Online/Virtual Volunteer Opportunities for High School Students

June 13, 2022

For just about every teen on Earth, the last 2+ years have not gone as anticipated. Starting in spring of 2020, your high school experience was impacted by the arrival of COVID. You lost out on after school activities, in-person learning, and proms. And of course, young people “only” dealing with losses of that nature are, in a relative sense, the “lucky” ones. Countless others have had to mourn the death of a loved one due to COVID. Many others have had to shoulder the stress of challenging financial issues due to inflation. Yet, despite all of the challenges you faced, you are still interested in giving back by pursuing online/virtual volunteer opportunities for high school students.

Sometimes the ideal way to distract yourself from your own struggles is to find a selfless pursuit. As Gandhi once said, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Of course, the coronavirus pandemic, insidious and suffocating as it has been, may still be limiting the ways in which you are comfortable engaging in charitable endeavors. Given the continued challenges caused by rising COVID numbers, you may still feel that the best way to contribute to your local (or global) community is to volunteer online. What follows are 7 ways you can be of service from the safety of your own home.

Online/Virtual Volunteer Opportunities for High School Students

1) Provide Virtual Healthcare Assistance

There are also behind-the-scenes ways to make a contribution at a time of so much sacrifice. Something as simple as becoming a Digital Advocate for the Red Cross can allow teens to make an impact on the crisis. This can involve actions like simply sharing Red Cross content across social media platforms or organizing an online fundraiser. Points of Light is a group that engages 5 million volunteers per year across 37 countries.

They can connect you to a host of pandemic-oriented causes including email marketing for COVID-19 charities. If you are over the age of 18, you may also be interested in becoming a Crisis Counselor who can gain the training necessary to help support those going through a variety of life challenges, including those related directly or indirectly to the coronavirus.

2) Tutor Students Online

Low-income and minority students incurred great educational losses during the pandemic, as technological barriers and under-resourced urban schools only increased an already tragic achievement gap. Teensgive.org allows individuals in 9th-12th grade a bevy of opportunities to tutor peers online. The application process has a fast turnaround time. In fact, you can be helping a child in need within a week of submission. Schoolonwheels.org allows students aged 16-18 to provide tutoring services to peers through virtual means. Those aged 12-15 can also volunteer, but must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Learntobe.org is another option for connecting tutors and in-need students on a virtual platform.

3) Become a Translator  

If you are bilingual, there are plenty of ways you can contribute to a great cause right from your laptop. The United Nations Volunteers organization lists many opportunities for those proficient in two or more languages to make an impact. For example, UN-Habitat needs volunteers to help translate a National Housing Project for Cabo Verde from Portuguese to English. UNICEF presently needs COVID-19-related documents translated from English to French. The UN also needs Chinese reports on pandemic volunteer efforts translated into English. You could also consider joining the army of TED Talk translators who work on subtitling these inspirational videos so that they can be enjoyed by audiences around the globe. A number of fantastic opportunities can also be accessed through Translators Without Borders.

4) Archive Historical Documents  

Fans of history may be interested in becoming citizen archivists for a non-profit organization such as the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Would you enjoy transcribing speeches made by Franklin Roosevelt? Or, perhaps case histories made by the Tennessee Valley Authority during the Great Depression? Or, would you derive pleasure from cataloguing Purple Hearts awarded between 1942-1963? All of these tasks are awaiting the help of virtual volunteers right now. The Smithsonian also engages citizen scholars in tasks such as transcribing diaries of prominent Americans or joining the Wikipedia Volunteer Program’s efforts to strengthen the website’s offerings on Smithsonian-relevant content.

5) Volunteer for a Political Campaign

With 2022 being an election year, there are countless local and state races already well underway.  If politics or championing a particular cause is up your alley, you should absolutely consider civic engagement as an activity. You can always contact the political campaign of your choice via email, phone, or social media. Additionally, there are also a number of quality resources for those who don’t quite know where to start. One such organization is Rock the Vote.

6) Help the Ukrainian People 

There are a number of great resources that can allow you to help the people of Ukraine. These include:

  • Collect donations for UNICEF.
  • Work with CARE.org with letter writing campaigns, donations, advocacy, and more.
  • Tutoring Ukrainian children through Meaningful Teens.

7) Gun Violence

The tragic shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo are just two of the latest reminders of the horrors of gun violence. The following organizations allow teens to volunteer (virtually or in-person) in support of ending mass shootings.

Online/Virtual Volunteer Opportunities for High School Students – Final Thoughts

In 2022, young people are reporting anxiety, depression, loneliness, and feelings of isolation in record numbers. As a double-whammy, positive therapeutic outlets are more challenging to access than ever before. Becoming a virtual volunteer may help return some sense of agency and purpose to your life. All we can do right now is to follow the words of Teddy Roosevelt to “Do the best you can, with what you have, where you are”. Online volunteer work may prove to be exactly that.

Visit our Dataverse for more in-person and online/virtual volunteer opportunities for high school students.