When a student shares with a Collegewise counselor that she volunteers at a hospital, works at a summer camp, or participates in any activity outside of school, we like to respond with some version of:
“Wow. That’s great. How did you get involved in that?”
The answer reveals a lot about the student’s initiative. We love it when a kid tells us that she called the hospital and asked if they were looking for volunteers. We love when we hear, “My friend told me about the camp, so I went online, filled out an application, and got called in for an interview.”
Kids with those answers tend to be a lot more engaged and enthusiastic about the activity than those who tell us that a parent found and secured it for them.
Colleges love to see initiative in an applicant. Mom and Dad (hopefully) will not be coming to college to find activities for their kid. But a student with initiative will bring it with her to campus. She’ll keep seeking out those opportunities. She’ll see the flyer on campus for an interesting club meeting and attend it. She’ll email, call, and knock on doors to find what she’s looking for.
For students are aren’t innate self-starters, initiative is a learnable skill. But students need the room—and maybe even a little encouragement—to learn it. It’s one of the reasons I’ve always resisted keeping encyclopedic binders in our offices of volunteer or internship opportunities to share with our students. Following a link on page 38 of a binder removes much of the initiating that student could have done.
Students, parents, and counselors, remember that the benefit from an activity isn’t limited to the awards, honors, or punchy title on a resume. Eventually those activities will be part of a student’s past. But initiative has staying-power. It’s fine to encourage and guide students who are looking for activities they will enjoy. But don’t take the initiative out.