A Guide to Making your Student Group Successful
Whether or not you realize it, student advocacy is incredibly powerful. Universities and colleges provide a setting where misinformation can be addressed, where underrepresented real local issues can get a voice, and where siloes, echo chambers, and are more can be transcended through conversations. And, whether or not they admit it, much of the world takes its cues from student activity.
If you are on this page, you are already on the path toward making a difference and continuing the long tradition of campus settings sprouting progress for the rest of society. We have created this guide to help you get started, maintain momentum, and make sure you don’t waste energy along the way with unnecessary missteps.
And if you have arrived at this page, you may already have an idea of what it is that you want to do. Maybe you are just frustrated and want to do something. Maybe you already have like-minded friends ready to go. Maybe you have already started a group and are just looking for tips. No matter where you are on your journey, remember you are not alone. Don’t be afraid to reach out to us and set up a meeting! We are glad to discuss and advise.
A Journey in Four Steps
Step 1: Form a Posse!
- Take stock of what you are excited to do.
- Maybe you are angry about the latest things you have heard in the news about the environment or about health and you want to work on advocacy (student advocacy is super powerful!!!)
- Maybe you are excited to express yourself with science communication in order to build trust in science.
- Maybe you are interested in science communication because you like writing or making videos or graphics.
- Maybe you each just want something nice on your resume.
- A lot of these things overlap. Take the time to realize this. Advocacy requires communication skills. Advocacy might look good in career building. Communication skills might overlap with art interests.
- Take stock of your close friends and classmates. Are any of them interested in the same or similar things?
- Now Pause.
- Does a group already exist which will satisfy your needs?? First check out what other groups are doing so you don’t replicate. Grab a friend and go check out a few things that might be interesting.
- If nothing resonates – do you want to start a student group? Do your friends? If so – let’s move onto step two: getting started with a mission and goals.
Use this form to reach out to Sci4Ga!
Step 2: Define what you want to do
As a core group, you need to write down what your mission and goals are. This must be done with your driving core members.
When you were checking out whether a group already existed that you should join forces with, looking at their mission was (hopefully) a useful tool. You will want other potential members to understand what you are trying to achieve.
Being clear, concise, and actionable in your messaging is crucial for effective advocacy.
- To grab the attention amidst a sea of competing issues. A brief message ensures that your core points are comprehended and remembered, avoiding confusion. Moreover, clarity promotes inclusivity, making your advocacy accessible to a broader audience.
- Clear and actionable messaging fosters trust and professionalism, reducing the risk of misinterpretation. By adhering to these principles, you increase the chances of your message being heard, understood, and acted upon, ultimately driving positive change for your cause.
Start by imagining what success will realistically look like and what goals are needed to achieve success. Visioning may be helpful here.
- Make your goals SMART!!
- Let’s apply the SMART method to ensure our goals are practical and actionable. This framework will guide us in crafting Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals.
Specific: Clearly define what we want to achieve. Be precise and avoid vague statements.
Measurable: Establish criteria for measuring our progress. Identify milestones or metrics that will help us track our success.
Achievable: Set goals that are realistic and attainable. Consider available resources, capabilities, and limitations.
Relevant: Align our goals with the overall mission of the charter. Ensure they are meaningful and directly contribute to our cause.
Time-bound: Assign deadlines or target dates to create a sense of urgency and motivate action.
Identify the problem you want to solve.
First, write a paragraph about the problem.
Then take this paragraph and boil it down to two key sentences.
Now reduce it further. Can you capture the problem in just five words?
This is your North Star. Use this to stay focused on your message.
Start building your core posse with the people closest to you. Share your North Star and see if it resonates.
As your posse/squad/team forms, create a shared list of concerns. Our voices are stronger together!
To grow to a committed group of individuals, you need an elevator pitch. Imagine you’re on an elevator with a stakeholder. Can you explain your position to her before your elevator reaches the next floor?
You need to cover three things.
1. What is your problem?
2. Why is it a problem?
3. What is the solution to the problem?
Create a list of people who have a same and/or similar problem. Reach out to these people. Use your elevator pitch to get them to join your posse as part of the committed group.
Bring your committed posse together. Brainstorm a detailed solution.
Make sure your solution includes a thing to do and way to do it.
Brainstorm with them why the greater community would care. Why would people who are not directly impacted by your problem to be sympathetic to your cause? Think about the direct effect of this problem on your livelihood, health, environment, wellbeing, etc.? Other people can easily relate to needing to make a living or be healthy or educate their children.
Use your brainstormed ideas to create a simple speech that outlines your problem, why it's a problem, what you want to do, and ends with "will you help us support by "
Here are links to some examples that will help you on your journey to identifying a problem and a solution that will work for YOU.
Read: How to Start a Successful Grassroots Campaign to understand broad audience appeal.
Worksheet: Framing your issue into an elevator pitch.
Check: How to Build a Community Food Council for tips on how to grow your own community focused on success.
Need to collect more information on your topic?
• How to Conduct an Informational Interview
• How to Write an Effective Survey
• How to Read Scientific Papers
Step 3: Connect with the Administration and/or outside groups
Your success will not happen in a bubble. And faculty and administrators at your university hold the keys to a lot of the opportunities (and funding) that you will need to make things happen. Connect with outside organizations, this can lead to outside opportunities that can really boost your reach and impact.
To talk to and convince faculty and admins to help support your group you need to be clear about what you are looking to do. Inspire them. The advice is similar to the advice for talking to your legislator. We have linked some of our guides.
Step 4: Keep the momentum going
- Drumming up excitement for a new group is an exciting phase, but long-term commitment can be more challenging. That’s why you need to keep your community inspired and active.
- The best way to do this is through activities.
- Events, workshops, discussion sessions all continue to engage your audience, leading to more membership and excitement
- The labor of planning and hosting these events helps your posse feel essential. And they are. It isn’t busy work, because these tasks are essential. But without a way to contribute, people will drift away and disengage.
- These activities ideals should be
- Frequent (don’t lose that momentum…. Monthly or at least twice a semester there should be something to show up to)
- Simple (make it feel easy and natural to attend…. What event would YOU attend?)
- Feels like making a difference
- If the idea of monthly events is overwhelming, don’t worry. We have some great ideas to keep this simple. At the least, you can have a planning meeting once a month for those who want a peek behind the scenes. Beyond this you can:
- Have hands-on activities like trainings and clean ups. Easy to plan and interact with a larger audience
- Outreach/canvassing. Set up a table on the quad and hand out flyers and get as much of your posse out there. Host a letter-writing event about a recent issue. Going door to door in your neighborhood can be strange and help people bond. Have a social with food and hand out discussion prompts.
- Panels, workshops, and talks. Get some people from outside the group, or even outside your school, to bring their expertise and get the chance to interact.
- Science for Georgia can help you with all of these things! Your resources in the administration and partners outside the school are your secret superpower!