Hi My son loves to volunteer at his temple. He is considered a leader of sorts in various activities. He is going to get the gold presidential medal for freshman year volunteering. He is hoping to get either silver or gold for the other years in high school. This is main EC acitivity and he likes to show depth in this rather than scatter in various volunteer hours in multiple agencies. Is this going to help in selective college admissions ? This is assuming all other things like GPA/Testing scores are adequate.
Not so much the medal, which is based on hours. The rest depends on what he actually does. It might be good to diversify.
Diversify in EC or volunteering at various agencies ?
Thousands get the Gold medal every year. It isn’t that special. Getting the Congressional Youth Award requires more work and would be better, but volunteering at a religious institution won’t count. And he’d need hours for Physical development, Personal Growth, and Expedition as well.
What’s he been doing? Say it’s admin or random tasks, then he could do something with community needs, direct and more hands on. If he’s already working with the needy through a temple program, he could expand on that. Some kids do quite a bit that’s challenging, through a religious group, not just for it.
Part of the idea is that you do vol things from awareness of the needs around you and how you can have some impact.
Have to look up youth confessional award. No not towards any stem field although wants to Persue career in that or finance. He has been a camp counselor. And some charity work through temple. Pay for play activities are not much help was told.
Agree, if he is doing the activities he loves and has taken leadership roles then that is a fine EC. Getting an award for a certain number of hours doesn’t really change anything – it is the work he has done and time he has committed, not the awards he gets for volunteering X hours will be important.
FWIW my D got some kind of Congressional Recognition for volunteerism (one/year given in her HS) and while volunteering for this organization was a big EC for her, I don’t think that award in particular moved the needle on college admissions.
Adults can get the presidential medal, too. Dependson the organization and its interest in submitting paperwork.
Volunteering is great. Leadership is great. I would have him emphasize what he has achieved and the leadership he has shown.
So not:
Gold Medal, 100 hours, community service, Beth Shalom Temple
but
Gold Medal, 100 hours, community service, Beth Shalom Temple. Organized summer program for 3-7 year olds including advertising, recruiting, and teaching. etc.
Here is a quick question - D will have a lot of volunteer hours that would qualify her for some school service award, but that would be split between two school clubs and a few outside organizations. She’ll already be reporting those organizations and impact under Activities section, so would it be enough to add the report with total number of hours and just a list of organizations, or should there be a note “see Activities section”. Thanks!