Volunteering Home

The Major Inspiration service project is still looking for more volunteers! We are looking for college students at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County from all majors. We want people who are passionate about their own majors and would like to share that passion with K-12 students.

The purpose of the project is to provide a unique resource to K-12 students to learn about the different majors that exist. We want to introduce students to the different kinds of majors that are out there so that they can make a more informed decision when it comes to the major they put down for their college application. The idea behind this is that if people are majoring in something they enjoy, they will be happier and will probably do much better. We want to help people find their passions.

The original idea was to travel around to area high schools and hold a sort of "major fair," set up career fair-style, and high school students would be able to walk around and talk to college kids about their major. However, this project has evolved to include panel formats, facilitating college visits for students, and small-group discussions at these schools. We have done outreach with high schools, middle schools, elementary schools, and community programs, and we hope to continue to do so in the future.

What you would need to is be able to answer questions like "What is [your major]?," "What can you do with [your major]?," and "What classes do you have to take to be [you major]?" We are looking for people that can sell their majors.

Other programs show kids what kinds of careers are out there. We say "Okay, so you know what you want to do. How do you get there?" We emphasize the life of that intermediate stage to show K-12 students the short-term rewards. With over 70 volunteers, almost all of them current students at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, we provide students a unique look into the journey that will take them to what will hopefully become their careers.

The time commitment will vary, depending on which schools we go to and which schools come here. We want promote a culture of service that shows that volunteering isn't necessarily a full time job. It can also be just helping out where you can, when you can.

This project was established in 2009 in coordination with the Shriver Center at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Thanks for your interest!