Starting Your Own Initiative as a High School Student

by Angelina N.

Starting Your Own Initiative

as a High School Student

Student-led initiatives from Urban Beet, which provides access to fresh produce in underprivileged communities, to The Homegirl Project, which enables girls and non-binary youth of minority groups to contribute to social change, are just a few examples of the countless impactful initiatives led by teenagers. 

Success stories of student-led initiatives like these may seem daunting and unattainable, but the truth is that they all began with teenagers with passion and a vision. If you are passionate about making a difference, whatever it may be, there are plenty of ways to take action. To assist you in honing in your vision and creating tangible impact, here are some tips to follow:

Identify your objective

01

Every initiative needs a cause that unifies it. Find something that you are passionate about and make sure you can state the main aim of your initiative in one or two sentences. Is your goal to help make educational services more accessible to low-income students in your community? Or is it to increase Internet access and online literacy for underprivileged households? In any case, you should be able to state your main objective clearly and concisely.

If you are starting your own organization, you may also want to come up with a motto and a logo that relates to your objective. These are helpful for marketing your organization, particularly if you plan on spreading interest through a website and/or social media.

Determine how you will create impact

02

Every organization needs to organize and engage in activities that contribute to its objective. Do you plan on raising money for a specific cause? Research organizations that you could donate to and methods of doing fundraising. Do you plan on creating a program for online literacy? Research how you can reach out to your target audience and brainstorm detailed ideas for your program (e.g. possible workshops).

Creativity is key here. You can and should look into projects undertaken by other organizations or speak with founders of various initiatives to learn from their experiences. However, the ideas that you ultimately propose should be original and impactful—you need to convince people that they can find unique opportunities and purpose by joining your organization.

Recruit members and reach out to potential stakeholders

03

Possibly the most daunting task of starting your own initiative is building your network—people who will support your club or organization and work with you towards achieving a common goal.

Tip #1

Identify potential interest groups. Is there a specific group of people that your organization caters towards—perhaps people who participate in the fine arts or people who are interested in computer programming? Is there a specific group of people you are trying to provide your services to, and how can you reach out to them?

Design marketing materials. Create colorful posters and/or social media posts that briefly summarize the objective of your initiative and potential projects of undertaking to give your audience a better idea of what is expected of them if they join.

Tip #2

If you are starting a club within your school, reach out to in-school marketing platforms (daily announcements, student publications, etc.). You will also likely need a faculty advisor—make sure you begin reaching out to potential supervisors early on, and provide a detailed proposal of your objective and planned courses of action.

Tip #3

Reach out to organizations you're interested in partnering with. Email their staff introducing the objectives of your initiative and how you would like to partner with them. The key here is clarifying how you plan on taking action to create impact. There are many organizations who are willing to accommodate projects proposed by high school students, as long as a high level of responsibility and ability to carry out impactful action is demonstrated.

Tip #4

Create an application form for interested members to fill out more detailed personal information. Why are they interested in contributing to your initiative? How much time are they willing to commit? What kinds of activities are they willing to participate in? Do they have any ideas about furthering the objective of the initiative? Letting others contribute ideas can be very helpful. 

Tip #5

04

Determine an efficient method of communication and organization

It is often a good idea to divide roles and responsibilities to ensure that you do not feel overwhelmed. Depending on the needs of your club or organization, you could assign roles for outreach, managing social media, designing marketing materials, etc.

Determine how communication will be conducted. How will you ensure that all members receive updates and can make their voice heard? There are various platforms that provide a convenient way for all members to communicate in a single workplace, uncluttered by other communications. Are you planning on having regular meetings, whether in-person or virtually, to update all members and promote discussion amongst members?

Create a hierarchy of communication. Who should members reach out to if they encounter any issues? Who should members reach out to if they want to provide feedback or propose ideas?

Inform all organization members about your proposed methods of organization and communication and planned projects of undertaking. Once a course of action is determined upon, begin setting out a more detailed plan.

05

Take action

Set short-term goals and deadlines to achieve long-term projects. This will make the task less daunting and more attainable for all members of the club or organization. Make sure all members are aware of the proposed short-term tasks (this is one area where efficient communication is key!).

The most difficult part of spearheading your own initiative is getting started. However, with passion, a vision, and careful planning, you can bring tangible impact to your school, local, or broader communities. Initiatives like Urban Beet and The Homegirl Project once started as ideas—ideas that students courageously put into action and which have since evolved into wide-reaching, influential organizations that the founders could not have imagined they would achieve.