Worst American Idols

There are plenty of worthy places to donate cash, but for those of us who could use our own donations in that category, easy do-gooding options can be tough to come by. That’s why I just have to share the gem of a volunteering opportunity I found last summer at College Summit.

College Summit is an organization focused on giving low-income students the tools they need to get into college, partnering with schools around the country to promote a college-going environment in their communities. Over the summers, College Summit holds four-day workshops for partnership school students at multiple college campuses. The workshops serve the students in a variety of ways, creating camaraderie with other college-bound students, giving them their first taste of college campus life, as well as functioning as a sort of college prep boot camp with college counseling, financial aid 101s, and personal statement writing help.

The writing help is conducted via small writing groups lead by a volunteer writing coach, which is the position I volunteered for last summer. I came into the workshop with minimal teaching experience and no personal statement experience beside my own college application. College Summit more than prepares the writing coaches with a short, but thorough training session on their method of personal statement writing and the support of an expert writing coach coordinator.

Over the course of the workshop, the writing coaches meet with their student groups several times. Each student leaves the workshop with a well-crafted application essay and, I know I’m about to sound super cheesy here, but each writing coach leaves with something special too. There’s a very real reward in getting to know your writing students, working with them to shape their personal statements, and being a small part of their path toward a significant accomplishment.

If you’re looking for a meaningful volunteer opportunity and have four days to spare this summer, I’d definitely recommend signing up as a writing coach for College Summit. Register at their volunteer page to find a weekend workshop close to you. You’ll love it and at this time next year, you’ll be the pushy one encouraging all of your friends and even Internet strangers to get involved.

Post from: Crushable

This entry was posted on Friday, March 12th, 2010 at 12:03 pm and is filed under Contestants, Idol News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.