It is easy for students to overcommit early in their high school career. Understandably, your child may have enthusiastically signed up for a number of activities at the clubs fare or accumulated them over the course of their freshman year. In the beginning, it’s relatively easy to continue showing up for these activities without questioning their purpose. However as the semesters ware on, it’s important to stop and evaluate. Encourage your student to take time and determine which of their groups are of value and which they want to focus on as high school progresses. 

This may…

While a transcript is a key element of any college application, interests outside the classroom can be as important as the grades themselves. A well-rounded schedule with commitments both inside as well as outside the classroom shows that an applicant has developed both as an individual and as a student. 

Participation in a sports team or club is also an excellent opportunity for your child to enrich themselves and explore areas, creative or otherwise, that they may not be exposed to within their current course load. These experiences can be illuminating, character-building,…

By Virginia Young

Back when my oldest child was...well...a child, I had a hard time finding good academic and extracurricular activities for him. I’d find resources online, including lists of programs which looked promising at first but did not appear to be curated. When I did find something that might work, I’d search for reviews of the program but most of the time there weren’t very many or there were none at all. I have several memories of throwing caution to the wind and hoping for the best as I entered my credit card information to register for some of those programs. But to…

By Virginia Young

As a parent of three competitive fencers, I’ve watched my kids struggle with balancing sports and academics. The one concept that I drilled into my kids’ heads early on was that school ALWAYS comes first. Solid academics will increase a teen’s chances of being admitted to competitive schools and finding a spot on an NCAA fencing (or any other sport) team. Likewise, poor grades will limit a teen’s choices for college, regardless of how good of an athlete she may be.

So, how can a teen keep her grades up while performing at her peak in a sport? I asked my…

By Donna Meyer, Editor at Fencing Parents 

Finding one’s passion is not easy. If we are lucky, we find it through experimentation, trying out different activities that appeal to us until we find that one thing that holds our attention, and inspires a deep interest. For children and teenagers, it is even harder to find a passion. Like the adults, they are most likely to find their passion through trial and error, albeit with adult supervision. 

When my 2 sons started fencing at ages 8 and 10 in Singapore, I crossed my fingers that they would stick with the sport. They had…