Want to stay politically active but can't find the time? If you're a college student then you know how precious time is (and how little you have for yourself!). But fear not, even if you can't find the time to make your way to Zucotti park there are plenty of ways you can get politically involved and still have time to crunch for those upcoming midterms. Here are four ways to get involved.
Join a College Club
A club is a great place for you to make new friends and share ideas. Not only will you come up with great ways to get involved in political issues, you'll meet great people and form long term relationships in the process. Not to mention clubs look great on your resume when applying for grad school or law school. Deans of admissions love to see that you made the most of your college years and had the drive to be a part of something. It also shows you work well with others. But don't take my word for it, check out the top universities online. Colleges offer many clubs in many different disciplines. See which ones interest you the most and be a part of something. But what if your college doesn't have a group that interests you? In this case why not...
Start a Club
An even better way to show you have the drive and motivation for success is by starting a club. If your school lacks a club or organization which you think would be beneficial for you and your peers, you should speak to a professor or a department chair about organizing and starting a club. You'll benefit from this in various ways: by taking the initiative to suggest and start a club, you'll show your professors and peers alike that you have a passion for making a difference and the skills needed to organize. You'll also be giving those with similar views an opportunity to join you and your peers to discuss political issues, organize events, and offer ideas on how you and others can contribute in a productive way. Now that we have all these great ideas, let's put them into practice...
Join the Student Government
Though sharing ideas with peers makes for great discussion concerning political issues it becomes idle banter if you don't take the next step, action! Joining the student government is a great way to take the ideas from your club and apply them to school policy and programs. Student government offers many committees revolving around different topics in your school including school policy and student activities. What better way to get your school behind a political issue then becoming part of a committee and expressing your grievances and proposing a course of action? Join a committee and set up an event which involves organizing students to partake in an activity such as a community hearing or a near by project. And finally, one of the best ways you can get involved is...
Volunteering
Joining clubs and student committees are great ways to share ideas and organize activities but if you really want to make a difference and get involved nothing beats volunteering. Not only is volunteering a great way for you to get actively involved, most colleges and volunteer groups offer you college stipends, not to mention volunteering looks great on your resume. When shopping around for volunteer work you should look at organizations such as Habitat for Humanity or Human Rights Watch. You can also look for different volunteering opportunities through your college.
So whether you're a supporter of the current Occupy Wall Street movement or someone who thinks the government should keep its hands off of business, you don't need to leave school or travel to Zucotti park to make your voice heard. If used wisely, your college offers you all the resources you need to get involved.
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