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Stepping It Up

Purpose: Students are often left wondering how to enhance their credentials during college once a decision about a major or career has been made. This activity is designed to help you capitalize on previous experiences and show your growth related to areas in which you possess interest. Continued activity in areas of previous activity shows how you can stretch within previous activities and lead in new roles.

As a result of this activity you will be able to:

  • Describe potential activities that can enhance your credentials upon graduation.
  • List potential activities that have helped you explore and dedicate to potential futures.
  • Actively plan activities to enhance your credentials.

Process: Create lists of activities that have had meaning for you in the past. List activities that challenged you, helped you learn, and/or in which you took pride in your work. You may need to list high school activities if you are just starting your university experience. This activity is designed to help you create plans to show that you have extended yourself and “stepped up” your experiences. Such activities may also serve as exploratory experiences in evaluating your decisions and possibilities.

Examples:

  • Enjoyed working on activities in high school such as school social events, homecoming activities, and new student welcome activities
  • Encourage the student to volunteer in campus student association activities and seek responsibilities for leadership opportunities in such activities.
  • Served as a volunteer in Bolivia. Saw the appreciation of the importance of community and family in poverty-stricken areas.
  • Encourage student to seek out opportunities to use his Spanish language abilities in agencies that serve families. (Sub-for-Santa, volunteer programs with DCFS).

This activity requires you to become aware of campus and community opportunities for involvement and work. Although full awareness of such activities may not be possible, become capable of finding such opportunities through appropriate websites and referrals from your advisor.