. The majority of the individuals who participated in
extra-curricular activities have excellent GPA scores and a greater desire to continue their education.
In addition, school-provided extra-curricular activities have a greater influence on Latino/a students’
academic attainment and success. These results provide greater evidence that budget cuts to extracurricular activities hamper Latino/a students’ educational attainment because participation in
extracurricular activities is correlated to academic attainment and success in Latino/a students.