College enrichment choices?

Question

Oh dear. Well, I've become so panicky about what decision to make for my college enrichment choice [one day a week dedicated to a certain subject to take me through life] thatf I've resorted to asking a bunch of strangers at the risk of the odd troll giving me an idiot answer. Righto; my options are:

swimming

football

gym

pool

golf

snowboarding

guitar

media

film studies

college radio

photography

Italian

Spanish

Japanese

British sign language

planning holiday/gap year

web design

make-overs

DIY

student council

starting small business

cooking

first aid

Indian head massage

Can someone give me the ups and downs on each of these subjects? What would you suggest for a creative fifteen year old who's taking Performing Arts? I know the country's short on sign language users, but I'd enjoy photography; what's likely to get me further? I'd like to become an actress, but I won't go into that. Should I choose fun over useful?

Answer 1

if that was me i would do first aid cuz then your employer knows you can handle things if someone has an accident

Answer 2

Swimming / football / gym / pool / golf / snowboarding are all interesting, but do you really want to be playing sport for a whole day? And remember that you can always do these out of school or even after you have finished formal education.

Guitar will probably require you to buy your own guitar, and you might find that you don't like it.

Media / film studies may be of use to you as you are taking Performing Arts, but at the same time you might want to do something entirely different.

College radio is an opportunity you won't get outside of school unless you do hospital radio, so another good opportunity.

Italian / Spanish / Japanese - good if you like languages

BSL - I've always wanted to learn this myself, despite not knowing any profoundly deaf people who use BSL. Something different, but don't expect to be able to use it much afterwards.

Planning holiday / gap year should be something you can work out yourself, especially if you have parents who can help you.

Web design - useful if you're interested in it

Make-overs - if you like all sorts of fashion stuff and don't mind coming out of the room looking like an idiot because someone couldn't apply lipstick well then fine.

DIY - great if you haven't got any real experience - I don't know what sort of level it will go up to but it will certainly stop you having to bring a builder in for every little thing.

Student council - a bit useless IMHO

Starting a small business - this is definitely the one I would go for as it isn't really something that you can pick up from everyday life unless you have a parent running their own business. It will provide you with the knowledge that you need to go self employed too.

Cooking - if you're hopeless and your mum can't teach you then go ahead, but most people can follow cookery books.

First aid - if it leads to a recognised certificate then this is a good idea - it's something that employers really value.

Indian head massage - don't know enough about this to be able to comment.

Answer 3

You can take fun courses if you take some practical ones as well. It doesn't have to be one extreme or the other. Plus, ALL those courses sound fun.

Out of the languages, I highly reccommend Spanish. It's widely spoken throughout the world and could help you in getting jobs.  I don't think there's much of a demand for Sign Language. You could use Spanish to expand where you can act. There's probably a demand for foreign actresses in Spanish speaking countries.

I hear Japanese is hard (mostly the writing portion). BUT, I know there's a high demand in Japan for foreign models, so maybe it's the same way with actresses.

I've taken an Entrepreneurship (startinga  business) course. It's not bad, but it's common sense mostly (restaurants are most likely to fail and buying into a franchise you make the most money).

Web site design is really fun. More of a hobby class unless you're looking to do it as a career. My friend took a Photography course last summer at Harvard. She liked it, but it was just a hobby.

I think language would help you the most in your choice career and well... any career. Language would help you immensly.

Answer 4

I'd go for something that is fun over academic.  However, Web Design may be useful later on - especially if you need to create a web-site based on your acting ability etc.

The reality is that your chosen subjects will require your dedication.  Therefore, go for enrichment that's fun where you won't need to do any further studying.  College radio may also be a useful enrichment tool, too.