Make a Difference. Build Your Future.
You don't have to wait until you're an adult to make a difference in your community.
Junior Optimists are students who want to help others, meet new people, take on new challenges, and develop the skills that will help them become tomorrow's leaders.
You Have Ideas. You Have Talents. Put Them to Work.
You may already want to make your school or community better but aren't quite sure where to start.
Maybe you'd like to volunteer. Maybe you'd like to meet other students who care about helping people. Or maybe you want opportunities to build confidence, organize projects and discover what kind of leader you can become.
Junior Optimist gives you a place to do it.
You don't need previous experience. You just need the desire to get involved.
More Than Community Service
Make a Real Difference
Take part in service projects that help people, schools and organizations throughout our community. You'll discover that even one person can help create meaningful change.
Become a Leader
Learn by doing. Junior Optimists have opportunities to plan projects, work with a team, communicate ideas, solve problems and take on leadership responsibilities.
Make Friends & Have Fun
Meet students who want to make a difference just like you. Work together, attend activities and build friendships while doing something worthwhile.
Leadership Isn't Something You Have to Wait For
Leadership doesn't begin when you graduate from college or get your first job.
It starts when you decide to participate.
When you volunteer for a project, share an idea, help organize an event, work through a problem with your team or step forward to lead, you're practicing skills you'll use for the rest of your life.
Junior Optimist International gives young people opportunities to take leadership roles locally and even at the District and International levels.
What You Can Develop:
Confidence
Leadership
Teamwork
Communication
Project Planning
Problem-Solving
Responsibility
Community Awareness
Confidence
A Lifelong Habit of Service
Your Community. Your Club. Your Opportunity.
The Farmington/Farmington Hills Optimist Club sponsors Junior Optimist Clubs within Farmington Public Schools, giving local students opportunities to serve their community while developing personally and as leaders.
Our adult advisors provide guidance and support, but Junior Optimist is about giving young people opportunities to participate, contribute ideas and increasingly take the lead.
The level of student leadership naturally grows with age. Optimist International describes elementary clubs as concentrating on volunteerism and teamwork, middle-school clubs as adding leadership and project planning, and high-school clubs as increasingly member-driven.
What Could You Do as a Junior Optimist?
Make a Real Difference
Take part in service projects that help people, schools and organizations throughout our community. You'll discover that even one person can help create meaningful change.
Become a Leader
Learn by doing. Junior Optimists have opportunities to plan projects, work with a team, communicate ideas, solve problems and take on leadership responsibilities.
Make Friends & Have Fun
Meet students who want to make a difference just like you. Work together, attend activities and build friendships while doing something worthwhile.
Make Friends & Have Fun
Meet students who want to make a difference just like you. Work together, attend activities and build friendships while doing something worthwhile.
See Junior Optimists in Action
Real students. Real experiences. Real impact in our community.
Be Part of Something Bigger
Your local Junior Optimist Club is part of Junior Optimist International (JOI), a worldwide youth organization sponsored by Optimist International.
JOI brings together young people who believe they can make their communities—and their world—better through optimism, service and leadership.
Optimist International's mission is:
"By providing hope and positive vision, Optimists bring out the best in youth, our communities and ourselves."
Becoming a Junior Optimist Is Easy
1. Complete Your Application
Tell us about the student and provide the required parent or guardian information.
3. Get Involved
Your Junior Optimist leaders will provide information about the local club, meetings and upcoming opportunities to participate.
2. Pay the $20 Membership Fee
Add the student's membership to your cart and securely pay online by credit card or ACH/bank payment.
Parents & Guardians: Why Junior Optimist?
Junior Optimist provides students with structured opportunities to serve others, work as part of a team and develop leadership skills with guidance from adult club advisors.
Students aren't simply told about leadership—they get opportunities to practice it.
The membership application below collects both student and parent/guardian information and includes the required acknowledgments and permissions.
Membership Fee
Membership is $20 per student.
We want interested students to have the opportunity to participate. If the membership fee presents a financial hardship, please speak privately with the student's teacher or adult Junior Optimist Club leader about requesting a membership-fee exemption.
Ready to Become a Junior Optimist?
How to Register & Pay
- Complete the Student Application
Fill in all required student and parent/guardian information in the membership application below. Be sure to review the information carefully before continuing. - Register Another Student, If Needed
If you are registering more than one student, click Add Student again for the next student.
Repeat this process for each student you are registering. - Click “Add to Cart”
After completing all required fields in the application, click Add to Cart. The student’s membership and application information will be added to your shopping cart. - View Your Cart
Once you have put the JOI Member Application in your cart, click View Cart or the shopping cart icon. Review the memberships in your cart and make sure there is one $20 membership for each student being registered. - Proceed to Checkout
Click Proceed to Checkout and enter the requested billing and contact information. - Choose Your Payment Method
At checkout, choose your preferred secure payment method:- Credit or Debit Card
- ACH / Bank Account
ACH may take a couple days to clear and process
- Complete Your Registration
Follow the on-screen instructions to submit your payment and complete the order. You’ll receive an email confirmation after the transaction has been successfully processed.
Registering More Than One Student?
Complete the application and click Add to Cart separately for each student.
You're Taking the First Step
Joining Junior Optimist is more than signing up for another activity.
It's an opportunity to discover what you can contribute, help people around you, meet other students who care about their community and start developing the skills that can make you a stronger leader in the years ahead.
We're excited to see what you'll do.