Best Extracurriculars for Future Teachers and Education Majors
Author: Extracurricular Hub
Article Summary
Best extracurriculars for future teachers and education majors. Educators Rising, tutoring, summer programs, certifications, and a 4-year roadmap to top education schools.
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Teaching is one of the few careers where you can — and should — start doing the actual work in high school. Education programs at schools like Vanderbilt Peabody, Michigan, NYU Steinhardt, Wisconsin, and Teachers College at Columbia want applicants who have already taught: tutored, mentored, run workshops, or counseled at camps. This guide covers the clubs, summer programs, certifications, and tutoring roles that build a strong pre-education application. Crucially, it walks through how to combine general teaching experience with depth in a specific subject area — a combination that sets the strongest applicants apart. What Education Admissions Officers Want Selective education programs consistently emphasize the same signals: Demonstrated teaching or mentoring experience — Real time spent helping students learn, ideally over multiple years Content-area expertise — You will eventually teach a subject. Show you have one you genuinely know. Equity awareness — Engagement with educational inequality and the realities of public schools Leadership — Initiating programs, leading younger students, organizing activities Communication — Public speaking, writing for varied audiences, working with adults and children Browse education and mentoring opportunities in our full directory — filter by Volunteer and Leadership categories. Educators Rising: The Best Entry Point Educators Rising is the national professional organization for high school students considering teaching careers — basically HOSA for future teachers. It has chapters in thousands of high schools across the country and runs structured curricula, conferences, and competitions specifically designed for pre-service teachers. Educators Rising National Competitions include: Lesson Planning and Delivery — Develop and present a real lesson plan Public Speaking — Original speeches on educational topics Children's Literature — Write and present an original children's book Inside Our Schools — Multimedia project documenting school life Researching Education Issues — Original research on a current education topic Job Interview — Mock teacher interview If your school does not have an Educators Rising chapter, starting one is a powerful leadership credential and a tangible contribution to your school. The national organization provides start-up materials. Tutoring: Your Foundation Tutoring is the most accessible and powerful pre-teaching activity. The strongest applicants tutor consistently for multiple years, ideally in a subject area they hope to eventually teach. School-Based Peer Tutoring Most schools have peer tutoring programs through National Honor Society, math labs, writing centers, or subject-specific clubs. Commit to weekly hours and ask for increasing responsibility — leading group sessions, training new tutors, or coordinating subject areas. Library and Community Tutoring Public libraries often run free homework help programs that need volunteers. This is particularly valuable because library tutoring puts you in front of a wider range of students than school-based tutoring. Khan Academy and Online Platforms Khan Academy's ambassador program lets students share Khan Academy with their schools and communities. Online tutoring through platforms like Schoolhouse.world (founded by Sal Khan) lets you tutor for free at scale and earn certifications you can put on applications. ESL and Adult Education Tutoring Many community organizations need ESL tutors for adult learners. This is especially valuable for future ESL or language teachers and signals real engagement with multilingual communities. Special Education and Best Buddies Best Buddies International matches students with peers who have intellectual and developmental disabilities. Special-education-related volunteer work is particularly valuable for future special-education teachers. Summer Camp Counselor: The Trial Run Camp counseling is the closest thing to a teaching trial run. You manage groups of children, plan activities, handle conflicts, and earn (often paid) experience working full days with kids. The most relevant types: Academic camps — Math camps, writing camps, STEM camps where you mix camp-counseling and content teaching Day camps for younger children — Especially valuable if you are interested in elementary education Special-needs camps — For future special-education teachers Outdoor and adventure camps — Build group-management and safety skills Lifeguard certification (American Red Cross) opens up additional camp counselor roles since most camps need certified lifeguards on staff. Summer Programs and Year-Long Pipelines Breakthrough Collaborative One of the most respected summer programs in education. Breakthrough trains and deploys high school and college students to teach middle schoolers from under-resourced communities. High school students typically apply during junior year for the summer between junior and senior year. Citizen Schools and JumpStart Both organizations recruit students to provide afterschool and early-literacy support. While most opportunities are for college students, several have high school pipelines. Reading Partners Trained volunteer tutoring program for elementary school students struggling with reading. Many high school students serve as tutors during the academic year. Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes — Education Track Stanford offers summer courses including some specifically focused on educational theory and practice for high school students. NYU Pre-College — Education-Related Courses NYU's pre-college programs include offerings in educational theory, child development, and social policy. College for Every Student (CFES) Brilliant Pathways Network of programs supporting underrepresented students through high school and into college. Brilliant Pathways students develop mentorship skills that translate directly to teaching. Browse all options in our Summer Programs directory. Useful Certifications CPR/First Aid — Often required for camp counselor work and useful as foundational childcare credential Lifeguard certification (Red Cross) — Opens significant numbers of paid camp counselor jobs Mental Health First Aid — Relevant given how much teaching now involves student mental health support Substitute teacher exam — Some states allow under-21 substitutes with appropriate exam scores. Check your state's department of education website. Match Your Activities to Your Subject Area You will eventually teach a specific subject. Building visible expertise in that subject — through both coursework and aligned extracurriculars — strengthens your education application enormously. Future Math Teacher Tutor math through your school's program, library, or online Coach a Math Club, MATHCOUNTS team, or AMC preparation group Take AP Calculus and AP Statistics Future English/Language Arts Teacher Work in your school's writing center or peer-editing program Lead a creative writing club, book club, or literary magazine Tutor reading at a public library or with Reading Partners Future Science Teacher Coach a Science Olympiad team or younger Science Bowl group Lead STEM mentoring programs at local elementary or middle schools Volunteer at a science museum's education department Future Social Studies/History Teacher Lead Model UN, JSA, or Mock Trial Tutor history or social studies Volunteer with local historical societies or museum education programs Future Special Education Teacher Best Buddies leadership Special-needs camp counselor work Volunteer with organizations like the Special Olympics Future ESL Teacher Adult ESL tutoring at community organizations Foreign language coursework — show you have learned a language as an adult Newcomer-student support at your school Your 4-Year Pre-Education Roadmap Freshman Year Join your school's tutoring program or Educators Rising chapter Identify a likely subject area you might want to teach Begin tutoring weekly and tracking your hours Track everything in the Activities Tracker Sophomore Year Take leadership in your tutoring program or Educators Rising chapter Earn CPR/First Aid and consider lifeguard certification Apply for Educators Rising regional competitions Land your first summer camp counselor job Junior Year Apply for Breakthrough Collaborative or another summer teaching program Take AP courses in your likely subject area to deepen content knowledge Compete at Educators Rising state or national competitions Mentor younger tutors and start a workshop or club Senior Year Lead your tutoring program or Educators Rising chapter as president Pursue substitute teaching if your state allows it Reflect on your teaching experiences and build them into application essays Continue summer teaching work or land a paid teaching aide role Telling Your Teaching Story in Application Essays Education applications heavily reward students who can articulate concrete teaching moments and what they learned from them. Generic statements about loving children or wanting to make a difference are extremely common and rarely move the needle. Specific stories about specific students do. The strongest education essays share a few patterns: Lead with a specific student or moment — Open with a real anecdote: the seventh grader who shut down on fractions until you tried a visual approach, the kindergartner whose face lit up reading her first chapter book, the camp kid who refused to swim until day five. Concrete moments make abstract themes land. Show your teaching reasoning — Explain not just what happened but how you decided what to try. Walk the reader through your pedagogical thinking: I noticed she was confusing operations, so I tried this representation, and that worked because of this. Name what you learned — The strongest essays reflect on how teaching changed your own thinking. Learning to teach a concept often means understanding it differently. Show that growth. Connect to equity and access — Education programs care deeply about whether you understand educational inequality. Reference what you have observed in your tutoring or camp work: differences in resources, parental support, language access, or assessment fairness. Avoid white-savior framing — If your tutoring work involves students from less-resourced backgrounds than yours, frame it carefully. Emphasize what you learned from them, not what you "gave" them. Admissions officers spot