College Planning for High School Students Starts with Volunteering
Whether you or your high school student knows where they want to go to college by their sophomore year, it is still an important time to start planning for a successful collegiate future- that is, if college is where they are most likely headed. College planning for high school students might seem fairly early, and quite honestly most of their peers are going to be paying way more attention to dating and other parts of their social lives, but making the point of college planning for high school students is the key that will- if not put your son or daughter way above and ahead of the competition- it will be the ticket to the acceptance letter from the school of their choice.
Your teenager might have no idea where they want to go to college, what they want to do with their career, and quite possibly may even have plans to go to college at all. But from personal experience, this all can change dramatically closer to or even after high school graduation, and it is always better to be safe and prepare for this possibility that the highschooler will in fact decide to pursue a college education and some type of career.
It is not recommended to push the teenager too hard when it comes to thinking about and preparing for college in high school and life thereafter, of too much pressure can be an irritating turn off and a catalyst for rebellion. But if you have an y influence over a child or children, be they your own biological kids or maybe even students you teach or chaperone through some means or another, it would really help the students in the long run if you incorporate a few simple pre- “preparing for college in high school” techniques into their lives and curriculum. These methods would be most beneficial if teachers, youth group leader or other such members of adult authority were the ones to try and educate and prompt the student to be interested in preparing for college in high school, but if parents can generate enough respect and leverage in that area with their teens, they can success in its effectiveness as well. And even though your student might act disgruntled, uninterested and maybe even resentful for your pressure in their preparing for college in high school this early, later on down the road (sometimes even many years later) they will be most certainly grateful for your concern and also for the opportunity that it brings to their lives.
One important and helpful way to not just prepare a high school student for college but increase the likelihood of the student getting into the college of choice and succeeding in their time there and afterwards, in the career path they choose to take is through high school volunteering.
These days many schools, particularly private schools are requiring a set amount of community service hours served to graduate high school, but from experience, the rule isn’t mandated too strongly and if you know the right people in the right position of supposed authority, it’s quite easy to get that signature of proof of high school volunteering without really having done much work. When younger, volunteer work for high school students very likely will seem boring and quite the chore that cuts into the social lives of many high school students but that doesn’t have to be the case. If the volunteer work for high school students is indeed covered, the student, instead of picking a random, boring place to work at the end of the semester, as a last resort, should really give thought into where it is they would like to do volunteer work for high school students. Though not required, it is recommended that the parents, teachers, or guidance counselors encourage and assist in the process of choosing a place to volunteer. Consider the student’s hobbies, what is most fun to maybe have the student make a list of the jobs he or she would want to work in if anything were possible and then use that list of interests as a basis to try and find something mildly similar that they are able to try out for fun with little commitment, through volunteering for high school students, see what a certain job would be like. One might be extremely surprised at the possible volunteer opportunities out there that truly mimic particular job in that industry so that often only a couple of weeks the student volunteer will get a good sense of what such a n industry would be like to work in and additionally, whether or not its still what they think might be for them. If they really like it chances are they will excel at this volunteer work for high school students and it is not uncommon for a volunteer to impress his or her employee so much with their education passion and effort that they foresee a potential great future employee and offer the person a job post graduation.
