Last month, we started the College Success Club and gave you some ideas on how you can plan a year’s worth of activities that help you and your members stay on top of all things related to your college preparation. For the first month, just starting, finding the initial core members, and brainstorming things to do will feel a lot harder because everything will feel unfamiliar. But as you go, you will feel more comfortable creating activities as a group, and you’ll experience growing pains that will challenge you to push the boundaries and do things differently compared to when you’re only studying. 

For month 2, the idea is that now you have a core group it’s time to set a goal and execute. It’s best to start small and get a feeling for how everyone will work together. You can start a social media account and plan out what you will say and what activities you would like to post about. You can do the activity independently or reach out to one of the many local charities or student groups that would love to have enthusiastic volunteers helping their cause. Month 2 is about putting that plan to paper, allotting time for each phase based on the time remaining, and then going out and getting something done together.

Whether you will be doing charity plays for children, submitting writing projects together, or maybe building something for NASA, the point is that this is where you show admissions people what kind of student you are behind the transcript. There is no right or wrong answer on what activities your group should ultimately decide to do. As society readjusts to the post-covid learning environment and welcomes very large technological advances, students will find that there are activities, events, and approaches towards projects available now that simply weren’t even last year. 

Month 1, 2, and 3 will happen over the summer vacation. Some students are already in the middle of their first activity, some students will begin putting their club together as the fall gets closer. All of our monthly goals for CSC have been created with a full schedule in mind and with the hope of avoiding undue pressure on the student. Top schools are tough to get into, but it’s important that you approach the experience with a marathon mentality as opposed to getting ready for a sprint. Start small, but stay consistent, and build upon what you’ve already done. Get started now or have a complete plan ready to go when you go back to school in the fall, either way, the most important part is to give yourself enough time to build out our application the way you desire. 

We’ll come back in July with month 3 goals, but for now, getting one activity out the door is a very big achievement for a new group – focus on that for this month. Good luck!

Month 2: Your first activity

• Week 1: Design and launch website or social media mentioning your first meeting and future fundraising activities.

• Week 2: Reach out to potential members based on your recruitment discussions

• Week 3: Discuss working alone as club or reaching out to other similar clubs

• Week 4: Members share new insights or ideas for the club