Being a student in high school is hard. Being a student at Minnetonka High School is even harder. Minnetonka is a unique place where being a “nerd” is cool and students compete to see who can get the most volunteer hours. MHS students are bombarded with expectations from their parents, teachers and peers to excel both in and out of the classroom. In order to meet these expectations, many student have to sacrifice sports and other extracurricular activities that they love in order to keep up with their demanding schoolwork. Other students settle for less challenging classes because they allow them to continue with their other passions. Other students such as myself take both rigorous classes and dedicate themselves to out of school activities …show more content…
If you take one of the many business class at Minnetonka such as Entrepreneurship, Marketing or Accounting, or if you participate in any of the VANTAGE programs, a majority of your year as well as your final grade will be dedicated to one project. The class is designed so that your exact project can be used as is for a DECA competition. This is great if you are my 10th grade self and decide to join in DECA just because you have already completed the project. This is not so great if you are my 11th or 12h grade self; you still want to participate in DECA but are expected to do an entire semester class’s work in your “free time”. When asking most of my friends why they do not do DECA, the most common answer is that they simply do not have the time for it. Writing an entire 30 page business plan and preparing a 15 minute presentation is not an easy feat. It requires extreme self motivation and dedication. Many students miss out on the amazing experience of participating in DECA because they do not have enough available time. As much as I love it, I too question at the end of the season if a plastic trophy was worth all of the hours I spent slaving over this project. The answer is yes, it is absolutely worth it considering what DECA has taught me about the business world and basic personal finance, but it would be nice to get a little more for all my time. If other kids at Minnetonka are doing the exact same work, why are we not receiving the same