Volunteer & Student Opportunities
Volunteer Opportunities
Other Local & Student Opportunities
Ideas for meaningful ways to get involved
Looking for something to do? Here are some ideas based on what students have done in the past. Some are local summer programs, some are activities based at school or in our community, and some take students far and wide.
The best involvements are those that follow from your own interests and passions
- Apprenticeship in Science and Engineering summer program (selective, high-level research position with a mentor in science, medicine, engineering – apply by early January through Saturday Academy)
- Operation Catapult at Rose Hulman in Indiana (3-week summer program for the inventor, tinkerer, future engineer)
- Free Geek (volunteer program in Portland that teaches students to take apart and rebuild old computers for the needy)
- Cross-cultural programs through local churches, medical mission groups, Amigos de las Americas, American Field Service, Rotary, International Summer stays, summer programs at Oxford, England, trips with high school language teachers offered in some years, etc.
- Student member of LO City Council
- Student member of LO Parks Department Board
- Student columnist for LO Review or Oregonian
- Student member of LO Library Board
- Volunteer at the Zoo, Oregon Historical Society, Portland Art Museum, or OMSI (counselor at OMSI camps in the summer, demonstrator of experiments for school groups during the year).
- Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts
- Start your own business (tennis camp, day camp, landscaping, teaching computer skills to seniors, computer graphics, shuttle service to airport, designing apparel and selling it, designing and selling birdhouses online, designing websites for companies or individuals)
- Take a writing workshop; many are offered around the country, including Young Writers at Kenyon, Young Writers at Bard, Writer to Writer at Lewis and Clark
- Be a camp counselor at a camp through YMCA, YWCA, OMSI, scouting, church groups.
- Job shadow an architect or surgeon or physical therapist or social worker or attorney or entrepreneur in your interest area.
- Apply for the LO Review Youth Board.
- Intern for a Congressman or Senator or work on a political campaign.
- Become involved in LO Reads, a community reading program.
- Volunteer for Relay for Life (cancer fundraising) or the Susan B. Komen Foundation (breast cancer charity).
- Identify a business or agency or school that needs to address recycling issues and its environmental impact and help them with it. Get involved in water quality or pollution issues or global warming initiatives.
- Volunteer at the Red Cross or Humane Society.
- Volunteer in a healthcare setting (call hospital volunteer coordinators for information).
- Volunteer at an assisted living home for the elderly or Alzheimer’s patients. Play music or sing to entertain patients at health care facilities. Get your dog certified as a pet therapy dog and visit patients.
- Start your own club: get a teacher to be your sponsor, write a charter or constitution and get it approved, publicize the club, recruit members, and put on programs.
- Volunteer at the Center for Medically Fragile Children at Providence Portland Medical Center.
- Volunteer for the Oregon Bus Project, a grassroots political organization that registers voters.
- Attend a National Youth Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C. or a National Youth Forum on Medicine or National Youth Forum on Law and CSI offered in eight cities across the U.S.
- Apply for the Lake Oswego Youth Action Council to identify and meet needs of local teens through community programs.
- Take part in the Young Entrepreneurs summer program at University of Portland.
- Be a nature counselor or volunteer at Tryon Creek State Park.
- Start a drive to send paperback books or letters to servicemen and women in Afghanistan and Iraq.