The key is to turn ideas into actions, no matter the context. Here are a few examples:

• Proposing a service project to fellow club members—like planting trees or volunteering at a food bank or homeless shelter—then reaching out to the relevant service organization to coordinate student service

• Making a new playlist and dance routine to add some fun into the daily team warm-up

• Organizing a study group for a particularly tough AP exam, with a weekly agenda to keep everyone on track

• Graduating from journal-writing to starting a creative-writing blog

• Creating a neighborhood summer camp for kids

• Stepping up to a leadership role in your faith-based youth group

• Working with a teacher to create an independent study project

• Coaching or refereeing a sport you love

• Organizing a cheek-swabbing event for the local organ-donation charity

Take the following steps to create an activity & leadership plan that works well for you:

Step 1: Know your strengths

Follow your aptitudes; explore what you’re interested in; capitalize on what you can already do well. Are you a people person? Consider running for student government. Do you write poetry? Apply for a job on the literary magazine.

Step 2: Gain experience

Be willing to pay your dues. Before you can be the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, you'll have to do significant work as a reporter. As a sophomore, you still have plenty of time to do that hard work before taking on leadership roles in junior or senior year.

Step 3: Work well with others

Good leaders have strong interpersonal skills. Be a team player. Listen to other people with openness and curiosity, ask them questions to learn more, and fulfill your responsibilities to gain their trust.

Step 4: Take action

Leaders are ready to walk the walk. Set concrete goals, then take the steps necessary to achieve them. Anyone can have a great idea, but not everyone can turn a vision into a reality.

Step 5: Resist the urge to pad your resume



Don't join a club or team unless it genuinely interests you—you might get bored and make only a feeble contribution to the organization, which a waste of time for everyone involved. College admissions committees can usually tell spot a padded resume. Instead of a laundry list of activities, they’d rather see meaningful and sustained participation in a few areas. Long-term involvement and responsibility in one or two organizations will strengthen your application, whereas being an onlooker in ten groups may not help you much.