We teach our Collegewise students a college essay concept we call “Own your stories.” Owning your story means that you tell a story only you could tell. It doesn’t have to be an earth-shattering experience or something deeply personal. Your experiences of playing in the marching band, having a part-time job, taking care of your little sister after school, etc., are not the same as those of other students who may have done those things. To take ownership, you focus on the parts that are unique to you.

But taking ownership of any story is easier if you took ownership during the experience.

If you write for the school paper and do only what’s expected of you (you attend the meetings, write what’s assigned, and turn your articles in on time), you share ownership of that experience with thousands of other students who did exactly the same thing. And you’re probably not getting as much out of it as you could have.

What if you decided to take ownership of your time on the paper? You could take an outside writing class in person or online. You could find three successful journalistic giants in the industry and pour through all of their work. You could pitch bigger stories, jump in and help your peers doing advertising or photography, or write a blog that shows the development of your pieces from concept to finished product. Now you’re doing things most people in your position aren’t doing. You’ve taken ownership.

Taking ownership doesn’t mean that you ignore what’s asked of you and just do what you want to do. It means making the conscious decision to bring energy and enthusiasm to whatever you’re doing. It means making an impact and leaving a legacy. A writer for the school paper who does only what’s asked of him will easily be replaced next year. A writer who took ownership of that role will be missed.

If you’re going to spend your time doing anything, whether it’s taking algebra II, teaching kids to read, or washing cars for minimum wage after school, you have a choice. You can do what the average person in that position would do by just showing up and doing only what’s asked of you. Or you could decide that your time is valuable enough to take ownership and make the experience valuable.

P.S. Yesterday’s post had the wrong link for the University of Virginia’s blog post on timing your reporting of test scores. The correct link is here.