What are humanitarian opportunities for high school students?

What volunteering opportunities do you recommend for high school students to do during the summer?

• The big goal in mind is to impress, or at least help get accepted into Stanford. I love tech and already won nationals for my sport and currently invest through forex, but volunteering wise i'm stumped. Thanks in advance!

• Answer:

  The best advice I have for you is to pick community service projects related to interests and activities you already have instead of just choosing something that seems grandiose or impressive.  Chances are, you'll be more qualified and actually enjoy the activities more, and if the ultimate goal is to impress a college, paradoxically, you'd impress them less if it seems like you're obviously only volunteering just to try to rack up resume points. Colleges want to see you explore activities and passions with a sustained, genuine interest.  This not only evidences sincerity, dedication, and drive, but also creates a persona for you that helps you stand out in the admission officer's memory. Admissions officers read thousands upon thousands of impressive applications, which tend to start blurring together after a while. The best way to make yourself stand out from the hordes is to make your application tell a consistent and compelling story -- a story that that admission officer can remember and then sell to others on the committee when it comes down to a vote to get you admitted.  So if you have twenty unrelated (even if somewhat impressive) activities on your resume, it's not as memorable or impressive to an officer as a student who has maybe three or four activities that they did for a number of years and that made sense together.  For example, if a student talks about a love of taking pictures in their essays, and this is supplemented with a part-time job at a camera store, some community college courses in photography, and an award at a local photography competition or their town newspaper publishing some of their photos, that's *amazing* to a college admissions officer.  Clearly the interest is genuine, the student is really motivated, and has managed to achieve a lot.  The admission officer puts the folder aside into the consideration pile and mentally labels it as "the photography girl" (or "guy"), and it's much easier for them to remember it and fight for the student when it comes down to the next round of applicant pool cuts. My own college application (which, FWIW, got me early admission into Stanford) was not quite as clear-cut or one-dimensional as my hypothetical photography example, but I think it still told a pretty clear story.  I did a bunch of activities, but two threads that stuck out were that I really loved reading and English and also Science.  Both of these interests showed up in my high school activities and honors (president of the Biology club, worked in a university science lab over the summer, some random awards, etc.) and were discussed specifically in my college essays, my grades and test scores were highest in those classes, and my recommendations came from my English and Chemistry teachers.  I volunteered at a bunch of random small drives and things throughout high school, but the community service activities I actually bothered to list in my extracurriculars section were volunteering at my local library and serving as a guide at a nearby children's science museum -- these activities made the most sense in the context of the rest of my resume and made my application seem coherent and memorable. In your case, since you're interested in tech, sports, and investing, why not look for teaching opportunities in any of these fields where you can help out  disadvantaged individuals.  For example, the library I currently volunteer at has a program to help older adults learn how to use computers and technology, and yours might have something similar, or maybe you could start one.  You could coach at a kids' sports team or camp for lower-income or disabled children.  Or, look up non-profits that specialize in technology or investment education and see if they have any openings for volunteers.  If possible, choose something that you can continue volunteering at part-time during the school year as well, which will demonstrate your dedication. Without knowing more about where you live, it's hard to give specifics, but the internet or your college counseling office should be able to help and offer lots of relevant suggestions.  Good luck!