Creating an organization or Chapter
– Written and researched by Grayson Rogers
The first thing to do is to find what you are passionate about–obviously–whether that be about the economy, equal rights, or anything at all that needs help or change in your eyes.
Another important step to prevent yourself from being a zealot is to educate yourself. Read papers, look into various groups and opinions, and become an expert on your topic so that you know what you are talking about if push came to shove.
A roadmap is the next necessary piece. You can’t just have a short term goal or just a long term goal. You need to lay out everything that is planned to be done, and even update it as this process continues.
Ask yourself “What is something I can do early on?”, “What is my final goal?”, and “What may happen after my final goal?”.
It is important to establish something to build credibility–especially for a more radical group–while still educating and supporting your idea. Once this entire foundation is built, support is the most important thing. Reach out to various groups and people such as students who share your beliefs, teachers or adults to help monitor/run the club, organizations who specialize in this, etc. You need to form a group because more people leads to more future members and more strength. Invite a friend that invites a friend and so on.
Reaching out to an organization is a very smart idea because they often have lots of resources to help you build your club. As an example, Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA) lists 10 simple steps on its website for starting a GSA chapter at your school. Finally, you and your group must take action. There are many ways that this can be done but it is up to the group. You can organize protests, school board presentations, contacts with administrators, help get support in your school, organize donations and charity drives, and much more. “Be the change that you want to see in this world.”
“Be the change that you want to see in this world.”
Adapted from a quote by Mahatma Gandhi