The definition of a volunteer varies greatly from person to person and organization to organization. In fact, it’s doubtful a single, all-encompassing description of what it means to be a volunteer actually exists at all. While many will agree that volunteers assist others or the public at large, opinions regarding payment, motivation, and cause differ and fluctuate quite a lot. One thing that is clear, however, is that it’s important to distinguish between the verb’ volunteer’ and the noun’ volunteer’. There is, for example, a big difference between voluntarily doing something, like presenting first in class or enlisting in the military, and being a volunteer who works without pay at an animal shelter or serves meals at a soup kitchen. Just volunteering for something doesn’t necessarily make you a volunteer. To help better understand how volunteers are defined, here are four different kinds of volunteers to consider.

Individual Volunteer

At its basest level and in its simplest form, to be a volunteer is to provide assistance without payment and of free will. In this respect, regularly babysitting your neighbor’s children for free makes you as much a volunteer as if you signed up to sort Christmas gift donations at the Salvation Army. Other examples of this type of volunteering include reading to an elderly person at an assisted living facility or helping someone rebuild a home after a natural disaster. Just because only a single person is impacted, doesn’t make the contribution of time and effort any less significant.

Societal / Environmental Volunteer

This type of volunteer also offers his or her service freely and without pay, but is often working with or through a larger organization to generate a broader societal or environmental impact. This kind of service might go through the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, or ASPCA. This type of volunteer might also work with a local organization, like the volunteer fire department, or offer assistance during local events, like a Thanksgiving potluck, intended to enhance the community.

Experience-Oriented Volunteer

Not all volunteers offer their services solely for the purpose of volunteering. Some volunteers seek to learn new skills or gain experience in return for their time and effort. Good examples of this type of volunteering include assisting with an election campaign, working at a hospital, or helping at a local law firm. It’s important to note, however, that not all volunteers who perform these kinds of tasks are looking to improve their resumes; it’s absolutely plausible that a single organization can have various types of volunteers working for them.

Obligatory Volunteer

In some cases, while the volunteers do not receive payment for their services, they are required to offer them. There are many possible reasons for this, such as a school project or mandatory community service as a result of an indiscretion. In cases like this, the volunteers aren’t participating voluntarily, but their work does positively impact the world around them.

So next time you ask, “What is a volunteer,” you’ll know there is certainly more than one answer.

Contributed by Amanda Vosloh Bowyer

For someone considering a career in international relations, it’s never too early to get the ball rolling. Since for many of these types of careers you’ll need to be on track pretty quickly after starting college, it’s advisable to start getting things worked out early and take some first steps to help you realize your dream. With that in mind, here are five things you can do starting in high school to help launch your future career.

Read up on the different career paths

Believe it or not, international relations is a massive field, and you should read about all the different types of jobs to decide what kind of track you might want to get on in university. There are careers in diplomacy, the United Nations, intelligence agencies, foreign aid, and the private sector, among others. Some of these require a pretty well-defined track in university and proper internships in order to get your foot in the door. Don’t miss your chance!

Join the Model UN Club

One of the best ways to gain some early experience, especially if you’re considering the United Nations path, is to join your school’s Model United Nations club (or related leadership ambassador programs if Model UN is not available). Model UN has students role-play delegates to the UN and tries to simulate different UN committees in an effort to get students educated about what goes on at the UN and get them reading and forming opinions about critical international affairs.

There are conferences from the local level all the way up to the national level where you get the chance to represent a particular nation and debate on different topics relevant to current international affairs. These kinds of debates force you to become more educated about world issues, which is also something that will help you in your university courses when you have to apply that knowledge.

Take AP Courses

Advanced Placement (AP) courses are a great way to get an early start in high school if your school offers them. Some of the best courses to take for careers in international relations are AP U.S. Government, AP Comparative Politics, AP World History, and AP Geography.  You can earn college credits by passing the AP test at the end of the school year, and many colleges and universities in the US will honor those credits.

Go Abroad

Going abroad is the absolute best way to learn about different cultures. The longer you go, the more benefit you get out of it. Just taking a one-week trip might not be enough, but if you can do a volunteering experience or stay overseas for summer holiday or something, that would be an amazing experience.

Actually living abroad for an extended period of time forces you to adapt to and learn about a different culture. That experience can have a profound effect on your mindset, possibly even changing the way you think about certain things permanently. Such an understanding and acceptance of cultural differences is also crucial to a career in international relations, where you’ll be handling these kinds of issues on a daily basis.

Get Informed

If you’re considering a career in international relations, you have to know what’s going on in the world, and it’s never too early to start getting informed. Since what’s going on right now could affect international discussions for decades to come, it’s important to be in the know.

