Community service for high schoolers can be hard to come by. I picked up a lot of trash. I was in a service club and our monthly activity was cleaning up a road near the school. We’d head out with our gloves and black garbage bags, and pop up and down, bending over to pick up every random bottle, Styrofoam cup, and fast food bag.
I remember being excited the month we got to relocate to the beach for a coastal cleanup. Little did I know it would be a lot like the road cleanup but with a fishy smell. Still, it was good work for 16-year-old me, and I now threaten my kids with it when they are tempted to litter. If your son or daughter is part of a service club, maybe the opportunities to serve are plentiful. But community service ideas for high school students aren’t always easy to find. Here are 15 ideas for your big kid to earn some service hours or just make the world a better place.
1. Make a mobile spa.
What a memorable experience for a group of high school friends. Take your polish and nail files to the local assisted living facility and give manicures. Tell the kids to report back with stories they hear from the women they meet.
2. Donate blood.
I’m an eight-gallon donor, and it all started back in high school. The bus showed up on campus while I was in physics (a class I wanted to get out of), which just happened to be while my favorite soap opera was on. Sign me up! Every blood donation can save three lives, so it’s a great way to serve the community.
3. Follow my lead and pick up trash.
This is one of the most low-maintenance ideas for community service for high school students. You need bags, gloves, and a healthy lower back. Have your child contact the city or county and ask if the cleanup can count for service hours if you provide photo documentation.
4. Reshelve books at the library.
Spending time in a quiet library would be a great respite for a teen’s brain, which is used to working on all cylinders. And you never know—your teen might discover a new interest or hobby. After all, there’s a book on just about everything!
5. Tutor elementary kids.
Even if your child is struggling to get an A in tenth grade American literature, he or she can sit with third-graders and listen to them read out loud or help identify adjectives and adverbs. As a bonus, your teen will get to practice patience, kindness, and empathy.
6. Volunteer to manage social media for a local non-profit.
An ideal way to serve is by using your God-given talents and interests. High school kids know how to leverage social media to build a following, so why not put that knowledge to good use? Most small nonprofits are understaffed, so a volunteer social guru who can schedule posts and come up with creative ways to show off the good work being done would be a huge blessing.
An ideal way to serve is by using your God-given talents and interests. Share on X7. Babysit for free for a single parent.
This isn’t a traditional idea, but it would sure mean a lot to a single mom or dad. If your high schooler could spare an hour or two to give a single mom some time to run errands kid-free or go have dinner with a girlfriend, it would have a huge impact on one family.
8. Be a kid-herder.
My church’s vacation Bible school utilizes teen volunteers just so they don’t have complete mayhem or lose a child prone to wandering. The adults do the teaching, but the teens help keep the peace, and I know how much they are appreciated.
9. Fold laundry for a busy family.
A friend of mine pays a girl to come fold her kids’ laundry. She considers it a financial investment in her sanity. If you know a family with two working parents who always seem to be on the go, have your high schooler pop over for an hour to lend a hand with whatever is needed.
10. Raise awareness about equal housing.
Housing inequality is a huge issue in many communities. Habitat for Humanity not only builds houses but also has tools available to help get the word out. The organization’s build-a-stat stencils will show your kids what blessings they have and help raise awareness in your neighborhood.
11. Be a buddy.
Best Buddies fosters one-to-one friendships between high school students with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities. The friendship kids make through Best Buddies could be the best one they’ve ever had.
12. Offer to be a grocery getter.
There’s probably an elderly man or woman living on your street who could use a hand fetching groceries. Your teen can take the shopping list or drive the neighbor to the store and walk the aisles. I bet your neighbor will have some good food-centered stories to share!
13. Organize a manual labor day.
My husband used to be a youth minister. One of the group’s fundraisers was to invite the members of the church to “hire a teen” to do manual labor. The kids pulled weeds, painted a fence, washed cars, and hauled boxes into attics. See if your teen could organize this in your church as a free service.
14. Collect cigarette butts.
This may sound gross, but so is tossing cigarette butts onto the ground. Picking up cigarette butts via the Do Something campaign can earn your high schooler volunteer hours, plus it helps humans, animals, and the planet.
15. Conserve water by DJing.
If your teen loves music and curates the best playlists, tell him or her to make a five-minute playlist and send it to friends with the challenge to limit the length of their showers to the length of the playlist. Shorter showers equal less wasted water and a better planet.
What creative community service ideas for high school students can you add to the list?