inflated narratives immediately. Show subject-area passion — If you know what subject you want to teach, demonstrate genuine intellectual love for it in your essays. The best teachers are people who cannot stop thinking about their subject. Show that. Keep an ongoing journal during your tutoring, camp, and teaching experiences. The specific moments fade fast, and the journal will be invaluable when you sit down to write essays a year or two later. Service and Equity Activities Modern education programs explicitly value engagement with educational inequality. Demonstrating that you understand and care about equity strengthens your profile substantially. Tutor in under-resourced schools or community centers — Not just at your own school Volunteer with refugee or immigrant family support organizations — Particularly valuable for ESL or social studies futures Free tutoring or workshop programs you start yourself — Initiative matters Boys and Girls Club, YMCA, or similar youth-serving organizations — Sustained roles, not just occasional volunteer hours School board observation and education-policy engagement — Attend board meetings, write op-eds, or work on a school-board campaign Find more service opportunities in our Internships directory. Putting It All Together Education applications reward students who clearly demonstrate that they have done the work and reflected on it. Sustained tutoring or camp counseling experience, an Educators Rising chapter or equivalent leadership role, evidence of subject-area passion, and a clear understanding of educational equity together form a profile that elementary education, secondary education, and dual-degree programs all want to see. Browse tutoring and youth-leadership opportunities in our Internships directory, find education-focused summer programs in the Summer Programs directory, and use the Application Tracker to keep your tutoring hours, Educators Rising milestones, and application deadlines organized. Frequently Asked Questions Do I need to know what subject I want to teach before applying? It helps a lot. You will eventually be admitted to a specific licensure program (math, English, science, special ed, etc.), and showing demonstrated expertise in your chosen area strengthens your application. That said, secondary education programs typically allow you to commit to a specific subject during your first year of college. Are alternative routes like Teach For America still strong options? Yes. Teach For America accepts students from any major and trains them in education over the summer before their first teaching year. TFA is competitive and prestigious. However, traditional education programs offer earlier and more thorough teacher preparation. Either path can lead to a strong teaching career. How important are grades for education-major applications? Important, but not as cutthroat as direct-admit nursing or engineering. Education programs care about both academic ability and character. A strong GPA combined with sustained, meaningful teaching experience is the winning combination. What if my school does not have an Educators Rising chapter? Start one. Educators Rising provides start-up materials, and founding a chapter is itself a powerful demonstration of teaching-relevant leadership. The national organization can connect you with a faculty advisor template. Is teaching as a career worth the financial trade-offs? That is a personal question. Teaching salaries vary enormously by state and district. The honest answer is that teaching is rarely a path to wealth but can be deeply meaningful work. Spend time tutoring and counseling at camps in high school to find out whether the work itself is something you love before committing to the path.Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to know what subject I want to teach before applying?
It helps a lot. You will eventually be admitted to a specific licensure program, and showing demonstrated expertise in your chosen area strengthens your application. Secondary education programs typically allow you to commit to a specific subject during your first year of college.
Are alternative routes like Teach For America still strong options?
Yes. TFA accepts students from any major and trains them over the summer before their first teaching year. It is competitive and prestigious. Traditional education programs offer earlier and more thorough preparation. Either path can lead to a strong career.
How important are grades for education-major applications?
Important, but not as cutthroat as direct-admit nursing or engineering. Education programs care about both academic ability and character. Strong GPA combined with sustained, meaningful teaching experience is the winning combination.
What if my school does not have an Educators Rising chapter?
Start one. Educators Rising provides start-up materials, and founding a chapter is itself a powerful demonstration of teaching-relevant leadership. The national organization can connect you with a faculty advisor template.
Is teaching as a career worth the financial trade-offs?
Teaching salaries vary enormously by state and district. The honest answer is that teaching is rarely a path to wealth but can be deeply meaningful work. Spend time tutoring and counseling at camps in high school to find out whether the work itself is something you love.