<p>There’s a book club at my school. That’s about it. I honestly don’t know how to express my interest. I guess taking a lot of English classes, but my school doesn’t have English electives and everyone is forced to take English until 12th Grade anyways. I want to express my interest in literature in my ECs most.</p>
<p>Gee, if you’re interested in literature, you read. You don’t have to ask people what to do. You just pursue your interest. You don’t have to have an EC for everything. Most colleges won’t care about ECs anyway. The ones that do care are ones that will see right through you if you pursue activities to try to impress them. People who seriously are interested in activities don’t have to ask others how to express their interests.</p>
<p>But still. Just reading is reading. What can I do in my community to make a difference with literature?</p>
<p>Why do you need to make a difference with literature? Sounds like you’re just interested in resume polishing. Sounds like someone told you that some colleges like to see depth when it comes to interests, and you’re searching for a way of showing that instead of simply following your natural interests.</p>
<p>You’re going about things the wrong way. Usually early in high school is the time to explore a variety of interests to find out what you like doing. Later in high school, some students go more into depth with interests they’ve found that they like best, and due to the depth in those interests, they don’t have time for some of the other things that don’t interest them as much.</p>
<p>My guidance counselor said I need depth, so…</p>
<p>My guidance counselor gave me a goal to reach this Christmas break: To show lots of depth in my ECs, which I don’t have.</p>
<p>Even you said I need depth in the German post…</p>
<p>Longterm you’ll need depth only if you would like to increase your chances of gaining admission to a place like HPYS. You don’t need depth now. As a h.s. freshman, what you should be doing is exploring a variety of things that you’re interested in.</p>
<p>You should follow your bliss and develop yourself and then as a junior and senior look for colleges that match your personality, skills and interests. The idea is to run with your interests and talents and then find an appropriate college. Don’t try to force yourself to meet the desires of some college. Develop yourself and then find a college that suits you.</p>
<p>For instance, if it ends up that you love learning languages and have a great talent for that, Middlebury may be a college that suits you well. It would be wrong, though to make Middlebury your goal now and then to force yourself to learn languages in order to gain admission to Middlebury even though other things interest you more.</p>
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<p>Write book reviews for your school paper or local paper.
Start a book group at your local elementary or middle school to encourage love of reading in younger kids.
Organize a “[name of your community] reads program,” where everyone in your town/neighborhood reads the same book and then discusses it.
Volunteer or work at your local library or bookstore. Work on summer reading programs. Arrange for local authors to come and give talks.
Organize poetry readings or poetry slams.</p>