Starting an MSFC Chapter
If your school doesn’t currently have a chapter of MSFC, or you are working on reviving an inactive chapter, you can reach out to students@msfc.org and a member of our Student Organizing team will contact you. The process for officially starting a chapter is very simple on MSFC HQ’s end – after talking with a Student Organizer and completing a page of paperwork, you’re all set! However, the process for getting the chapter off the ground on your campus can be more complex and depends on the context of your location and institution. MSFC HQ is here to support you however we can in brainstorming ideas, sharing resources to support your plans and goals, and more; but we ultimately leave it up to you to decide what direction your chapter takes. Some things you’ll want to consider are:
- How you can recruit students to join your chapter
- How many students you want to have in chapter leadership
- What leadership roles (if any) your chapter will have, and what the responsibilities of each role will be
- How you will cultivate new leaders and ensure regular leadership transitions
- How often you will host events, and what kinds of events you want to host (check out our event resources for ideas)
- What projects the chapter will work on, like curriculum reform, advocacy, volunteering, etc.
- If it’s possible to become an official student group at your school, and what the pros/cons to becoming an official school group are
- What other student groups on your campus you can partner with
- If there are other chapters in your state/region/country who you may want to work with (reach out to students@msfc.org to get connected)
For a student perspective on the process of starting a new chapter, check out this blog post series from Leeore: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome to Start a Chapter Part 1, Part 2