Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Quiz Bowl v. Chess Club v. Engineering Club?

Who are his friends? What are they interested in? My son decided on the H.S. Robotics Club mostly because it's the club that the kids he was hanging out with at lunch decided to join. He struggles with social situations. At this point it's mostly an excuse for him to hang out with other like minded kids, while doing something he enjoys and I see it as more a social outlet than others. In my son's case he doesn't want to do anything else that smacks too much of academics.

Who the other kids are is probably as important as what activity it is especially if he can only choose one.

I am glad that the school is really into extracurricular activities. At least one of the teachers made a point of advising the kids to learn to prioritize to fit in activities. The teachers volunteer so I don't think that cutbacks are really an issue.
DS figured out a couple of years ago that he wants to play live chess with other kids without the craziness of competition. He tried a couple of tournaments but had a couple of minor negative incidents. One time a hyper-competitive parent volunteer made a huge deal of stopping the game with his own child after another volunteer already seated DS even though he technically arrived late. DS just thought it was kind of weird to go all crazy over a cheap trophy (money prizes he would have understood).

I think Quiz Bowl he would enjoy the most, both for the social aspect and the competition.

Unfortunately, it is both a scheduling issue and a time issue. Two of those are on the same day plus DS doesn't want to over-extend himself since he has other activities as well and he has always had a ton of free playtime. Like your DD, I think that he would rank Quiz Bowl ahead of the other two.

Unfortunately, he may be able to try two but not three due to scheduling issues. I think that DS would really enjoy tryouts if they have them since he is such a trivia nut and very quick. For chess club, I think that he is really just looking for casual games.

The problem for DS is that it is hard for him to find someone with whom to play. I am pretty sure that he is not willing to put in study time for chess as there are simply too many things he enjoys doing just as much.

That one is a bit hard since this is his first year at this school and it's not our neighborhood school.

I agree with you. However, this is his first year at this school and his sister is the only one from his elementary school so while he has been chatting with a lot of different kids, any "friendship" are still very new. Engineering Club is the only potential "academic" one since he is already a compulsive reader and chess is a game to him.