Ojimadu 1

Vivian Ojimadu
Professor Douglas
UWRT 1101-800
24 October 2014
The Impact of Student Overloading
In todays society students are in fierce competition for acceptance
into the top universities, the highest awarding scholarships, and after
graduating, the top paying jobs. This competition has gone far beyond
common grades, grade point averages, and even placement exams. To even
be considered in this race to success, students today must take on a number
of extracurricular activities including leadership positions and community
involvement. The observer is tasked with answering the question does over
involvement in extracurricular activities have adverse reactions on students
academic performance, participation, and/or stress levels thereby leading to
overloading and procrastination?
The observer went to the Student Union of the UNCC campus on the
night of the schools Homecoming Takeover. Thirty minutes into the
observations, the observer noticed the rehearsal of the well-known gospel
choir on campus Voices of Eden. Only seven members of the choir,
including the instructor, are present and on time. The lack of punctuality and
commitment demonstrated by the other members of the choir clearly
bothered the instructor and somewhat unknowingly he seemed to take it out
on the present members, making them sing over and over until they

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sounded perfect. As more members of the choir trickle in throughout the
hour, it is also made clear that the students are coming in completely
unprepared. When the instructor made it a point to voice his opinions the
students voiced excuses; such as, I had an assignment due by five and I
had a meeting for another club/extracurricular activity. These excuses gave
way to the observers discourse group Student involvement in
extracurricular activities in correlation to procrastination and overloading.
The observer seeks to research how student involvement outside of the
classroom effected procrastination, academic performance, and stress levels
as well as why students choose to overload themselves with multiple tasks.
In the next phase of the primary research, the researcher is tasked
with interviewing the choir instructor of Voices of Eden, Zacch EstradaPeterson. In an effort to gain background, the researcher begins by asking
Peterson things such as how he got started with Voices of Eden and if he
himself had been a student involved in extracurricular activates. Upon
learning that he had actually founded Voices of Eden twelve years ago on
campus, the researcher began to understand his passion for the group and
why student overloading affected him and the performance of the choir as a
whole. Peterson explained that it was in fact difficult working with students at
times because in every other aspect of his life, he works with his fellow adult.
It is difficult for him to adapt because he has to remember that by working
with students, he has to deal with a different work ethic and a different
quality of work than he would have expected from adults. He also explained

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how students being overloading and not coming to practice or to events
leads to resentment from other members that then have to carry a heavier
load and have to deal with added stress. The researcher proposed the
question would you rather a student lessen their load or learn how to better
carry it? In response Peterson explained that it was based on the individual.
In his case, he would most likely learn to better carry the load, but in
someone elses case they may have to lessen their load, it all depends on
what the individual can take. He explained that he sees this overloading
mainly in the freshman that he instructs. Incoming freshman tend to want to
be heavily involved on their newfound campuses. Freshman go to
organizations showcases in the beginning of the school year and sign up for
everything they find interest in. This overcommitting could be detrimental in
that they assign themselves too many tasks to complete in their first
semester of college, before this semester even begins. Peterson was also
heavily involved in his years on the campus but in his words if your
presence doesnt make an impact your absence will not make a difference
(Peterson). To him, ones being in an organization without being an impactful
force in that organization is pointless. Before concluding the interview
Peterson was asked if he had any advice for freshman struggling with
wanting to be involved, but also being an active student and his most key
pieces of advice were the importance of using an agenda and time
management as well as remembering that being a strong force in one or two

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organizations was far more commendable than being an absent member in
five.
In past generations, it has always been difficult to get students to
enjoy school-related activities of any kind let alone get them done due to the
striking disinterest in academics. Today, we see a new kind of student, not
one that so much enjoys school-related activities but one with a desire for
academic success so provoking that school related activities are on the
forefront of their daily lives. Information overload happens when the amount
of available information exceeds the students ability to process it (Akin, pg.
12). The concept of information overload is the same idea we see in students
overloading today. Their various involvements in organizations and multiple
courses, primarily advanced placement courses, leads to an inability to
consciously process all of their required assignments at once. In these cases,
students tend to choose one or two organizations to make priorities or one or
two classes, thereby leaving their other responsibilities to dwindle. One
study, conducted by the National Educational Longitudinal Study, found that
participation in some activities improves achievement, while participation in
others diminishes achievement (Broh, pg. 18).
Students who overload on courses and extracurricular activities tend to
be under considerable amounts of stress. These students underperform in
school due to the negative effects stress has on the primary functions of the
brain. Stress hormones affect the neural connections in the prefrontal cortex
of the brain. The prefrontal cortex of the brain is where the primary functions

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occur in our brain; such as, memory, regulation, cognitive flexibility. These
functions are vital to problem solving, reasoning, planning, and retaining
attention. These functions are directly correlated to academic success
(Tomlin, pg. 44). In todays society, students are striving for extra
achievement at the cost of either health or academic performance. Actively
reducing stress in students can improve their wellbeing as well as their
cognitive performance. Educating the population, particularity parents
because they tend to be the driving force for students desires to over
perform, on the negative effects of overloading could aid in reducing the
amount of overwhelmed and overstressed students in todays society. Also,
destigmatizing the average performing student would help eliminate the
urge in students to overload. We should not settle with a nation of ordinary
individuals, the United States is one of the highest performing academic
nations in the world (NCEE, pg. 2), but we must not risk the health of our
future generations in an effort to race to the never-ending cycle that is our
levels of success in todays society.

Work Cited

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Volume, Issn: 1523-4320, and Approved June 1998. 1998 ,1
Information Overload and

Children: A Survey of Texas

.Elementary School Students (n.d.): n. pag

.Internet resource
Broh, B. A. (2002, January). Linking extracurricular programming to academic
achievement:

Who benefits and why? [Electronic version]. Sociology of

.Education, 75, 69-96

.Internet resource
The Impact of Stress on Academic Success." Evoke Learning. Nov. 2016. "
Estrada-Peterson, Zacch. Personal Interview.
.17 October 2016

Internet resource