15 Best Summer Volunteering Programs for High School Students in 2023

Summer volunteering programs for high school students can be found on this page. If you’ve been looking for them, you are on the right page. International Volunteer HQ has been running the world’s best summer volunteer abroad programs for over 13 years.

These late spring programs are intended to assist you with some of the world’s most sought after travel destinations. With COVID-19 restrictions relaxing, IVHQ has summer volunteering programs for high school students currently.

This is open in 30+ destinations, with additional programs returning in mid-2023 in line with local governments and health guidelines. With certainty, you can book your late spring volunteer trip because of their flexible booking policy.

This allows you to change your travel dates, program, and destination for free up to 14 days before your start date. During your experience in IVH’s late spring volunteer program, you will help local communities and assist with a series of community-led programs.

Table of Contents

Types of Summer Volunteering Programs
What are the Eligibility Criteria for Best Summer Programs for High School Students?
Best Summer Volunteering Programs for High School Students in 2023
FAQs – Summer Volunteering Programs for High School Students
Recommendations:

Types of Summer Volunteering Programs

Here are the different types of summer volunteering programs for high school students:

Hospital Programs

Hospitals sometimes require additional assistance throughout the summer, and many of them provide summer volunteer programs for high school students. Perhaps it’s all the insect bites and sunburns.

The Children’s National Health System and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital are provided as some examples, but you can also look for openings at your neighborhood hospital. Just be aware that the majority of them are much more administrative or facility-based, so don’t expect to be performing Grey’s Anatomy-level work.

You may be sure that your influence will still be noticed since providing them with new linens, flower delivery, or a listening ear is just as vital.

Museum Programs

Learning doesn’t stop throughout the summer. In fact, many individuals find that now is the ideal time to visit a museum in their area and learn something new. Some museums even provide summer camps or other special programming for visitors.

By helping throughout the summer at these organizations, you may participate in history .

Conservation Programs

You presumably already spend a lot of time outside throughout the summer, so why not help others while you’re doing it? Spend your summer helping out at your neighborhood park, beach, forest, or other outdoor location by maintaining buildings, picking up trash, and enhancing wildlife habitat.

Programs for Summer Meals

For the roughly 30 million children who rely on free or reduced-price meals throughout the academic year, summer may be a challenging time. Fortunately, a lot of food banks and meal delivery services are aware of this and take action to keep people nourished and healthy when school is not in session.

You fill that role, of course! To assist cover the gaps brought on by the summer, offer your time gathering, packing, and distributing meals.

While you’re still here, you should check out: How to Become a Volunteer in Thailand in 2023

What are the Eligibility Criteria for Best Summer Programs for High School Students?

At the moment they sign up for the initiative, volunteers must be at least 17 years old. For working in a novel and unfamiliar setting, participants ought to keep an open mind and a flexible mindset.

Volunteers must be adaptable, open-minded, and passionate about working with kids. Additionally, you should be aggressive and able to take charge. Before participating in the program, all volunteers are required to present a clear criminal background check report.

For individuals who are under 18 and want to join the program, a parental consent form is necessary. The participants in the program would benefit from having intermediate-beginner Spanish.

Best Summer Volunteering Programs for High School Students in 2023

Here are our top picks:

SUMMER TURTLE CONSERVATION VOLUNTEERING IN ZANZIBAR
SUMMER CHILDCARE VOLUNTEERING IN COSTA RICA
SUMMER WILDLIFE CONSERVATION VOLUNTEERING IN SOUTH AFRICA
SUMMER MEDICAL VOLUNTEERING PERU – CUSCO
SUMMER CONSTRUCTION VOLUNTEERING IN GUATEMALA
SUMMER YOUTH SUPPORT VOLUNTEERING IN SPAIN
SUMMER FOOD RESCUE VOLUNTEERING IN PORTUGAL
SUMMER AGRICULTURE VOLUNTEERING IN ROMANIA
SUMMER TEACHING VOLUNTEERING IN TANZANIA
SUMMER SURF OUTREACH VOLUNTEERING IN SOUTH AFRICA
SUMMER KINDERGARTEN VOLUNTEERING IN KENYA
SUMMER MEDICAL VOLUNTEERING IN GHANA
SUMMER MARINE CONSERVATION VOLUNTEERING IN CROATIA
SUMMER ANIMAL CARE VOLUNTEERING IN COSTA RICA
SUMMER FOREST CONSERVATION VOLUNTEERING IN PORTUGAL

