All,
I'm building a "business case" to start a high school swim team at my daughters' charter high school. The school is very academically oriented (which I love) and has not had sports programs. However, I've got initial support from some teachers and parts of the administration to explore this. Being a lifelong swimmer, I know how valuable sports can be, but I need some external validation of this (school was founded by two, PhD economists).
I'd love any input on the following:
Does there exist academic research (or even strong case studies) that demonstrates the value of high school swimming relative to:
academic performance
college admission
Can anyone point me to a list (or lists) of the kinds of academic + athletic award programs that exist for high school swimmers that can then be further used to bolster their admission opportunities to top tier universities?
Thanks for any help.
What I hear from college admissions officers is that they want a well-rounded class, not well-rounded individuals. High GPA and AP classes are "givens" but outside of that they all claim that deep commitment to one activity (music, theater, political activity, a particular sport) is of more value than being a middlin' or even a high-middlin' all-rounder. A class of dabblers isn't of much value - but a class of individuals who are high achievers in their chosen fields make up a well-rounded class on the high end of every field.
At least that's what they've been telling me...
And I've seen it in action every year at my school- much more often than not "resume hounds" lose out when they go head-to-head with equally academically qualified "singletons" when it comes to highly competitive colleges
What I hear from college admissions officers is that they want a well-rounded class, not well-rounded individuals. High GPA and AP classes are "givens" but outside of that they all claim that deep commitment to one activity (music, theater, political activity, a particular sport) is of more value than being a middlin' or even a high-middlin' all-rounder. A class of dabblers isn't of much value - but a class of individuals who are high achievers in their chosen fields make up a well-rounded class on the high end of every field.
At least that's what they've been telling me...
And I've seen it in action every year at my school- much more often than not "resume hounds" lose out when they go head-to-head with equally academically qualified "singletons" when it comes to highly competitive colleges
