StudentZona - Caring For A Better Student Life And Learning

In our previous post, we began talking about how to start your own student organization by looking at how to attract and retain members and how to come up with a mission statement to solidify your organization. Now that you know how to get started, we will look at how to establish your organization as credible in your university and in the surrounding community. Although there are many ways to do this, there are two main avenues that I urge you to explore when starting an organizations: faculty involvement and local-business endorsement.

Faculty Involvement is crucial to establishing your fledgling organization as credible. The reason for this is simple: university faculty is already established as an integral part of the educational community and having one or two faculty members involved in your organization extends that legitimacy to what you’re trying to accomplish with your group. How do you go about getting faculty involved? Really, it’s not too difficult. Just ask. If there is a professor that you take class with that you feel would be beneficial to your cause, schedule a time to meet with him or her and clearly lay out your organization’s purpose and goals. Invite him or her to a meeting to see what the dynamic of a group is. If the first faculty member you speak to is too busy to be involved, ask another. Chances are, you can find a professor that has some interest in your organization of you look.
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For the past week, we have been talking about the benefits of membership to student organizations. We have glossed over nationally recognized organizations and major-based organizations, and today we will be looking at student organizations that are based on interest. These organizations can take many forms, from religious in nature to based on a love of nature, and all are a great way for you to get involved with the student community at your college or university. While there are a myriad of organizations available, today we will look at some of the most popular types of interest-specific groups that exist on virtually every campus.

Humanitarian Groups: The thrust of these groups are–you guessed it–humanitarian efforts. This can take the form of Habitat for Humanity, in which groups of students work together to build housing for lower socio-economic members of their community, Anti-Racist Groups, Soup Kitchens, Women’s Shelters, Books for Prisoners, etc. Most of these student groups initiate contact with the national umbrella non-profit, but there are also groups that see a need in their community and create a group to fill that need (such as inner-city literacy programs).
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