1. SUMMER TURTLE CONSERVATION VOLUNTEERING IN ZANZIBAR

Start dates: Programs start on the first and third Wednesday of consistently.

Span: 1 – 12 weeks

Costs: Registration Fee (US$299) + Program Fee (US$610 for one-week).

Normal temp: 77°F

Greatest weekend action: Snorkeling with wild dolphins and nightfall boat trips.

This summer volunteering programs for high school students incorporates Airport pick-up, orientation, accommodation, meals and 24/7 in-country support.

Summer break doesn’t get a lot dreamier than living in a beachside bungalow and influencing this heavenly island! June through October is the dry season and the ideal opportunity to visit Zanzibar with refreshing temperatures averaging at 25°C (77°F).

The new Turtle Conservation project in Zanzibar empowers volunteers to recover wild turtle populaces in the dazzling beachfront area of Nungwi. By aiding medical attendants and treating harmed ocean turtles, and gathering food. Taking care of turtles and caring for their tidal ponds and pools, you will help secure the lives of these jeopardized animals.

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2. SUMMER CHILDCARE VOLUNTEERING IN COSTA RICA

Start Date: Programs start each Monday

Length: 1 – 24 weeks

Costs: Registration Fee (US$299) + Program Fee (US$380 for one week)

Normal temp: 82°F

Greatest Weekend Movement: Manuel Antonio National Park Nothing can make you feel greater inside than the delight of a kid.

This summer volunteering programs for high school students incorporates Airport pick-up, orientation, accommodation, meals and 24/7 in-country support.

In Santa Barbara de Heredia, volunteers from the Childcare Program work in daycare facilities, orphanages, community child care centers, community soup kitchens, and child care facilities.

There has been a rise in poverty and the number of homeless individuals as a result of regular and constant migration of people from surrounding underdeveloped nations like Guatemala. The homeless children, as well as those who are underfed and emaciated, are supported and safeguarded by orphanages and childcare facilities.

You will assist the local staff in giving the kids the love, care, and attention they so desperately need by volunteering.

Volunteer job varies from day to day, but generally speaking, you would be serving as a mentor for the kids, showing them personalized love and attention, planning various activities for the kids, assisting the local staff with their work, and offering advice to them for development.

In addition to playing games and reading stories to the kids, volunteers spend their time caring for them. Volunteers will also help the staff as required. From Monday through Friday, the volunteers will put in at least 4 to 5 hours a day. Depending on the demands of the organizer, the volunteer may occasionally work more or less hours.

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3. SUMMER WILDLIFE CONSERVATION VOLUNTEERING IN SOUTH AFRICA

Start Date: Programs start on the first and third Monday of consistently

Length: 2 – 12 weeks

Costs: Registration Fee (US$299) + Program Fee (US$825 for about fourteen days)

Normal temp: 59°F

Greatest weekend in action: Safari in Kruger National Park

This summer volunteering programs for high school students incorporates Airport pick-up, orientation, accommodation, meals and 24/7 in-country support.

African summers can be exceptionally blistering, however, if you’re living in the Northern Hemisphere and coming to South Africa over your late spring break – it will be winter there.

That implies a cooler and drier atmosphere with daytime temperatures averaging at a wonderful 15°C (59°F).

This amazing new untamed life preservation project is situated in the widely acclaimed Kruger National Park.

This is where you will find the opportunity to live among and secure the ‘Enormous 5’ animals – lion, panther, elephant, rhino, and wild ox.

An average day for volunteers can incorporate game drives, vegetation examining, and camera catching.

