Framework for Growing Up as a Youth in the U.S.
curricular activities can become a strong support net - work. Sometimes students stay in cliques of the same group of friends, while other students may have several different groups of friends. Like most youth around the world, they are often friends with people on the same sports team or in the same extracurricular clubs as them because of their shared interests. They also develop friend groups from spaces outside of their school such as their church, recreational sports leagues outside of school, their neighborhoods, and other social clubs. While the level of community and school resources can vary based on socio-economic demographics, across the board the culture of extracurricular activities such as sports, music, arts, and academic clubs tends to be very strong in the United States. Many students play some form of sport from a young age either through their school or an external recreational league. Soccer, football, and basketball are the most popular sports among young people, but they can also participate in track and field, cross country, field hockey, lacrosse,
baseball, and other sports. The practice time and games for sports tend to happen right after the school day and on weekends. In some school communities, particularly in lower-income parts of the South, sports such as foot - ball and basketball are sometimes seen as a way out of poverty and low-income students can be very motivated to do well in order to obtain sports scholarships to col - lege. However, the proportion of students that hold this aspiration compared with the number of young people who actually receive college scholarships for sports is ex - tremely low, with only 2 % of high school athletes being awarded scholarships to compete at the collegiate level according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Other clubs that youth focus on include band, theater, visual arts, newspaper, student council, Model United Nations, and other more academic or arts-oriented clubs which also tend to happen right after the school day and meet anywhere from once a week to every weekday af - ter school. Depending on the school, some students are able to participate in multiple clubs and explore sports, arts and/or more academic-oriented clubs concurrently.
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