Having Entirely Too Much Fun With Volunteering

Let's be honest: most high school students have a volunteering obligation to fulfill, so it's less volunteering than requiredteering.

But that doesn't mean it has to feel like you're just a day laborer making an underwhelming $0 an hour. Volunteering can be fun! Wait, stop laughing. It can. You just need to think outside the box—unless the box is actually fun and rewarding for you, in which case we'll start with that.

The Obvious Stuff
This is what you usually think of when you hear "volunteering": soup kitchens, charitable organizations, and generally assisting the less fortunate. This is the option most people go with; it's a safe choice and nobody will look at you funny when you explain what you've been up to.
Awesome: The warm feeling you get from helping those who need it most.
Not so Awesome: They might be crazy and yell at you.

Voluntourism
Like a cookie that tastes delicious and also cures polio, voluntourism (a portmanteau of "volunteer" and "tourism") combines something you enjoy with something good for the world at large. Voluntourism trips can be humanitarian or environmental, so if you prefer wayward dolphins to people, you can find a way to help them out instead. It probably won't be cheap, but jetting off to Cancun—for, uh, volunteering—sure beats filing paperwork in some grim office with a clanky radiator.
Awesome: Going to Aruba to kick back and clean some reefs.
Not So Awesome: Going someplace with thousands of land mines and tarantulas.

Sports Volunteering
In the UK, this option often involves helping out at a local sports club. Sports volunteering may also involve helping underprivileged kids discover their potential. This will almost certainly make you feel like you're in an '80s movie, except that you'll have to supply your own upbeat montages, and you might get hit in the head with a ball every once in a while.
Awesome: Maybe you'll actually get to coach, and be an inspiration to everyone, and your ragtag team will win the championship!
Not So Awesome: Upbeat montages feel less convincing when they just involve you laundering uniforms.

Wildlife Volunteering
If you're one of those types who doesn't consider nature uncomfortable and gross and full of bugs, there are plenty of opportunities for you to wander around the woods saving wildlife from the rest of us. If you prefer shooting at nature, apparently you can turn that into a charitable act too. Caution: It will probably be awkward if these mutually exclusive projects overlap.

Awesome: Well, if you can tolerate nature, this is probably right up your alley.
Not So Awesome: Mosquitoes, poisonous plants, poisonous snakes, poisonous everything.

Bonus Category: PUPPIES
If you prefer your animals cute and helpful and not being shot at, you can work with puppies! And who doesn't like puppies? Nobody, that's who.
Awesome: We are talking about puppies here.
Less Awesome: You'll probably just be cleaning poop or something, but still! Puppies!

Do you volunteer?

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