Initiative

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D.

He was the best combination of head and heart, the kind of student who wanted to change the world, who knew that doing so would take more than just hoping it would happen.  That’s why he went to see the director of our summer studies program one spring, having done his homework.

“I was reading an article the other day that said something like 85 percent of all students living in urban areas don’t know how to swim” he told the director.  “Since all the students in our summer program are from Detroit, I was thinking it might be a good idea to teach them how to swim.  My friends on the swim team and I can do that.”

And that’s how 200 kids from Detroit learned how to swim that summer—and 200 more the summer after that, and the summer after that, and ever since.  The summer swim program soon became as much a part of being on the school’s swim team as 6 AM practices, thanks to a smart kid with a good heart who had an idea, and acted on it.

No one ever knows why a college takes a student, especially the colleges that are incredibly popular.  Everyone has very similar grades, most tend to have the same test scores, most teacher letters are written so badly they don’t say much of anything (just tell stories about the student, really), and more than a few personal statements are devoted to students talking about how they’ve made a difference in the world.  But I’d like to think admissions offices took one look at this student, who started a program that teaches .03% of a city how to swim every summer, and said “Yeah.  That’s it.”

Make no mistake—there are tons of students out there who try to persuade colleges they’ve shown initiative every year.  It’s just that most of them don’t really have an example of demonstrated initiative that will make a college stand up and pay attention.

Where do they go wrong?

One and done  The biggest mistake is when students start a school club that is often based on a personal interest, and that’s it.  There’s no Anime club at school?  Cool—I’ll start one, hang 5 posters up at school, name myself president, and Hello Harvard!

Harvard, and most every other college, sees this coming.  If all you’ve done is start a club, with no information on membership, frequency of meetings, or activities, you’re whistling in the wind.

Classroomitis OK, says you, if it’s meetings they want, it’s meetings they’ll get. Three pals of mine and I will meet monthly and watch our favorite shows at school.

Mmmm. How about putting together some classic Anime episodes and presenting them to interested middle school students at their school?  Or introducing this genre to folks at the local senior center?  Taking your interest on the road shows a little more innovation—and, not coincidentally, shows a little more commitment.

Sit and git  Why stop at watching Anime—how about making some?  Zoom in an Anime artist who wants to share their talents, and open the seminar to your larger community.  You’re now changing a town, especially if…

Create an event …it’s capped off with an annual Anime festival, held in the school auditorium.   Local artists share their wares, maybe a guest lecturer comes by.  Add some snacks, and you’ve built something bigger than yourself, something that will last after you graduate, something that makes a difference.

Do that, and it may get you into college.  Then again, maybe that doesn’t matter as much anymore.