Best Virtual Volunteering Opportunities for High School Students
April is Volunteer Month! Volunteering not only adds value to your resume and college application, but contributing to your community also stimulates your personal and professional growth and allows you to make a difference.
Since the pandemic has moved so much of life digitally, organizations have found ways to engage volunteers using virtual methods as well.
With virtual volunteering opportunities, you can contribute to your community and the world at large from the comfort and safety of your home!
Take a look at the following virtual volunteering opportunities for high school students. This list provides a variety of options for students based on a multitude of different interests and skills.
Humane Society
Though students can’t volunteer in person to work with animals safely during the pandemic, they can still help further the Humane Society’s mission by phone banking. Students must be over 16-years-old to volunteer and will place calls to support the Humane Society’s legislative priorities and ballot initiatives.
The Trevor Project
Students over the age of 18 can volunteer virtually for the Trevor Project to help staff crisis intervention hotlines and provide support to LGBTQ youth, ages 13 to 24.
Best Buddies
This organization provides an opportunity for students to help with their e-Buddies program, through which volunteers email with a buddy who has intellectual and/or developmental disabilities, at least once every two weeks. Volunteers are matched with buddies based on interest, games, and location. People in the same states are not matched. This is a great way for students to help those with different abilities feel included and make a new friend.
Girls Inc.
As a social media ambassador for Girls Inc., students can help amplify the organization’s message by creating and sharing social media posts that teach girls how to navigate gender, economic, and social barriers. The goal of these posts is to add to a healthy, educated, and independent upbringing for girls. Even very busy students can spend 5 to 10 minutes a day working on this effort!
Be My Eyes
This organization pairs student volunteers with blind and low-vision individuals to provide visual assistance through a video app. Students can help folks who have trouble seeing with daily tasks like checking expiration dates, distinguishing between different colors, and reading important instructions.
Adopt a Nursing Home
Through this Texas Health Care Association project, student volunteers can send letters and online messages to nursing home residents to help keep their spirits high while they can no longer have visitors.
Lifetime Connections Without Walls
This organization provides an opportunity for older adults to join classes and activities from the comfort and safety of their homes. Students can virtually volunteer their time by sending reminders about these events or even facilitating sessions.
Donate:Code
This organization connects students who are willing to donate their coding skills to charities and community groups who need that type of support. Students also have the opportunity to build their skills and portfolios through this volunteer position.
Mozilla
Mozilla offers another opportunity to students with computer skills to volunteer and help build a better internet. Students can volunteer to help with programming, design, or even testing.
Amnesty Decoders
This opportunity from an arm of Amnesty International allows students to help identify human rights violations that can become human rights projects using their computers, smart phones, and tablets. Students might find violations like tweets that are abusive to women or even locate vulnerable villages in war-torn regions like Darfur.
Teenangels
This organization offers an exciting opportunity for students ages 13 to 18 who have an interest in cyber security to help run programs that teach students, parents, and teachers about the safe and responsible use of the internet.
Citizen Scholars
This is an opportunity for student history buffs to volunteer for the Smithsonian Institute, which is the largest museum and research complex in the world. Students can virtually assist in transcribing papers of prominent Americans, historic documents, and records from the Smithsonian’s scientific collection to make them more accessible to not only researchers but also the public.
Citizen Archivist
This opportunity with the National Archives allows students to help preserve and share public records detailing the story of the United States and its people. Volunteers transcribe, tag, and add comments to these public records to help make them more searchable and accessible.
TeensGive
This is a fantastic opportunity for students in grades 9 through 12 to tutor other students online without the component of travel that tutoring often requires. TeensGive also focuses on helping students who are behind in school because of disadvantages like former gang membership, homelessness, or inequality.
School on Wheels
Another teaching-related opportunity, this organization gives students ages 16 to 18 the chance to volunteer to tutor students who are living in shelters, motels, vehicles, group foster homes, and the streets in Southern California. Tutors will work with students ranging from kindergarten through 12th grade.
Operation Gratitude
This organization gives students who love to write the chance to send thank-you letters to first responders, troops, and veterans to support their efforts and thank them for their service.
Project Gutenberg
As this organization continues to grow the world’s largest digital library of over 60,000 free books, it needs volunteer proofreaders--a perfect opportunity for students who love to read and write!
Bookshare
Bookshare’s mission is to make reading more accessible to people who face reading barriers like visual impairments, learning disabilities, dyslexia, and physical disabilities. With this organization, students can volunteer to scan in new books and proofread scanned titles as the collection of over 900,000 titles improves.
Tarjimly
Students who have second-language skills or are multilingual can volunteer with this app that provides on-demand translation services for immigrants, asylees, and refugees.
Translators Without Borders
Students who are fluent in two or more languages can also volunteer for Translators Without Borders and translate texts for a variety of international organizations that focus on crisis relief, health, and education.
About NSHSS
Since 2002, NSHSS has supported young academics on their journey to college and beyond as they prepare to become the leaders of tomorrow. The mission behind NSHSS is to recognize academic excellence and honor high-achieving students, providing them with the resources and network to excel in college, career and community. In doing so, NSHSS connects members with global events, scholarship opportunities, college fairs, internships, career and leadership programs, partner discounts, and more. Discover what makes NSHSS worth it to student members and how you can get involved.
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