If you’re starting college soon, you may already be overwhelmed by the workload you expect. After all, private college campus life is busy enough and between all of your classes, paying tuition, and other responsibilities, you may feel like you have enough to do. Getting involved on campus will teach you teamwork, as well as networking skills that you can use in your future career. It will give you a real world environment to apply the skills that you learn in classes, and as an added benefit, you will make friends along the way.
The benefits to yourself will be notable, and when you get involved in campus life you will also be helping the other students and giving back to your community. Ultimately, it’s also a great way to build a resume, make friends, and enrich your private college campus life. But what are the best ways to get involved on campus? What, specifically, can you do to get involved? Here are a few suggestions:
Join (or Start) a Club
This one may be the most obvious, but it’s also one of the most useful. Once you get to college you will most likely find that many people share your specific interests. Chances are, there is already a club that you will feel right at home in. If there isn’t, however, consider starting one yourself. Just because there isn’t a club already suited to a certain niche does not mean there’s no demand for it.
Before you even arrive for your first day at college, you can check online to see what clubs exist. If there are none that you think suit you, you can fill out a registration form to have a new club created. Once you’ve been approved by your school, you can begin looking for members for your club and ultimately begin having meetings and choosing leaders. Starting a club involves a lot of work and responsibility, but can absolutely be worth it if you are willing to put in the time.
Try Tutoring
If there’s a subject you excel in, such as math, consider giving back by providing tutoring and homework help to other students. Many students need extra help with one or more subjects during their college campus life, and having tutors available to them will help them to succeed.
You can also help in the classroom as a teaching assistant, which will provide much needed aid to your professors and further help your fellow students to succeed. It will not simply be their success, however, but yours as well. One of the best ways to improve in a subject yourself is to teach it, and you will learn a lot in the process. Tutoring also looks excellent on a resume, especially if you are seeking a career that will make use of the subject you teach. Tutoring is a challenge to undertake, and will involve a strong commitment on your end. Often, you may become frustrated as students struggle to learn the subject you are attempting to teach them. However, with patience, persistence, and a good attitude, you may find teaching to be one of the most rewarding things you can do for yourself and others.
Perform Community Service
Most colleges have programs to give back to their communities in a variety of ways. Your college should be no different, so look into what community service activities your school provides.
Helping your local community is another thing that looks excellent on a resume, but it has a variety of other benefits as well. Private college campus life can be very stressful for students, but performing volunteer work has actually been studied to reduce stress. By focusing on helping others, you will take your mind off your own problems, making your college life easier.
Not only that, but you will find that community service is a great way to make new friends while at school.
You can also use community service as a great learning opportunity. As you work with different organizations you will learn how they are structured and develop teamwork and leadership skills. There are many ways that colleges give back; sometimes through coordinated activities as simple as trash pickup days, and other times through mentoring younger students or similar outreach programs. Check online or in person to discover what types of community service your college offers.
Get Involved In Student Government
You are going to spend four years – perhaps more if you intend to pursue graduate school – on your college campus. As such, getting involved in student government may be a great way to develop leadership skills while helping to bring change to your campus.
As with the other extracurricular activities we’ve mentioned, getting involved in your student government will equip you with a variety of life skills you can apply in the real world. In addition to helping build your resume, you will work closely with other students and develop contacts that you can network with for years to come. You’ll also learn a lot about the structure of your school government and will be able to apply these administration skills in various areas throughout your life.
Whichever extracurricular activities you choose, you can expect to reap a variety of benefits both in your present and your future. You will learn about yourself, develop life skills, and build your resume.
