"Extra"curriculars: Clubs shouldn’t be formed just for a résumé

*names are fictitious

The Common App has space for the 10 activities *John Smith participated in high school. Once he adds his sports, volunteering, job and any other school involvement, oh by golly, there are three slots left wide open.

Immediately, he races to his nearest whiteboard and jots down any idea that comes to mind to fill those dreaded open slots and something stands out. 

It's a Jeopardy-like question. For 500 points, Smith has to name the easiest extracurricular to add to his résumé so his application can stand out against the thousands of other super-student applicants. What is... a club?

Founding a club to fill résumé space is the first idea that comes to mind for many students — it's easy to give into this temptation. Heck, look at Smith. 

But clubs should be established to make a lasting mark on a high school by attacking a major issue with a localized solution. They are not meant for a last-minute applicational Hail Mary. 

If Smith is serious about forming a club with some of his peers, he needs to target some problem that he can tangibly make a difference in, like taking a local approach to fight rising food prices.

The one club I’m involved in and co-founded feeds those chronically homeless in Kansas City. Across six meetings, Breakfast for Beings has made almost 400 meals, which were then donated to Uplift Organization — a volunteer-run organization that helps provide resources for the unhoused. 

If Smith brainstorms a similar issue that he wants to fight on a local level, it’s worth getting together with a group of his friends and building an official school club.

Either way, new clubs need to fight the current perception of what clubs stand for. 

Clubs should be treated as organizations that outlive someone’s four years of high school. Treated as extensions of someone that live on as their high school legacy.

But all that changes when some junior, who forgot that applying to college is a year away, throws in a cheap shot to fluff up an otherwise empty application. 

The easiest way to immortalize a club is to develop a strong foundation. 

Before Smith whips up his “microforestry club,” he should take a walk around his neighborhood and consider what he’s seen over the past week. Smith should note any injustices he’s seen through all kinds of environments and pick something that he can develop a tangible solution for.

Then, *Smith should unite friends behind the problem he actually hopes to solve. But *Smith shouldn’t sit around and whip up a thinly planned consortium that he “founded” just to slap on his résumé. 

Let’s transform the way clubs are viewed into organizations that make an actual difference. 

For every person who treats a club as a résumé padding opportunity, there's a potential organization that strives valiantly to eliminate the problems that plague society.

Don’t be a “founder” if what you are founding is a facade.