Grand Valley State University’s new club Get Better Every Day can be seen as an embodiment of modest resolutions for the new year.

These improvements are not life-changing alterations seeking instant gratification. Rather, club members adopt small efforts carried on throughout each day, challenging the traditional one or two large goals per year model.

“I’d like to work a little bit every day to get better,” said Melanie Brennan, president of Get Better Every Day. “Every little thing counts. Our message is to ‘get better every day’ and we want to inspire other people to be their personal best.”

The message is simple and relatable for determined GVSU students with busy schedules. Everyone could be focusing on something to self-improve at any time.

While the new wear may seem like the perfect time to start achieving one’s goals, Get Better Every Day seeks to make resolutions and improvement a year-round goal.

Kyle Henegar, vice president of Get Better Every Day, plans to use volunteer activities to make the club’s goal a reality. These include working with assisted living centers, elementary schools and animal shelters in the Grand Rapids area.

In addition, he also plans to partner with other GVSU clubs to expand a volunteer-base and provide members with more opportunities in the area.

The club is scheduled to officially start meetings during the winter semester and has already developed interest on campus. From Henegar’s experience, it is easy to find students with a similar interest and he hopes to add more to the club’s ranks this semester.

“We’re all pretty confident in our abilities and think our message hits home to a lot of people,” he said. “We’ve been talking about what we want to do for a long time now and a lot of people have wanted to be on board.”

For Brennan and Henegar, the positive response from interested GVSU students reinforced the notion that many students want to make a difference, but do not always have an abundance of time to do it.

Brennan said this situation has primarily determined the structure for the club.

“I’m interested in a lot of ways to volunteer but can’t be a part of five clubs at once,” she said. “Our members can volunteer in a lot of ways and come to club meetings once a month as opposed to five.”

Get Better Every Day seeks to provide a casual commitment to those seeking to improve themselves by improving the situations of others — something that doesn’t happen overnight.

Volunteer activities are not limited or specific, Brennan said this allows room for exploration.

She said the group aims to support and listen to the situations others are facing, but to also learn more about the situations of other club members seeking the same goals.

Brennan hopes to provide opportunities to a small community of these students with achievable goals, working together and within the larger Grand Rapids community.

“Our goal is to help motivate each other and other people, and show them how helping others can allow you to help yourself even more sometimes,” she said.

To learn more about Get Better Everyday visit the official Twitter page @BetterOnDaily or check the club’s Orgsync page for updates.