If you haven’t already, find a political/news podcast or TV news program you really like and start watching or listening regularly. You can also get started just by picking up Mom or Dad’s newspaper when they’re done with it and giving it a read.

Sources:

http://bestdelegate.com/what-is-model-united-nations/

https://ir.cas2.lehigh.edu/content/careers-international-affairs

Contributed by Nick Bartholomew

Being on break from school during the holidays leaves you with a lot of time that you normally never have. What better way to spend your time than volunteering? Even though there are chances to volunteer all year round, opportunities to help others abound during the holidays. So how can you help? Here are four ways to get involved:

1. Spend time at a homeless shelter. This is not very unique, but it is still a huge deal. Just because homeless shelters are always there and it is a common way to volunteer does not mean they should be ignored. So, take some friends and family, and help serve holiday meals. Then, stay at the shelter for a while! Spend some time with the people there and learn about their lives. Bring some board games and play with them. Ask them fun questions that bring up conversation, even if it is just asking what is their favorite color! Have fun and simply treat them like the people they are. It may not seem like much, but simple conversations can make a huge difference in both their lives and yours.
2. Set up a care package party. Who does not love to receive a care package? For many people, care packages are the only gifts they will receive during the holidays. The more care packages that are sent or donated, the more that there are smiles are spread. So, for a fun holiday volunteer idea, invite some friends and family over for a packing party to put together little gifts! Decide for whom you want to create care packages. Think about putting together boxes for military individuals who are away from home during the holidays. Or donate packages to some loving organizations, like Operation Christmas Child. They send them to children who often receive nothing during the holidays. Children (and adults) in hospitals is another group who would appreciate a thoughtful package during a difficult time. After you have decided who you want to pack for, find some fun items. Create lists, and go as groups to a store to shop scavenger-hunt style! Then, gather together and pack the boxes. Fill them with fun items, handwritten notes, baked goods, etc. Have fun while packing! Put on some music, and have everyone bring some food to share. Then send out the packages or donate them to places that will put them in the right hands. You might like doing a packing party so much that it could become your new holiday tradition!
3. Volunteer at an animal shelter. If you have a soft spot for our furry friends, spend some time with them during this holiday season! Many shoppers want a four-legged pal for Christmas. You can make a difference this season by advocating for pet adoption. Rather than going out and buying a pet in a store, encourage people to adopt. Help take care of the animals and show love to the ones who often get overlooked. You can help brighten the holidays for both people and animals by bringing them together for a forever home!
4. Visit a nursing home. Many seniors often spend holidays alone. They have no one willing or able to visit them. No one should have to spend holidays by themselves. However, you can cheer up elderly people just by being their friend! Spend some time this holiday season by volunteering at a nursing home. Get to know a few of the seniors there and ask about their life experiences. Ask them to tell you stories, or you can tell them one! If possible, do a holiday tradition with them that they love. Do you have a special talent, like playing an instrument or drawing? Show off for them! Older friends often love to see what you like to do. Simply having fun and being a friend can make a difference this season.

So maybe these ideas for volunteering do not seem extraordinary. That’s okay! Just because these are “regular” ways to volunteer do not make them any less important. Whether it is putting some love into a small package or being a friend to someone, your time and generosity can make the holidays even more special. And when the holidays are over, consider traveling cross-culturally to volunteer! You can be a bright spot in someone’s life locally and abroad, and your life will be impacted, too. Happy holidays!

Contributed by Addie Davis

Do you have a passion for science and want to get your nerd on at home?

Science! Believe it or not, there are nearly infinite subjects, projects, and ways you can satisfy that boundless curiosity scientists are often known for. And you don’t even need a fully-stocked lab or expensive computer equipment to experience the rush of discovery, the captivating—and often hidden—beauty of the world around us.

There’s plenty you can do at home. But first, we’ll need to shift our perspective a bit about what science is exactly.

Let’s start by digging into a deep quote from renowned Physicist and Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman:

“Do not read so much, look about you and think of what you see there” (source).

Science is essentially an attitude, one of many perspectives we can use when experiencing what’s around us. What Feynman is stressing with his quote is that science is a live, dynamic, and social activity. This means that as an aspiring scientist you can—or better yet should—participate in and investigate your current environment.

To drive this point further home, here are some examples of how you can immediately apply the scientific attitude:

Culinary Science

Chances are that you have some kind of food stocked at home. You may not have thought of cooking or baking as a science before, but consider that you often need to combine and measure ingredients. And there’s a serious amount of chemistry involved in something as simple as boiling water or frying an egg. Whatever your interests or tastes, you can approach day-to-day cooking with family as an experiment and look deeper into its processes.