Alos, territory evaluations, checking of uncommon and imperiled species, and substantially more!

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4. SUMMER MEDICAL VOLUNTEERING PERU – CUSCO

Start Date: Programs start each Monday

Length: 1 – 24 weeks

Costs: Registration Fee (US$299) + Program Fee (US$330 for one week)

Normal temp: 46°F

Greatest weekend in action: Machu Picchu

This summer volunteering programs for high school students incorporates Airport pick-up, orientation, accommodation, meals and 24/7 in-country support. Besides a 2023 summer medical volunteer program in Peru, Cusco is a very remunerating experience that is ideal for students and medical care experts to do the same.

In your volunteer program, you will shadow local wellbeing experts by providing medical care suitable for your degree of study and capabilities. Humanitarian efforts ordinarily take around 3 – 5 hours of the day (Mon-Fri) contingent upon your careful position.

Admittance to medical services can be hard to get in these communities, and volunteer help gives an important enhancement to current medical services in Peru. This open door can furnish you with significant understanding and involvement with the field.

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5. SUMMER CONSTRUCTION VOLUNTEERING IN GUATEMALA

Start Date: Programs start each Monday

Length: 1 – 24 weeks

Costs: Registration Fee (US$299) + Program Fee (US$330 for one week)

Normal temp: 46°F

Greatest weekend in action: Pacaya Volcano

This summer volunteering programs for high school students incorporates Airport pick-up, orientation, accommodation, meals and 24/7 in-country support. You simply need to stall out into over joining an active development program!

If you’re knowledgeable about development work or just love stalling out into a DIY project, our late spring development volunteer is an ideal occasion to put your abilities to use. You will be put close by a local supervisor to convey community initiatives. This implies that if you don’t have the experience that is alright as well, as long as you carry an inspirational demeanor and eagerness to work.

Contingent upon the length of your volunteer program over the summer months. You will either impact a progressing task or remain adequately long enough to own something ending. The task is to remember to work on community structures, school jungle gyms, and fundamental abodes.

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6. SUMMER YOUTH SUPPORT VOLUNTEERING IN SPAIN

Start Date: Programs start every second and fourth Monday of the month

Length: 2 – 12 weeks

Costs: Registration charge (US$299) + Program expense (US$1,030 for about fourteen days)

Normal temp: 72°F

Greatest weekend in action: La Sagrada Familia

This summer volunteering programs for high school students incorporates Airport pick-up, orientation, accommodation, meals and 24/7 in-country support. Summer youth uphold volunteering Spain probably won’t be the primary thing that strikes a chord when you’re arranging an excursion. Summer volunteer program in Spain can be a compensating experience that gives an effective and real Spanish experience. This undertaking is ideal for those devoted to social work or with energy to improve results for youth.

Volunteers are set up in Barcelona to work with oppressed youngsters who require self-improvement and help with key fundamental abilities. Working closely with schooling experts, your undertakings can incorporate showcasing English, training exercises and actual instruction. The social trade that happens is additionally a critical driver for the young and an extraordinary piece of the experience for you as a volunteer!

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7. SUMMER FOOD RESCUE VOLUNTEERING IN PORTUGAL

Start Date: Programs start on the first and third Monday of consistent Duration: 1 – 12 weeks

Costs: Registration Fee (US$299) + Program Fee (US$445 for one week)

Normal temp: 70°F

Greatest weekend in action: Cascais

This summer volunteering programs for high school students incorporates Airport pick-up, orientation, accommodation, meals and 24/7 in-country support. We would all be able to concur that food should be promptly accessible to those that need it.

Taking a summer abroad on the Food Rescue program in Portugal empowers you to work, It helps you to work inside the local community and rewards local people who once in a while need to do without.

For this program, all that is required is an affection for helping other people! If you have Gordon Ramsey cooking gifts, we will acknowledge those as well. Jobs normally rotate around wiping out food squanders and dispersing extra food bundles from eateries to local people out of luck.

