Penalized...for being active in our community?

There’s this friend that I honestly think is superwoman.  She does everything.  On top of all of the work in IB, she manages highlights, play practice, costuming, games, band practices, etc etc etc.  She does so much in our school, and I’ve come to realize that although she really enjoys it and not I nor anyone else could ever ask her to quit, she doesn’t really....get compensated.  Yes, she does through the sheer enjoyment of everything, but because she does so much else aside from academics, she doesn’t really have much time left for academics.  And all though I think she does REALLY well, I know her grades suffer at least a little.  How could they not, when she doesn’t get home some days until way past 9:00pm?

I realize that this is completely unrealistic.  I realize that there’s probably no plausible way to do this.  But I really wish GPA, class rank, etc, wasn’t just based soley off of academics.  Because to people like my friend, who take on both a rigorous course load and an abundance of extra curriculars, it just doesn’t seem....fair.

But I realize that since you can’t be graded on extra curriclars it’s impossible, and grading those would take the fun away from them anyway.  And yes, you can say that colleges look at other activities aside from GPA and class rank when you apply, but when someone asks you your class rank, you can’t just be like, “Oh, I’m this, but I do these other things too” because that’s not what they’re asking, and you sound arrogant and boastful.

I guess I just want people to take into account that truly dedicated people do more than just focus their lives around school; they find a balance between school, and other things that will help them develop and grow in other ways.

And so you know girl, I’m really, really proud of you.  Can’t wait to see the play.  You’re going to be wonderful.