Just because the bell rings doesn’t mean you have to bounce. Check out our picks for getting more involved in your school this year:

1. Represent the Home Team

Cheer with the crowd on the sidelines or rep your school out on the field, on the debate team, in a theater troupe, or another after-school club that fits you best. Can’t find an activity you like? Start your own school-sponsored club. Besides fatting up the college resume, getting involved in school clubs and groups is the best way to develop interests and make yourself known.

2. Rock Your School Colors Like Nobody’s Business

Whether it’s sportin’ your athletic gear on game day or concocting your own fab outfit with accessories to match, work those school hues and show your pride in style.

3. Play up Your Talents by Joining a Sport

All the time you’ll spend in practice, at away games, and pep rallies is sure to foster some serious school spirit — and add more friends to your roster.

4. Set Up a Blood Drive

Save lives and develop leadership skills by getting your school involved with a blood drive. The skills you’ll gain from planning and running such an event will be perfect to highlight on those college applications.

5. Be a Party-Planning Diva

Don’t just attend school dances, fundraisers, talent shows, and plays — build up your event-planning prowess and run the show. As a producer, you’ll get to decide on themes, color schemes, music, venues, and more — you’ll also get to help choose who stars in the spring musical and receive credit for your hard work in the program. Making new friends in the process? Bonus.

6. Share Your Knowledge

Remember how lost you were those first few weeks of freshman year? Help make the transition easier for a new student in your school by being a mentor to her and teaching her the ropes. Whether it’s introducing her to some of your friends, giving her the scoop on her teachers, or helping her with her homework, every little bit can ensure she has a bomb first-year high school experience.

7.Find a Mentor

Even when thinking of the future, there’s no time like the present. Build a relationship with someone — inside or outside of school — whose work you admire, ask her questions about what she does, and take in all the advice she gives you about making plans and seeing them through.

8.Help the Local Community

Find ways to give back to your hometown — it can be as simple as scheduling a cleanup day or as profound as repairing homes for the less fortunate.

How are you getting involved this year? Comment below!