This is a night-based program, so you will have the day to investigate and assemble your local information. Around evening time, you will move around like a local right away. The extent of the work will keep you occupied and on your feet.

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Also, see: Volunteerism in India: Best ways to volunteer in India

8. SUMMER AGRICULTURE VOLUNTEERING IN ROMANIA

Start Date: Programs start each first and third Monday of the month

Span: 1 – 24 weeks

Costs: Registration expense (US$299) + Program charge (US$360 for one week)

Normal temp: 78°F

Greatest weekend movement: Bran Castle

This summer volunteering programs for high school students incorporates Airport pick-up, orientation, accommodation, meals and 24/7 in-country support.

Taking a summer farming volunteer program in Romania may sound far off and shock individuals. Yet that is the magnificence of setting out on a volunteer program in Romania – there’s no all-around trampled way here. You’re embarking to encounter another piece of the world decorated with fantasy palaces, mysterious timberlands, and enchanting local people.

All of this you get to enjoy while offering back through significant community projects.

9. SUMMER TEACHING VOLUNTEERING IN TANZANIA

Start Date: Programs start on the first and fifteenth of consistently

Span: 1 – four months

Costs: Registration charge (US$299) + Program expense (US$270 for one week)

Normal temp: 72°F

Greatest weekend in action: Go on safari

This summer volunteering programs for high school students incorporates Airport pick-up, orientation, accommodation, meals and 24/7 in-country support. Tanzania is quick to get one of IVHQ’s most famous African volunteer objections, with its real culture and laid-back method that allows you to add to the community.

Set in the shadow of Mt Kilimanjaro, volunteers will encounter life in the heartland of Africa. Volunteers on the Teaching project help at local schools by showing a wide scope of subjects in low-pay portions of Tanzania.

You will get the opportunity to help local instructors and lead classes of up to 80 students, conveying more engaged training for oppressed kids.

10. SUMMER SURF OUTREACH VOLUNTEERING IN SOUTH AFRICA

Start Date: Programs start each first and third Monday of the month

Length: 1 – 24 weeks

Costs: Registration charge (US$299) + Program expense (US$320 for one week)

Normal temp: 57°F

Greatest weekend movement: Table Mountain

This summer volunteering programs for high school students incorporates Airport pick-up, orientation, accommodation, meals and 24/7 in-country support. It sounds unrealistic, however, that Summer Surf Outreach volunteering in South Africa is an astounding venture that empowers you.

Also, it empowers you to help kids across the community and see the genuine side of South Africa.

You don’t need to have Stephanie Gilmore or Kelly Slater to offer help with the surf outreach program. All that is required is a deep love for the sea and a certified craving to improve the lives of others. There will never be a dull second on the seashore, so come arrange for some high energy volunteer days.

11. SUMMER KINDERGARTEN VOLUNTEERING IN KENYA

Start Date: Programs start on the first and fifteenth of consistent Duration: 1 – 12 weeks

Costs: Registration charge (US$299) + Program expense (US$280 for one week)

Normal temp: 65°F

Greatest weekend movement: Go on safari

This summer volunteering programs for high school students incorporates Airport pick-up, orientation, accommodation, meals and 24/7 in-country support.

Kenya: where everything began for IVHQ, and where your summer volunteer excursion can start! If you have past involvement with childcare work, it will be a genuinely favorable position.

Also, if you have an active nature and activity, you will be all around upheld by local staff to convey the help in public venues.

Kindergarten volunteering in Kenya happens in childcare and public venues. This is where undertakings include showing fundamental English, math, exercises, and games, etc.

12. SUMMER MEDICAL VOLUNTEERING IN GHANA

Start Dates: First and Fifteenth of consistently

Span: 1 – 24 weeks

Costs: Registration expense (US$299) + Program charge (US$270 for one week)

Normal temp: 80°F

Greatest weekend in action: Cape Coast

This summer incorporates airport get, direction, convenience, everyday breakfast and supper and day in and day out in-nation uphold The west shore of Africa is home to probably the most asset-rich land on the planet, and it is your summer home in our medical volunteer program. If you’re in your third year of medical school or completely qualified in a medical field, at that point you’re qualified to take part in the medical program in Ghana.

