One of the major challenges facing interscholastic sports and other extracurricular activites at schools throughout the state is the same challenge faced by any other entity that must work within a budget – how to pay for what you need.

High school sports programs in Maine are subsidized through various means, including local school budgets, ticket revenues in a few sports, booster clubs, and a modest level of support from the state through its Essential Programs and Services funding – support that has waned in recent years.

It’s a constant challenge for those who try to provide the widest array of opportunities possible for student-athletes, just as it is for those who seek to supply similar opportunities for those who wish to pursue music or drama or debate.

Yet it’s one of the wiser investments in a school budget, save for those directly related to the classroom, for the complementary nature between extracurricular activities and the academic mission is considerable, and perhaps increasing.

For one thing, there is the motivational relationship between the two, in particular the need to maintain a reasonable academic standing in order to be eligible for a team or club.

“If you don’t have the grades, you’re not going to be on the team playing,” said Corey Cushing, a senior pitcher and second baseman on the Brewer High baseball team. “You know that you need to keep it up in school to be able to be on the team and help the team if that’s what you want to do.”

Cushing is set to attend Husson College in Bangor in the fall to continue his baseball career, and his studies.

“I don’t like school,” Cushing said. “I don’t think many kids do, but I know I need to be a part of the team to help them out.”

There’s also the relationship between academics and extracurricular activities in adding to the breadth of the overall educational experience.

Zach Huckel-Bauer, a senior at George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill, appreciates that opportunity. In addition to his studies, he plays second singles on the school’s newly-crowned Eastern Maine Class C champion boys tennis team, and is a former varsity soccer player.

And when he’s not in a classroom or on the field of play, you can find him acting on stage, or playing trumpet in the jazz band or as part of the school’s six-member jazz combo known as “Musiquarium.”

“That type of stuff is, in my opinion, really where the soul of a school is made, just in the little extracurriculars that someone has the heart to put a lot of time into,” said Huckel-Bauer, who will attend Vassar College next fall.

“For me, I want to go to school and get a good education, but it wouldn’t be as happy an experience and I wouldn’t have many of the memories I have without the after-school programs and the extracurricular activities that I’ve participated in.”

Whatever a student’s motivation, the relevance of extracurricular activities like sports or music or drama or debate to the educational environment can’t be understated. Ask Corey Cushing or Zach Huckel-Bauer, or any senior now spending his or her final days walking the high school hallways during this graduation season.

“It fills out the experience for me,” said Huckel-Bauer. “Sometimes I’m totally pressed for time and it’s crazy and I wonder why I do so much and I wonder how I can do everything, but then at the end of the day it’s really worthwhile to look back on it and think, ‘Wow, I pulled through and did all of this stuff and it was OK.'”

Ernie Clark may be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or eclark@bangordailynews.net