First Steps in Doing Good for High School and College Students
A major characteristic of the younger generation is their desire to change the world. However, with busy schedules, lack of awareness of opportunities, and growing competition in the public sector, it is hard for many young people to understand what steps they should take to making a career in social justice.
The tips below will allow you to tap into your passion for social change while developing important skills and networks for a career in the non-profit sector. The emphasis is on exploration of your interest and talents and connection to organizations and your peers.
Start something good
Make an effort to start or lead a service based project in your school. Lead a toy drive for a local charity or start a tutoring program by gathering a bunch of your friends after school. Go the extra mile and design a project that allows you to raise money while getting the school and local community involved by organizing a walkathon. Also, pay attention to local events and see how you can help. Is there an election coming up? Create and distribute flyers and pamphlets or start a voting drive.
Make your class work relevant
Connect your academic work to your passion for social justice. Take classes that include service-learning or support your research by doing your own community service. Examine how what you are learning in class can benefit people less fortunate than you or how different perspectives from different communities can enhance or challenge what you are learning. The goal is to not only give back but also to constantly grow more connected and aware of the world around you.
Volunteer
Giving your time to an organization is the best way to demonstrate commitment and passion. To get the most out of your volunteering, make it a key part of your schedule (like going to class or playing a sport) and reflect on what you are learning and what is challenging on a regular basis. Ask the organization how you can be of best use to them and make attempts to build a relationship with the organization and the population you are serving.
Invite organizations to the school
Not just in terms of partnering for community service projects, but also as speakers, facilitators, and panelists. Is there a pressing issue at your school (like bullying)? Invite a nonprofit focusing on that issue to help lead a workshop. Want to learn more about climate change and protecting the environment? Get people from organizations focusing on the environment to lead a panel discussion. Inviting organizations to share their expertise allows them to share their cause and pushes people to think about an issue as well as act.
Allison, this is brilliant! I read a recent study that followed college freshman through their 4 years at school. Incoming, something like 87% of them said they planned to volunteer and get involved in community service, but during their senior year survey checkin, only 14% or so actually HAD volunteered!
Your post proves that there are many ways to do good, and much of the time the only barrier to actually doing good is knowledge of HOW to do it. I’ll be linking to this post on my blog for sure!
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These are great ideas!
As a college student, I feel like I hear more and more about students looking to volunteer.
I fall into a lot of different crowds and so many of my friends are focused on service.
A lot of scholarships now focus on community service as well!
-Tessa Muggeridge
learningthroughservice.wordpress.com
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@Tessa: Thanks for the website. I think if we let students know that there are a variety of ways to give back, we wouldnt lose so students who feel as though there little they can do. We all can help out in some way that fits our personality and lifestyles!
@Brie: Thanks for linking!
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These are wonderful suggestions. I think number two especially (make your classwork relevant) would help a lot of students who are stretched thin time-wise by allowing them to mix their academic and service-oriented passions at once. As a college student with little free time myself, I took this approach and started working with a research project through the School of Social Sciences that works with low-income Spanish-language Head Start students (the overall goal is to develop bilingual curriculum and help them succeed in the classroom since they often have little English-language guidance at home). This allowed me to help kids who really needed it (and use my Spanish skills), but I also learned a lot about language acquisition and received class credit in the process. It’s one of the most enjoyable and valuable projects I’ve worked on and I’m so glad you are encouraging other students to take the same approach!
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ajlovesya Reply:
February 19th, 2009 at 9:21 am
@Maria: Thanks for sharing! And your research sounds so interesting. Once again there are so many ways to give back we need to help students find a way that best suits them.
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