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Extra Curricular Activities
Service Activities
Volunteering is the best way to gather extra curricular activities in the realm of community service. Most places will be glad to have a hardworking, eager to learn, young person around to help out for free. Just make sure that’s who you are before you go looking to volunteer.
I would caution you against doing community service simply so you can put it on your application. If you truly have no desire to improve your community or help the less fortunate, then don’t volunteer! There are other activities that you can find and enjoy that you can do apart from serving the community.
If you do have a desire to improve your community or help the less fortunate, then what are you waiting for? You need to start helping out as soon as possible, and believe me, you can definitely make a difference in some lives.
What kind of places can you volunteer at? Virtually any community service based organization will be glad to have you. You could try construction or physical labor type work by looking into Habitat for Humanity or checking with your local parks and recreation systems. You can look at your local soup kitchen or check with nursing homes if you would rather work with people. Also, there might be camps that you can volunteer at during the summer, either by counseling children or doing various work as needed. Look around, any volunteer work that contributes to your community is valuable experience.
On a side note, it is my opinion that colleges give this type of extra curricular activity the most weight and importance. I think that the majority of colleges (at least liberal arts colleges, I would say) put extra value on those who would donate their time to improve the quality of their community. Also, it would be a good idea to express interest in continuing this service in your college’s community. That should only increase their approval. |
