Founding a club?

[lacebolla]

Hi everyone. I hope everyone is doing well

In short, in light of this year's elections, I saw that many of my classmates wanted to become versed enough in politics to vote. As I've been keeping up with politics, being moderate and following closely both Democrats and Republicans, I thought that it would be best to begin a Debate and Discussion Club. I just ran my first meeting, and had 46 people attend that. I am following the rules to get the formal Debate club distinction (from what my counselor had emailed me) which should take about a week. With that, we ran formal elections online this past Friday, and I was elected as President. In seeing that I both founded and was elected President of this club, along with establishing the organization in light of an issue, where would this put me in terms of my overall application?

 

[usma_2025]

I would think it would boost your application - provided that you make sure to provide specific examples of your leadership and evidence that your club is "legit".

These past couple years in particular, there seem to be an absurd amount of newly founded "clubs" and "teams" and "volunteer organizations" with <5 members that exist for the sole purpose of boosting the "founder"'s college application to score leadership points - I've counted about 10 just at my high school on social media, and all of them have done exactly zero work. Not sure about the service academies, but I know a lot of college admissions officers in my state's school system have caught on and roll their eyes at these "startup projects", and may even let it be a mark against the applicant, because it's pretty dishonest and kind of insulting to people who worked hard and were actually productive.

I would make sure you really emphasize that you have something to show for your Debate club (the official distinction helps, and I would mention the large team size). At least in my state, my counselors told me that it's really important to provide actual examples of you being a leader and evidence that your club is a real club to distinguish yourself from the avalanche of "clubs" that only exist on paper.

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[lacebolla]

I would think it would boost your application - provided that you make sure to provide specific examples of your leadership and evidence that your club is "legit".

These past couple years in particular, there seem to be an absurd amount of newly founded "clubs" and "teams" and "volunteer organizations" with <5 members that exist for the sole purpose of boosting the "founder"'s college application to score leadership points - I've counted about 10 just at my high school on social media, and all of them have done exactly zero work. Not sure about the service academies, but I know a lot of college admissions officers in my state's school system have caught on and roll their eyes at these "startup projects", and may even let it be a mark against the applicant, because it's pretty dishonest and kind of insulting to people who worked hard and were actually productive.

I would make sure you really emphasize that you have something to show for your Debate club (the official distinction helps, and I would mention the large team size). At least in my state, my counselors told me that it's really important to provide actual examples of you being a leader and evidence that your club is a real club to distinguish yourself from the avalanche of "clubs" that only exist on paper.

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I completely get where you're coming from. I have clubs like that on my campus as well, and I wanted to change that and really establish an organization that stemmed from both my interests in politics and helping others. I will find a way to find proof of legitimacy, as well as our member count. We're going to roll out the club to underclassmen this week, as we've only opened it to seniors to see how the club would run online.

Thank you! I really appreciate your feedback!

 

[shiner]

Document your challenges and lessons learned. You have a great opportunity for some content rich bullet statements with what you are doing -- if done properly. See a need -- Fill a need.

1) Saw need within community
2) Took action
3) Founded Org (what did this entail? Did you have to secure a faculty sponsor? Where there other hurdles?)
4) Crafted 8 month plan spanning xx-meetings, xx-service projects, xx-group donated service hours
5) Grew membership from 0 to 48 members attending at least 95% of group activities
6) Led community voter registration drive targeting current 12th graders and recent HS graduates that netted xxx new voter registrations for 2020 elections.
7) Future plans at expansion within the school district/region to branch out and hold spirited political debates between school groups

 

[lacebolla]

Document your challenges and lessons learned. You have a great opportunity for some content rich bullet statements with what you are doing -- if done properly. See a need -- Fill a need.

1) Saw need within community
2) Took action
3) Founded Org (what did this entail? Did you have to secure a faculty sponsor? Where there other hurdles?)
4) Crafted 8 month plan spanning xx-meetings, xx-service projects, xx-group donated service hours
5) Grew membership from 0 to 48 members attending at least 95% of group activities
6) Led community voter registration drive targeting current 12th graders and recent HS graduates that netted xxx new voter registrations for 2020 elections.
7) Future plans at expansion within the school district/region to branch out and hold spirited political debates between school groups

Thank you for this. I'm definitely going to make all of those points heard when finishing my Candidate Activities Form. Thank you again!

 

[SF_Treat]

Last fall, my son started a trap and skeet club at his school, a local chapter of a national competitive league Since guns are involved, it took a long time to get approval, but he finally did it. Then, the kids had to take an online safety class, which, while important, was about as interesting as Driver's Ed, so he lost a few members. The competition was to be in the spring, but, well, due to events it never happened. He is going to mention the founding of the club, because just that took A LOT more work than a regular club, but he will be very clear that there were no competitions last year. It is not the strongest part of his application, but to get a gun club passed on a public high school campus these days, shows grit!

