The beginning of a new school year is always exciting – new teachers, new classes, even a fancy new title. But once you’ve adjusted to your new routine, it’s also a great time to get started with organizing a new club at your school or a service organization in your community. Since the focus of your club or service organization is up to you – it is a chance to help build your resume “up” instead of out. It can be tempting to join fifteen different clubs, do tons of different service projects, and play a different sport each season each year – but at the end of four years, what would anyone know about your interests or passions? The answer is very little – you need a focus!
Brainstorm some ideas that interest you, enlist some friends to help, and you’re off and running! Here are some basic steps to start a grassroots service group – these can be modified to start a club, too.
1. Pick a group in need.
2. Think of something that group might need.
3. Call up four friends and ask them if they would want to get some community service hours.
4. Contact an organization that works with that group.
5. Ask that organization if it would mind letting people know about your new service.
6. Dedicate hours to the project each week for an organizational meeting and some blocks of time to provide the service.
7. See if you can get the local paper to cover your organization!
This may sound overwhelming at first but it can be a great way to demonstrate your passion and capabilities to colleges when it comes time for your applications. There’s more information about this topic in our book – Get Your Summer Strategy On! It is available on Amazon.com or you can download it as an eBook from our website by clicking here and even though it has “summer” in the title, there are plenty of tips that can be enacted at any time of year.
Here’s to a new school year and to starting something new!
