3 High School Extracurriculars Everyone Does – Here’s How to Make Yours Unique

If you want personalized feedback on your extracurriculars, we are offering students limited 30-minute chats with a member of our Admissions team. In the call with you and your guardian, we will: 

Activity 1: Student Council President

The Problem

Being Student Council President might sound impressive but it isn’t if you’re just organizing events. Every school has council presidents - what makes you different?

Being a student council president also means you’re following an existing structure — but not necessarily showing that you are innovating.

How to Make It Unique

• Solve a Specific Problem: Identify a niche issue in your school community to focus on and make that your running platform.

• Past Example: One of our students were passionate about tech’s role in politics. They saw that their school’s election process relied on paper submissions. There was often mismanaged votes, poor turnout, and no data on what issues mattered to students.

• Their Solution: They replaced the paper ballots with a digital voting system using Google Forms, which automated data collection, boosted turnout, and provided insights into voter demographics and preferences.

• Outside Their School: They didn’t stop there. After success at their school, they expanded the system to other schools in the district, eventually creating an interactive digital map to visualize student voter preferences.

Activity 2: Debate Team or Model United Nations

The Problem

Debate and Model UN are some of the most popular extracurricular activities offered to students. It’s a great place to get comfortable with public speaking. The issue is that everyone has participated in it in some form or the other which means a) it’s harder to stand out, and b) the “wow factor” of purely winning competitions has decreased over the years.

How to Make It Unique

• Break Barriers: Look for ways you can apply your debating/public speaking skillset in a way that can help other communities.

• Past Example: One student noticed that most local debate teams along with Model UN training were paid programs. While this was not a big deal to peers at their school, they wondered about all the other students who wanted to debate, but might not have the means to participate in a program.

• Their Solution: They launched a scholarship fund for underprivileged students, raising money through debate nights and partnering with local businesses. Eventually, they also hosted free debate workshops for those who couldn’t afford them.

• Another Example: Another student noticed their MUN conference was dry and uninspiring. They introduced creative committees, added social mixers, and launched a mentorship program for first-time delegates.

Activity 3: Varsity Sports/Team Captain

The Problem

Similar to debate or Model UN, almost everyone has been on a sports team. It’s become really difficult to create a unique personal story around just being a member. Playing sports definitely shows commitment, especially if you are a team captain - but it doesn’t make you memorable unless you’re playing at a national or international level.

How to Make It Unique

• Spot What’s Missing: Identify gaps in your team experience—training for beginners? Mental health support? A lack of community?

• Example: One varsity soccer captain saw younger players struggling with confidence and anxiety. They launched a peer mentorship program, pairing senior players with junior ones for skill-building and emotional support.

• Their Solution: They expanded the program, organizing monthly leadership workshops featuring sports psychologists and guest athletes. This model spread to other teams, creating a school-wide athlete mentorship network.

Conclusion

Making your extracurriculars stand out isn’t always about doing more. Focus on solving the small, niche problems surrounding your interests. Whatever you do, you should be able to easily answer:

“Why is this important to me? Who can I help with my current skillsets?”

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