Karen Flores inside one of the studios at Encore Dance. The students are working on a routine during summer camp.

Extracurricular activities can have many benefits in school age children, especially the group from six to 12 years old.  This age group actually spends more time outside the classroom than in them. 

These activities may include sports, scouting, dance, drama, or music.  Studies have shown that students who participate in extracurricular activities are more successful in their academics and even if a child struggles in school, the activity may help to bring about a positive change in school from the child excelling at something he or she really enjoys and helps build their self-esteem.  As the child grows the extra-curricular activity may inspire the student in a career where academics may not.

Karen Flores, owner of Encore Studios’ two locations, built a very successful career on an extracurricular activity she began at the age of five.  “I was very un-coordinated and my parents felt I needed something to do ­– an outlet,” she says.  “Dance was the suggestion and I wanted to take ballet. My instructor said I had to take three years of tap before anything else.”  

Her determination and passion convinced the instructor that she should take ballet, and she ended up taking it along with tap in her third year. Flores danced until she was 18.  When it was time for college, Flores resisted her parents;  she wanted to follow her passion.  She had danced in a couple of companies, took a few business classes, and surprised her parents when she said she was opening a dance school.  In 1991, she opened Encore Studios in the Chesterfield Meadows Shopping Center.

Not everyone taking dance will open a school like Flores, but it was the passion she found in dance that inspired a career.

Flores says many of her students have continued dance after high school into college.  They see it as an extracurricular activity in college.  “Dance will always be a part of who they are,” she says.  As far as creating friendships and teamwork outside the classroom, Flores says she has a group 16 girls who began with her when she first opened the studio.  “This class of 16 has been with me since the beginning.  Dancing three to four hours a week, coming from different schools, they have a bond with each other and strong friendships,” she says.  “The whole class is graduating and this year’s [recital] will be very emotional.”

Extracurricular activities build friendships with friends outside their comfort zone;  they keep a child active and interested to where they may say “no” to riskier behavior.  Young people also build relationships with committed adults who direct the activities. The school that began Flores’ life’s passion is still in existence and her instructor, Carl Crosby, is thought about often.

Chester has two additional dance schools, Chesterfield School of Ballet, a classical ballet program, and Dance Xplosion, a dance school in its third year.

lfausz@villagepublishing.com | 751-0421

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