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Report on SmartGirl Meets World
Smart girls decide for themselves™.
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With more possibilities for girls now than ever before, we wanted to know which extracurricular activities SmartGirls choose to participate in. Check out the results of our Get Involved survey to find out what SmartGirls enjoy doing.
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Well of the 570 responses, 556 of them were from girls, while 9 boys answered and another 5 didn't say which sex they were. Most of the responses came from girls between the ages of 12 and 15 years old, many of which live in either a town or a suburb.
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| How many extracurricular activities are you involved in? |
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The first thing we wanted to know was what SmartGirls are up to when they aren't sitting in school. Curiously, we asked how many extracurricular activities you are involved in ranging anywhere from sports, to drama, to clubs and other out-of-class activities. The results are graphed above!
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Naturally the next question we wanted to ask was what activities you participated in. There were many results, all of which sound like tons of fun and lots of commitment.
Here are some of your favorite extracurricular activities:
~ Music (band, instruments etc): 277 responses
~ Sports: 252 responses
~ Plays, theater and dance: 240 responses
~ Volunteering Activities: 131 responses
~ Academic Clubs: 125 responses
~ Youth Groups: 116 responses
~ Other hobbies: 104 responses
~ Race and culture clubs: 92 responses
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| Types of activities you do! |
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Who told our SmartGirls about their favorite after school activities? Not surprisingly most of you (163) said that you discovered them on your own through flyers or through your own curiosity. It looks like friends are a great way to get informed about fun out-of-school activities since 154 of you said that you learned of your favorite group through a friend. Parents also took the initiative to help get their kids involved since you said that 69 of your parents helped you find fun things to do. A few teachers, about 47 of you reported, informed you of what was going on outside of the classroom and in your community while 21 said they learned info from their sibs.
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Just wondering what your thoughts were on how important extracurricular activities actually are, we asked you to rate your thoughts according to strongly agree (very important), agree (important), disagree (not important) and strongly disagree (not important at all). Here's what you said:
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| Important or not? |
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We know there are lots of reasons why SmartGirls want to get involved, but we weren't sure which were important to YOU. Here is what you told us! First, it was important that the activity be fun! A whopping 197 of you said that it was fun and that was why you wanted to participate. New activities are also a great way to meet new people as 77 of you pointed out, and also you get a chance to show others that you care (56 very-caring responses). Hey learning can be fun too! 49 of our SmartGirls said they love their activities because they get to learn. We know there are endless reasons, but these are some of your most important reasons for joining clubs and activities.
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How much do you agree with the following statement?
"My parents have forced me to take part in an extracurricular activity in which I didn't want to participate."
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| Forced to participate? |
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We simply asked who participates more, los chicos (the boys) or las chicas (the girls)?
~ Equal: 344 responses
~ Girls: 143
~ Boys: 66
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| Who does more?! |
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Who says getting an education is important in making a difference in the world? Well 289 of you said it is extremely important while 163 of you said that yes it is important. 65 of the responses were neutral, while there were only 24 who said that getting an education isn't important to make differences in the world.
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We all know that there are things in society that need to be tweaked or significantly changed. When asked how important it is for your future career to focus on helping society, you said:
~ Strongly agree: 116
~ Agree: 189
~ Neutral: 198
~ Disagree: 35
~ Strongly disagree: 9
Who agrees that protesting and civil disobedience are essential ways to make a difference in our society?
~ Strongly agree: 53
~ Agree: 114
~ Neutral: 239
~ Disagree: 85
~ Strongly disagree: 54
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Sometimes it takes a strong person to stand up and encourage change about an issue that he or she feels strongly about. Some people are radicals and risk getting into serious trouble trying to stand up for important causes. (By serious we meant getting expelled, fined or arrested!) We asked you if there were any causes that you were willing to get into serious trouble for. Here are your very interesting answers!
Number of responses
Reproductive Rights: 119
Animal Rights: 179
Children issues (abuse, labor): 201
Civil rights: 128
Disabilities: 99
Eating disorders: 78
Economy: 40
Environment: 101
Education: 147
Gay-lesbian Rights: 100
Heath care: 81
Homelessness: 136
Human Rights: 185
Hunger: 121
International issues: 52
Justice: 131
Security: 39
Politics: 52
Poverty: 99
Racial issues: 133
Religion: 149
Teen Pregnancy: 132
Women’s rights: 196
None: 106
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| Agree or Disagree? |
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| Should community service be required for students in order to graduate from high school??! |
| Which do you consider yourself? |
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| Are you a leader, follower, either or neither? |
So if you wanted to get involved, what would be the best way?
~ Join a local Club: 235 responses
~ Start a new Club: 62 responses
~ By yourself: 103 responses
~ Vote: 44 responses
~ Donate: 35 responses
~ Be a politician: 9 responses
We all have feelings about politics, which best describes yours?
~ Positive: 80 responses
~ Needs changes: 221 responses
~ Negative: 98 responses
~ Don’t know: 145 responses
When you compare our generation to the previous generation are we more or less involved?
~ More: 168 responses
~ Less: 137 responses
~ Equal: 82 responses
~ Don’t know: 183 responses
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We asked which issue or issues you would like to see discussed further on the SmartGirl website. You all gave great ideas and feedback to our staff about what issues really matter to you. Here are a few examples that stuck out to us!
~ Civil Rights Because people are acting prejudice, especially in schools, in general so some day I want to be a person who can make a difference and everyone can be treated equal. Even though slavery is over, not only white people but black people act prejudice against others. That's why someday I want to be able to be a person to make a difference and then everyone can be treated and respected the same.
~ I'd like to see gay/lesbian rights discussed in SmartGirl. I'm myself am a heterosexual, but I have a few gay/bisexual friends. I also have aunts, uncles and friends who are strongly against gays and gay rights and I'd like them to understand that gays are just normal people. I also think that gay rights is a really hot topic now that gay marriage is being discussed. In my country, Canada, it is already legal, but there is a big debate over it in other countries, such as USA.
~ I would like to see education issues discussed on SmartGirl as they are something that will affect us all on a daily basis and it's something everyone should be thinking about - how to get the best out of your education.
~ I would like the election of 2004 to be discussed because it is a very important issue right now and teens should be able to state their opinions.
~ I would like to see teen pregnancy discussed more on Smart Girl because I know many teenagers becoming pregnant.
~ Sex... We need to tell the teenagers more about STIs & STDs... The rate is increasing.. Create more awareness in them and help them prepare better for the future... Food too needs to be discussed because obesity is increasing (and eating disorders).
~ Dealing with a close death in the family.
~ Politics, Economy, and the Environment.
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Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts
with us!
Please remember that all web-based polls
are not scientific because the pollsters cannot randomly select the
respondents to participate in the surveys.
All our surveys are anonymous; check out our privacy
policy. All data copyright 1996-2000.
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