High School Students and Volunteering Advantages
Volunteering Effects on Students’ Futures
High schooler students have promising and often bright futures waiting for them. If you’re a teenager who wants to do your best to secure a life that’s rewarding and meaningful, then you should think in detail about choices in recreational activities (AKA volunteering) that are right in front of you. Teens who are focused and driven often make the decision to take on volunteer work to get on the path to success and achievement. There are many rewards that are linked to volunteering.
Prove You’re Serious
College and University are one of the paths to success. And getting into your college or university of choice, shapes that path. 61% of college admissions officials use the volunteer data as a tie-breaking when evaluating new applicants. A student needs to stand out and here’s how. According to prepscholar.com; First, prove long-term commitment; Second, show passion for the volunteer work; Third, highlight any leadership opportunities; and Lastly, be able to reflect on the experience and what you learned. Reporting volunteer work on college applications shows you’re more than just grades, and if done right, can help you stand out from the rest of the pack.
Access to Free Money
Scholarships are available to high school students as a way to help offset the cost to attend higher levels of learning. If you google “list of volunteer scholarships,” you will find 10 pages with multiple options. Volunteering can not only help you get into college, but also even pay for it!
Academic Credits
Don’t forget, either, that being a volunteer can also help you score academic credits that can come in handy at a later time. Speak with professionals who represent your school, they know if and which credits can be associated with volunteer programs. These incentives are on the rise in educational environments all around the United States and elsewhere.
Attain New Talents and Discover New Interests
Teens who are tenacious and devoted should do whatever they can to gain competitive advantages. Volunteering gives you the chance to expand your horizons. This can be priceless for college applications, internships, externships, part-time jobs. Being a volunteer for an organization will give you lessons that relate to interpersonal communication, negotiations and beyond, too. Volunteer work can be terrific for people who want to learn about everything from administration tasks to mathematics. Volunteering is a great chance to sharpen your mind, abilities and get a better understanding of your own talents and interests with no financial commitment.
Robust Resume
It’s only natural for most teens to have resumes that are rather thin; most jobs require past experience while most volunteer opportunities, do not. To get your resume to be particularly notable for your age group, then do meaningful volunteer work. A meanful, leadership volunteer position, will easily beat out having a job taking ticket orders.
Convey Trust
Being a volunteer can put your devotion and punctuality on display for the whole world to see. Since you haven’t “made a name for yourself” yet, documentation of your activities is the way to open doors of opportunity.
Better Sense of Self
Being a volunteer can provide you with a sense of purpose that’s rare. Acquiring and mastering new skills and yes, failing at some of them, will give you a better sense of what makes you passionate. It’s wonderful to know that you’re doing everything you can to better the planet and its many residents.
Being Part of a Tribe
It’s important to be with other people who have similar hobbies and who care about making a positive difference. If you want to network or simply make new buddies for life, then being a volunteer can go a truly long way. Volunteers are able to meet people they never would have encountered otherwise.
Identify Your Educational Journey
Volunteering can be amazing and helpful to students who are still uncertain about their college-major choices. Doin a lot of volunteer work, will expose you to all kinds of situations and subjects. For example, if you volunteer at a library in your neighborhood, then it may just encourage you to major in English or if you volunteer at an educational institution in a disenfranchised community in your city or town, then it may just motivate you to major in social work.
Your Story
Most importantly, volunteering should be seen as being part of your larger story…what impact are you having on your community? And done with compassion and purpose. May the chapters to your story have many happy endings!
