Each semester, weekly meetings or so, but people only officially join at the end of the very last one, if they decide to. All the others are “get to know us” meetings, to give people a proper amount of time to decide whether or not it’s for them.
Good organizations all, I am sure. Consider a student chapter of Habitat for Humanity. That should prove to be something that all kinds of people can support because it’s not so much about politics (like the ACLU and Amnesty International, you should pardon the gross over-simplification). I don’t know the third one you mention, but it’s name leads me to believe its about doing for those who can’t do for themselves, which is a concept makes some people feel really good and others feel really put-upon.
Habitat is about helping other people help themselves. That’s something that, rhetorically anyway, people all over the political spectrum can get behind. If broad appeal and support is what you’re after, I’d say you’d be hard pressed to find a better organization.
In college I knew a girl who’d done a lot in her high school with a chapter of Operation Smile. That’s the organization that raises money/awareness so doctors can travel to less-developed countries to fix problems that are more cosmetic than medically threatening. There are lots of problems like cleft palates that aren’t enough to necessitate life-saving measures, so they go untreated (even though in the U.S. and other places they’d be routinely fixed in infancy and early childhood). They’re not life-threatening if untreated, but these conditions have a huge impact on the lives of the people who suffer.
Anyway, it’s a great humanitarian organization that wouldn’t alienate people politically. I’m not sure what student groups do, but I know she got a lot out of her involvement!
Back in school there were all these foreign language clubs: the German Club, the French Club, the Russian Club, etc. So someone started the Danish Club. They’d meet every morning and eat pastry.
I’d p[refer a chapter of the ACLU for the simple reason that it’ll be more of an intellectual challenge than the other stuff you’ve mentioned.
I mean, hey, ANYONE can get behind Amnesty International. Anyone can see the benefit of campaigning for the homeless, the poor, or Operation Smile. But campaigning for civil rights is sometimes a real intellectual pretzel. Let’s see you get a bunch of students behind the rights of some ass-head to publish a racist newspaper or some geek to write stories about school shootings, or try to wrap your heads around copyright law. Now, there are some issues that can provoke some REAL debate. Woo hoo!
That’s a stellar point, RickJay. And that might be why Soup was suggesting those types of organizations to begin with.
However, in the event Soup hasn’t been involved in these other types of things, I do want to make a pitch for the work, effort, and yes, even thinking that goes into service organizations. While it’s true their face appeal is the feel-good, do-good aspect, I’ve found that a dedicated group of people can make a small club a huge force.
Many groups like this find it’s plenty satisfying to just meet bi-monthly to plan a one-day bake sale or car wash fundraiser four months hence, and then send the money on to the national organization. That’s fine, and that’s been my experience most of the time.
But you can also think bigger. Be more active, do more than just fundraising, start a movement. The planning, the organization and motivation of volunteers, PR, information campaigns, speakers, and the like can be challenging and rewarding. Even intellectually so!
I’m going to be eager to hear how this goes, next year, whatever you land on.
Hey, I’m not looking for a controversy, I’m looking for a challenge that will help people.
Although the ACLU is a viable option, I don’t want to go into something with the goal of causing a stir. I don’t want to provoke real debate for the purpose of provoking real debate. I want to help someone (and pad my college resume in the process.) My school doesn’t have any oppertunities save NHS, which isn’t really a service organization.
What organization could be the most effective way of “making a difference?”
That actually wouldn’t be a horrible idea, just don’t go the way that the people at my school did and call it “I Can’t Think Straight” they decorated their bulletin board with feather boas and glitter for goodness sake.
Apart from that there are a lot of cultural type clubs that you could start. I’m not sure about your nationality but MEChA (Movimienti Estudantil Chicano/a de Aztlan) was really good for not only cultural awareness but also discussing civil and political stuff.
Since this seems to be serious, why not start a Key Club? I would imagine that you have a Kiwanis Club in your area. They would work on local projects, but it wouldn’t be as controversial as say the ACLU. Kiwanis is the only service club that has this kind of program for high school that I know of, but there may be others.