Summer 2020 Virtual Volunteer Opportunities

When students look back on the Summer of 2020, they may be quick to remember the missed opportunities: cancelled summer vacations, terminated part-time jobs, lost opportunities for internships, camps and athletic showcases. But every cloud has a silver lining. Students who want to feel good about themselves when Labor Day rolls around, and those who want to impress college admissions officers, have many opportunities to serve others while adhering to safety protocols.

The Somerset Country Library is offering “Virtual Teen Volunteering” opportunities for those entering grades six through twelve. Students can serve as Book Reviewers, reading select books and writing reviews which are posted to Beanstack as well as to the library’s Online Public Access Catalog.  Students can also serve as Make A Difference Volunteers, performing good deeds in their community such as letter writing, mask making, and outdoor cleanup. Lastly, students can serve as QuaranTEEN Zine Contributors by creating and submitting artistic works in a vast array of media including sculptures, paintings, graphics, prints, photographs, drawings, collages, textiles and more.

There are also a vast array of opportunities listed on volunteer websites including DoSomething.org which is one of the largest U.S. organizations helping teens get involved in causes they care about.  Among the many activities listed on this site are:

Tackle Hunger – calling on students to organize food drives in their community to benefit local food banks since over 12 million young people in the U.S. live in food-insecure households.

Elephant Task Force – suggesting students flag ivory items on Craigslist to lessen elephant poaching, since 96 African elephants are killed by ivory poachers each day which may result in their extinction by 2025.

Get-Well Cells – having students collect used phones and donate them to Medic Mobile as about 90% of the population in developing nations has access to a cell signal.

Search for Specs – asking students to collect eyeglasses no longer in use in order to fund eye care programs for people in low income communities.  

Ready, Set, Vote – suggesting students help their friends register to vote by sharing their personalized voter registration page.  As a bonus, each time students share their voter registration page before July 31st they’ll be entered for a chance to win a $1,000 scholarship.  

These are just a few of the multitude of opportunities, cited on DoSomething.org, that students can safely engage in despite Covid-19. 

College-bound students should note that admissions officers used to consider it a bonus to find community service work listed on a college application.  Now it’s an expectation, with extra points for demonstrated levels of commitment and initiative. 

Susan Alaimo is the founder of SAT Smart. For the past 25 years, SAT Smart’s Ivy League educated tutors have prepared students for the PSAT, SAT, ACT, Subject Tests, AP courses, and all high school subjects. Visit www.SATsmart.com or call 908-369-5362