At Ipswich High School, students work diligently and strive for excellence across all cylinders. However, there is an obstacle that prevents a majority of  students from ever being at the top of their class. When participating in the fine arts, band, orchestra, or chorus, musical students gain extra credits, counting towards their overall grade point average. This disregards the alternate interests of other students such as sports. 

Across Ipswich elementary schools, students are introduced to music, but have a choice moving forward to keep playing, or focus their interests into other things. In many cases, students find that their passion for music just isn’t there by high school, quit their instrument, and they lean into sports. 

Being that the fine arts program at Ipswich High School consistently proves to be one of the best in the area, it becomes one of the top most attractive extracurricular activities offered. At Ipswich, student achievement also comes with the athletic program, as multiple teams (both boys and girls) have made it into the MIAA state tournament, and done extremely well over the past decade. With both genres of extracurricular activities being high commitment and time consuming, students only get official credit for participating in one of the two: The fine arts. If both activities are considered extracurricular in the student handbook, why do the fine arts act as an academic course while sports are not allotted space to practice during the school day or allow student-athletes to gain credits as well?

Student-athletes have to learn how to manage their time, crunching in homework, before and after their practices/games every day for a period of at least 2 months during the school year. “Having time during the day, even in the morning, for athletes to practice, would only allot more time to do homework and study in the afternoon. Hopefully allowing for more focus in their times of studying, while not being worried about crunching their work. Credit needs to be given where credit is due,” Micheal Gromko, an Ipswich High School parent, preaches. Fatigue and oftentimes poor performance in the classroom and on the field can be harmful. Stress can climax during a student’s sport’s season and lead to poor mental health, which reflects negatively on the students overall happiness. This is not healthy.

By junior year, some student-athletes take harder, more advanced classes while playing the sport they love, without getting any credit besides a pat on the back. But by freshman year for musicians, their practice time is built into the day; they have the time after school to do their homework and study, all while gaining a higher grade point average automatically. This was never made common knowledge, “I regret not continuing to play my instrument; I would have if I had been aware of the upper hand it would have given me come highschool,” Chloe French, a senior, at Ipswich High School explains.  

Though music and sports can coexist in a student’s life, “The level of commitment between the two activities is simply not comparable. I spend much more time and energy playing my sport, but would never stop because I love it,” Nate Kristian, a senior cross-country, track, runner proclaimed, as he was previously a member of the band. 

Working on a team is one of the most valuable experiences a young person can have. Learning strategy, decision making, preparation, and getting exercise are some of the most important qualities for success later in life. Sports allow for a mindset like no other, and benefit someone in ways they wouldn’t be able to think of, just as learning music does. 

Someone could be far from a musician and participate in the band, orchestra, or chorus, and could also be far from an athlete but participate in sports throughout high school. Effort and time put into these activities are up to the individual. Level of competition does not matter in this argument. The fine arts offer both college prep level and honors level credits. Just as sports offer junior varsity and varsity levels, but without the credit. 

The value of music and the value of sports hold equal importance among students’ lives at Ipswich High School, but need to become equally recognized.