By SARAH HITCHCOCK / Guest Columnist

School involvement seems to be in short supply today. Everywhere I turn, all I can hear is negative things about things about teenagers.

Alright, Pelham is definitely not perfect; we have trailers that take up valuable senior parking spaces, a stricter dress code courtesy of the Shelby County Board of Education and the halls are so congested one can barely breath. I must admit it is pretty frustrating parking by the stadium at the bottom part of the hill on Panther Circle.

But we must remember that we are offered so many things in Shelby County schools, we need to spend more time being proud and involved.

Having spent a little more than three years in high school, I would like to say this has made me an expert about high schools, although I know that is wrong. So, in my unprofessional student opinion, it doesn’t seem so bad at all.

For all those students complaining out there, school gets so much better if they’re involved in school activities.

Whether it is drama or marching band, football or Mathletes, Pelham is lucky enough to have a large amount of diverse extracurricular activities to participate in or just support.

Want to volunteer? Try the Key Club or Junior Civitans. Have a seemingly infinite amount of knowledge that needs to be put to good use? There’s Scholar’s Bowl and Debate Team. Enjoy playing a lute while hopping on one foot in a circular formation? Well, there is not a club for that, but all someone needs to start one is a teacher sponsor and a few other members, as well as permission from the principal.

Teenagers in Shelby County are very lucky that we are offered so many different types of ways to be involved. Students should definitely take advantage of these opportunities because, not only can they take an active role in changing the dynamics of their school for the better, but meeting new friends and getting out of school for tournaments while having fun are definitely perks of being involved at school.

Plus, any extracurricular activity looks better to colleges than no activities at all – and no, playing Madden 08 is not an acceptable school activity.

Or, if someone doesn’t want to put in a whole lot of effort, going to sports games is an easy way to show support. Just going to football games is pretty easy to do for home games. Even just cheering at pep rallies when we’re supposed to cheer is fairly simple enough – all someone needs to do is show up at school that day.

Sarah Hitchcock is a 12th-grade student at Pelham High School