Also, to be clear, this was sponsored by a teacher at the school and is called the XXXXX High Trap and Skeet club, and uses the school's logo, but none of it take place at school. I don't want readers to think my son has kids bringing guns to school. The competitions were to take place at gun ranges.

i think leading your peers in this manner is a great example of leadership.

 

[lacebolla]

Last fall, my son started a trap and skeet club at his school, a local chapter of a national competitive league Since guns are involved, it took a long time to get approval, but he finally did it. Then, the kids had to take an online safety class, which, while important, was about as interesting as Driver's Ed, so he lost a few members. The competition was to be in the spring, but, well, due to events it never happened. He is going to mention the founding of the club, because just that took A LOT more work than a regular club, but he will be very clear that there were no competitions last year. It is not the strongest part of his application, but to get a gun club passed on a public high school campus these days, shows grit!

Also, to be clear, this was sponsored by a teacher at the school and is called the XXXXX High Trap and Skeet club, and uses the school's logo, but none of it take place at school. I don't want readers to think my son has kids bringing guns to school. The competitions were to take place at gun ranges.

i think leading your peers in this manner is a great example of leadership.

Thank you for sharing that, as it really helped me understand that showing true grit in establishing my club is important. I did have to jump through hurdles, as a lot of the administrators at my school felt that it would do more damage than help students when debating politics. I had to virtually present a PowerPoint to my Vice Principal on why I felt this club was necessary, and while I feel that there is a lot of opposition in our political climate at this time, helping my peers get an understanding of how American politics runs and finding their solid beliefs is necessary for this coming election and their life in general.

 

[HCopter]

Last fall, my son started a trap and skeet club at his school, a local chapter of a national competitive league Since guns are involved, it took a long time to get approval, but he finally did it. Then, the kids had to take an online safety class, which, while important, was about as interesting as Driver's Ed, so he lost a few members. The competition was to be in the spring, but, well, due to events it never happened. He is going to mention the founding of the club, because just that took A LOT more work than a regular club, but he will be very clear that there were no competitions last year. It is not the strongest part of his application, but to get a gun club passed on a public high school campus these days, shows grit!

Also, to be clear, this was sponsored by a teacher at the school and is called the XXXXX High Trap and Skeet club, and uses the school's logo, but none of it take place at school. I don't want readers to think my son has kids bringing guns to school. The competitions were to take place at gun ranges.

i think leading your peers in this manner is a great example of leadership.

EXCELLENT!!!!! I love this!!!!!!

Not that's it a club, or a gun club, but that there is the overlay of the whole weapons (not) on campus, and to me, that is the most interesting part of starting this club. What he had to do with administration, overlay with legal concerns, and following through with it. Clearly, waaaayyyy beyond hanging up posters and getting the social studies teacher to lend a room.

 

[BuckeyeDad20]

My DS started the school Debate team as a Freshman. He lobbied the School President and Principal, got funding and luckily was assigned a top notch faculty advisor. The team grew into Speech and Debate and competed statewide. He learned a great deal about leading and following and had several strong experiences that he could hone int greta interview/essay responses. He is now a Doolie. Did it help? I assume so. But, I really don't think that one thing got him in - it was just one part of the package.

Good for you for starting the club. As Shiner said above, have specific actions and lessons learned that demonstrate you got something out of this experience.

 

[88Beast]

Last fall, my son started a trap and skeet club at his school, a local chapter of a national competitive league Since guns are involved, it took a long time to get approval, but he finally did it. Then, the kids had to take an online safety class, which, while important, was about as interesting as Driver's Ed, so he lost a few members. The competition was to be in the spring, but, well, due to events it never happened. He is going to mention the founding of the club, because just that took A LOT more work than a regular club, but he will be very clear that there were no competitions last year. It is not the strongest part of his application, but to get a gun club passed on a public high school campus these days, shows grit!

Also, to be clear, this was sponsored by a teacher at the school and is called the XXXXX High Trap and Skeet club, and uses the school's logo, but none of it take place at school. I don't want readers to think my son has kids bringing guns to school. The competitions were to take place at gun ranges.

i think leading your peers in this manner is a great example of leadership.

I would also have your Son add in there if any of the squad members that ending up joining the club shot in ATA / AIM events as the ranges opened or are doing so now. This will also show that not only did he bring on a new club to his school....it also followed through with Gun safety and the opportunity for those students to continue on with a sport long past high school.

 

[SF_Treat]

Thank you for sharing that, as it really helped me understand that showing true grit in establishing my club is important. I did have to jump through hurdles, as a lot of the administrators at my school felt that it would do more damage than help students when debating politics. I had to virtually present a PowerPoint to my Vice Principal on why I felt this club was necessary, and while I feel that there is a lot of opposition in our political climate at this time, helping my peers get an understanding of how American politics runs and finding their solid beliefs is necessary for this coming election and their life in general.

I am glad I could help. Having watched my son do it, I know how hard it is, and that you are on the cusp of hearing "no" every time. Good for you for sticking with it. Even if, for whatever reason, you don't end of writing about it, know that you have a MOUNTAIN of grit.