Ways to Volunteer as a College Student

Whether you are required to volunteer for an organization, meeting a community service requirement for school, or you just want to give back, here are some easy ways to get started as a volunteer. Trying to volunteer as a student can be daunting sometimes, especially if you never have before. I am required to get 10 community service hours per semester for my sorority, and 40 community service hours per year for the honors college that I am in, so I have been looking for opportunities everywhere.

When I was assigned those 40 hours for the first time, my freshman year, I was nervous. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to do it, but because I didn’t know where to start. As someone in a completely new area without a car or knowledge of organizations around me, I felt lost. After talking to my peers, I realized that a lot of them felt the same way. 

Even though all of my volunteer hours were required for a grade, I realized how fulfilling it was to help out in any way that I could. Sometimes in school, the biggest thing on your mind is your assignments, your classes, your friends, and your weekend plans. Branching out in this way gave me a wider perspective on what it means to expand your worldview and give back. For whatever reason, you have to volunteer, here are some ways to get started:

1. I’ll start with my personal favorite. If you are an animal lover like me, a good way to volunteer is to call up your local animal shelter and see if they need help. The shelter I volunteered at needed people to walk the dogs at night, so I would go for a few hours and just hang out with some dogs while they did their business and got some exercise. They also needed people to help socialize the many cats that they had, so just sitting in the cat room while cats climbed all over me was also a highlight. Personally, the biggest struggle with this was resisting taking all of the animals home with me, but overall, I really enjoyed volunteering there.
2. Local food pantries are also a great way to volunteer. Whether it’s stocking, serving, or cooking, this is an amazing way to help out. You may need to do some research on your area to find out where you can do this, but many times, churches or shelters will need volunteers. 
3. This one would vary by area, but some environmental projects may be looking for helpers, so if you like the outdoors, this one may be good for you. Last year, I helped an organization clear out an invasive species from our local woods. This has been an ongoing project for years, and probably will be for years to come. Projects like this keep environmental issues from reaching a point of no return. 
4. Sometimes, just joining a club will provide opportunities to volunteer. Many clubs and school organizations will hold fundraising events, so volunteering your time to organize and help out may be an easy way to go, especially if you do not have a consistent form of transportation off campus, like me. 

If you are in college and looking for volunteer opportunities, I know it can be overwhelming. But, giving back in any way that you can helps so much more than you realize. You never know when you are going to be the person to make a change in someone’s or some animal’s life.

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