For those with less experience, you can engage in our Healthcare Outreach and Education program. This includes working closely with qualified experts to provide intestinal sickness therapy to local people who wouldn’t approach it. Volunteering happens in little rustic facilities where you work intimately with medical care experts.

The details of your work will be controlled by how long you’re volunteering for.

13. SUMMER MARINE CONSERVATION VOLUNTEERING IN CROATIA

Start Date: Programs start on the first and third Monday of the month

Span: 1 – 12 weeks

Costs: Registration Fee (US$299) + Program Fee (US$905 for one week)

Normal temp: 85°F

Greatest weekend movement: The Diocletian Palace

This summer volunteering programs for high school students incorporates Airport pick-up, orientation, accommodation, meals, and 24/7 in-country support. If late spring in the Mediterranean sounds great to you, at this point look no further!

Croatia is an unquestionable requirement for those spending summer in Europe, with its ideal coastlines, customary design, and lively air. Volunteers are situated in the mainstream town of Split, considering the coast and with simple admittance to the seashore. By joining the Marine Conservation program in Croatia, you will get a lot of time in the water, assisting with keeping the Mediterranean fresh.

Volunteers can learn or use their scuba plunging abilities in assisting with keeping the marine biological system as perfect as expected. This includes assisting with sea clean-ups, species checks, and a variety of information to empower others.

14. SUMMER ANIMAL CARE VOLUNTEERING IN COSTA RICA

Start Date: Programs start each Monday

Length: 1 – 24 weeks

Costs: Registration Fee (US$299) + Program Fee (US$380 for one week)

Normal temp: 82°F

Greatest weekend in action: Manuel Antonio National Park

It incorporates Airport pick-up, orientation, accommodation, meals and 24/7 in-country support. If you’re an animal lover, this is the volunteer opening door for you!

They help associations give care and friendship to surrendered canines, felines, and other homegrown animals. You will find the opportunity to help nurture harmed animals back to wellbeing.

Also, help with compliance preparation, go for canines for strolls, help with re-homing and significantly more! The primary aim of this late spring animal volunteering program is to secure these canines and felines. And then furnish them with medical treatment, friendship, and recess in expectations they will be received into new, cherished families.

15. SUMMER FOREST CONSERVATION VOLUNTEERING IN PORTUGAL

Start Date: Programs start on the first and third Monday of consistent

Duration: 1 – 12 weeks

Costs: Registration Fee (US$299) + Program Fee (US$455 for one week)

Normal temp: 70°F

Greatest weekend movement: Ride the waves at Caxias

It incorporates Airport pick-up, orientation, accommodation, meals and 24/7 in-country support. If you feel enthusiastic about securing our planet and battling environmental change, this is for you!

Their Forest Conservation volunteer venture in Portugal is situated in a characteristic park that encompasses Lisbon.

Tou can help reestablish Portugal’s local woods by supporting the natural recuperation of debased regions and ensuring valuable environments.

This venture expects to improve characteristic legacy, diminish ecological harm, constantly recover common spaces, and hence advance biodiversity.

FAQs – Summer Volunteering Programs for High School Students

What are the best community service for high school students?

Nursing Homes or Hospitals
Schools
Libraries
Animal shelters
Soup Kitchens or Food Banks
Locations of Worship
Museums
Beaches or parks.

What can youths do to help the less fortunate?

By giving them money, food, and clothing, you may support them. A food drive or a fundraising event can be planned in your church or neighborhood if you want a more specialized strategy. Donate the money to orphanages, shelters for the homeless, and suffering families.

Do volunteers ever get hired?

You might even be able to convert a volunteer role into paid employment with a little perseverance, enthusiasm, and effort. You may network with professionals in your field, showcase your abilities, and get to know a company thoroughly and out by volunteering.