Agricultural Science

Agriculture is one of the oldest sciences that serves as a foundational pillar to modern life. The popular argument is that seed cultivation and crops helped nomadic tribes settle permanently which then led to modern civilization. Brief history aside, growing food or raising animals with others is a hands-on way to investigate biology. In fact, most of our scientific methods were developed by Statistician Ronald Fisher while studying crop data (source).

Exercise Science

If cooking and growing plants is not your cup of tea, then you might find sports-related activities more interesting. Fact is that even if you’re a bro, you still need to have some sense of what goes on in and outside the weight room. No matter what sport you participate in, you can think of every workout or team practice as an experiment. What works? What doesn’t? How do you measure this? This actually involves some physics, anatomy, and physiology.

Whatever Interests You Science

There really is no limit to what kinds of activities or topics you can apply the scientific attitude to. Not too long ago,  Computer Science was not even considered a formal academic discipline. It was more of a nerd hobby and passion that connected enthusiasts outside the classroom through the Internet. Even now, there are other new kinds of science cropping up that reflect the needs and thoughts of the world around us.

Maybe you will join the community that ends up creating a new science. Or perhaps you’ll discover your real scientific passion on a summer science program! At the very least, you’ll have a fun hobby 🙂

Contributed by Nick Fochtman

Now that summer is almost over, are you wondering about what your senior year will be like?

Welcome incoming seniors! Hope you had a fantastic summer and are enjoying your last days to their fullest 🙂

Now that your senior year is rapidly approaching, you might feel anxious, excited, exhausted, and even scared. Compared to your first three years of high school, senior year is an especially promising and exhilarating one. But at the same time, many of your days might be filled with fear and self-doubt about what lies ahead.

About 5 years ago, I was especially apprehensive about senior year. My family drowned me with advice, and I learned to dread that one seemingly innocent question you may often get asked, “What college are you going to?” Even though my senior class was in a good high school that prepared us all academically, we still had to face many other challenges. No manual, study guide, article, or any amount of advice could prepare us for the rough patches and surprising opportunities that lay ahead of senior year.

In that spirit, here’s a short collection of unconventional but useful observations that I wish someone had told me:

You’re going to feel very alone

Unfortunately this first one is a downer and not about baby turtles or puppies. Senior year is often a hypersocial time with many school activities, parties with friends, and other kinds of celebrations with family. But at some point the party ends and, suddenly, your closest friends since childhood are far away. You can’t exactly prepare for this shift or know how you’ll feel when it happens. It’s something you experience and then cope with when it happens.

College acceptances don’t define you but are still really nice

This also applies to the many other kinds of applications that you’ll have the pleasure to complete. They’re excessively tedious and often are a lottery; you may feel like you might as well be tossing pennies into a well. And you probably have heard many times that the results don’t define you or your worth as a person. But the first few rejections can certainly feel that way—your first big acceptance may feel incredible. Congratulations in advance 🙂

Take full advantage of senior perks and activities with your friends

What’s especially nice about senior year is that you may have access to a car now, and you can get away with a lot more. That’s a beautiful combination. Do you want to do a drive by in your car where your friends pelt freshmen with tennis balls? Go wild! Fancy having a formal cafeteria lunch where your friends all dress up, serve a delicious 3 course meal on fine china, and delight in the hall monitor’s baffled expression after seeing your buddy cut the beef wellington—with what sounds like a miniature chainsaw—as your other friend in a tux skillfully plays the violin?!

Go for it!

(For the record, we were the freshmen that got barraged with tennis balls and that last scene really did happen.)

Seriously consider doing a gap year and community college

One of your choices as a high school senior is to take a gap year. You can postpone higher education or full time work right after high school. During this time you could engage in traveling, volunteering, studying, or anything else that suits you! Personally, I felt that taking a year off helped me better center myself before going back to school. Depending on your financial situation, you may also want to compare community college over other schools.

Your results often vary, but that’s not always a bad thing

What does that even mean? I’m actually still figuring this one out for myself, and I feel there’s something important here that ties everything together. Oh, that’s right… senior year might feel uncomfortably ambiguous and, at the same time, you may find yourself having to make some pretty huge decisions that you’re unprepared for. Later on, some of your choices will seem completely wrong. For others, you’ll feel glad and cherish those experiences.

What are you dreading and looking forward to about senior year?

Other high school seniors would enjoy reading your thoughts on this!

Contributed by Nick Fochtman