<p>There are already some clubs at school, but I want to start my own. I was thinking of doing something where we can send letters to troops, cancer patients, or anyone else that is in need of motivation and a few words of kindness. But idk how that would go about, seems very complicated to me. Any ideas on a club I could start? Thanks!</p>
<p>How about a “How To Get Into a Prestigious College by Starting a Club” club</p>
<p>that follows the dictum of “do what you are interested in”</p>
<p>OTOH, you could just start doing what you are interested in and see where that goes . . .</p>
<p>Ehh, talk to the teachers in your school? How can we know the system in your HS?</p>
<p>I don’t mean to sound rude, but we can’t tell you what kind of club to start. Starting clubs shouldn’t be about getting into prestigious colleges. Starting clubs should be about pursuing what you enjoy and being able to share your interests with others in your school. What is your motivation behind sending letters to troops, cancer patients, etc? Do you have a family member/friend who had cancer? Is one of your family members in the army? Do you sympathize with friends? Or is your motivation (even if its subconsciously so) purely to have “done something” in your life that may seem meaningful due to its connotation in society?</p>
<p>Don’t do something you won’t care about. In 8th grade, my friends pushed me to join the Astronomy Club (they are still in it just for the prestige of being in a club where you don’t have to do much). I went to one meeting, utterly despised it, almost fell asleep during the introduction to astronomy, and decided not to do it again. I also tried a charity club in which students “volunteered” around the community, but several people were just in it for prestige again (aka getting points towards a “prestigious” award offered at my school to only the “best” students) and no one really CARED about helping others. There wasn’t an ounce of dedication, and so the ethic of club was mediocre. I was in it for two years (7th/8th after I was encouraged by my friends to join), but I quit and joined another, much less “important and worthy”, but definitely more worth it than the time I spent in those other two clubs.</p>
<p>That said, I won’t give you any suggestions on clubs to start. You have to do that on your own. Again, if you don’t want to make a club for the sake of making a club, then don’t. If you want to make a club in order to flaunt what many people call “passion” to admissions officers, then don’t make a club. </p>
<p>I can give you recommendations though. First of all, what do you enjoy? Is there a sport you enjoy doing? Do you have a connection with some place? For example, I used to visit a nursing home with my elementary school every Wednesday and Friday. I danced the peppermint twist with them, did balloon toss, bingo, etc. Each kid in the class would have a partner, and we’d do art activities together, read to each other, talk to each other, etc. I LOVED it. I didn’t have time to go back until 10th grade (until 9th grade I had to babysit my siblings daily since my parents work from the moment I get to school to around 11 PM at night), but now I organize and plan with my band director and school so that we can play at the nursing home on holidays, (and hopefully from now on, once every month). What are your hobbies? For instance, I’m a HUGE otaku. Sure, I get a 4.0 GPA and I study so that I can get 800’s and 5’s (my parents have never failed to tell me that academics are a prerequisite for applying to my dream schools), but that doesn’t stop me from watching hours and hours of anime, Korean/Japanese/Taiwanese dramas, reality shows, manga, and Kpop music videos. I have an account on TheO and my friends and I have an unofficial club to talk/discuss/randomize in lengthy discussions about our interests. Do you have a certain goal you want to achieve? if so, what is your motivation behind doing it? One of my friends founded a club in order to increase the political awareness of teens (like me who never read the news and didn’t know what politics was until high school hehe) because he is passionate about anything pertaining to history, current events, government, or politics. Do you want to help out a nonprofit organization that has a strong tie to you? If so, why not tie it into your club? Let’s say you love art of all kinds: writing, sculpting, painting, doodling, singing, dancing, etc. You can create a club that people can join to submit their work, and after it gets a little popularity, you can start holding concerts. Once it really gets going, maybe you can make it a tradition so that your school has annual concert fundraisers, and all proceeds go to a certain nonprofit organization. Or you can organize an event in which you and your club-mates all volunteer as a group somewhere: not just any random place, but something that pertains to you all. You could volunteer at an underprivileged elementary school to work with kids in art, or offer free summer programs/sessions for kids who can’t afford summer camp or materials for drawing/etcetcetc. By the way yes, I use etc a lot.</p>
<p>Anyways, you get my point. Don’t make a club because others want you to do it. Make a club because YOU want to do it. The best way to get into any college? Don’t listen to the college or anyone else in society. I play video games, I go on an online gaming site for 14 hours straight sometimes, I have watched over 200+ dramas and anime, and most of the people at my school would call me strange because I do. I still do it though… and not to mention the mini benefits. On the SAT II bio, there were two questions pertaining to a topic that was mentioned in a Tdrama I had marathon’d the night before and so I got an 800. I can understand the conversations that my parents have with others in Japanese and Chinese partially. I learned how to code and effectively use photoshop from TheO and another gaming site. From Pokemon, I learned 100 vocabulary words and increased my score from a scaled 490 to a 760+. My point is, think about what’s right for you. EVEN IF IT’S SOMETHING REALLY OBSCURE, LIKE A CLUB THAT SPENDS DAYS AT A TIME PHOTOSHOPPING RAINBOW PONIES AND COWS… okay I admit couldn’t think of anything else. But yes. Everything has the potential to be a club, and everything has the potential to be a learning process. If you are passionate enough about what you do, then you’ll be able to find an answer. Just be creative.</p>
<p>Second of all, to start a club, you should probably talk to your school’s counselor or the principal. When I started two clubs at my school, I first asked my counselor for approval, and he sent me to the principal. I had to type up a document that had information on what I planned to do in the club, which teacher was going to sponsor me, and other proposals. Our school is on a low budget, so I assured him that I would not need any of the school’s money, and so my clubs were approved. When you present your plan, make sure it’s organized, well thought out, and nothing beyond ordinary (for example, one of my friends wanted to make a club that would fundraise thousands of dollars a year in order to serve smart students at the school who want to take online APs to further weight their elitist GPA, and the planned activities were also ridiculously impossible. In addition to that, only two people were interested in his club–to be his third/fourth founded–and he doesn’t have any ideas on how to fundraise or conduct the actual activities.) What do I mean by this example? Pursue your dreams, but be pragmatic. Start small, then build onto that. </p>
<p>Sorry for the long and dreary post. .____. I admit I am a little garrulous hah.</p>
<p>Agree with @gomdorri and @kei. Fully. Completely.
To Tier 1 universities, starting a club neither shows talent nor skill. If you look at all the people who’ve gotten in to Stanford, how many of them got in solely based on their ability to start clubs? You’d be better off utilizing your time to pursue your interests independently. How will putting in hours of your time devoted to your club help you directly 30 years from now? (Answer: it won’t.)
Furthermore, try and see beyond your own community. It’s ridiculous to me that students build picnic benches alongside their community centers (so the children of the bourgeois could have a rest after their private tennis lessons or something) and think they deserve some recognition for helping others. There are girls in third-world countries who undergo genital mutilation, people in Africa struggling to build sustainable communities, and cultures where it’s still acceptable to abuse your wife. It takes more than letters to help them, but you may find that it would take the same amount of time as it would to maintain a club. </p>
<p>TL;DR: Your opportunity cost for starting a club that does next to nothing is high.</p>