My stepdaugther is in 10th grade and lives in rural central TX, and there is really only one place for teens to volunteer on a regular basis-- the local animal shelter. My daughter is pretty bored and depressed-- her school doesn’t offer any clubs that she wants to join (the selection is very limited), and there isn’t any way for her to spend her time that seems meaningful. She is tired of volunteering at the animal shelter.
I think there are clubs that students can start at their school-- something that is already pre-packaged by an organization. The student just needs to find a faculty advisor and the organization provides the content, with ideas for projects, etc. Right?
Can anyone provides names of such clubs/organizations? Or other ideas for her? I think there are online options too, which might be worth exploring, though I think she would enjoy getting out in the world with a group of other kids.
What is she interested in? What motivates her? That’s all you need to ask. I think this is personal to her, and you know her best - at least vis-à-vis a board like this - so this question is confusing.
@suzy100 Sorry for the confusion. She hasn’t had opportunities to explore, so she doesn’t really know what she is interested in. She goes to a majority low-income, majority minority high school, where most of the students don’t go on to college. Extra-curriculars (besides football), both inside and outside of school, are nearly non existent.
She knows she likes the feeling of helping. She doesn’t know if there are certain causes that are important to her or fire her up, but she would like to figure that out. She doesn’t like to do work that is too physical. She likes art and animals and math and science, but would prefer a service club to an academic club. I think she would like an activity where she feels like she is “doing” rather than an activity where she feels like she is learning.
@mademoiselle2308 Thank you for the suggestion, we’ll look into that!
Does her school do 4H?
Is their an Academic League? Jeopardy like club.
My colleague was in a sewing club where the kids either learned to sew, or the advanced students made blankets and quilts for the community.
There are knitters/crochet kids that knit for the community.
Can she coordinate a “letters for servicemen”?
There are lots of activities.
I was going to ask about 4H, too. One of my kids did a lot of 4H projects that weren’t animal related. She was interested in wildlife biology and entomology, but there are lots of other areas.
Thank you for your suggestions, everyone! She is trying to get Key Club started at her school! I think 4-H would be a good fit for her, too, and it is already at her school, though she is intimidated by the people in the club-- the students in it are from working farm/ranch families, and she feels too different from them. But that was a great suggestion, too.
She’s in 12th grade. By the time she gets something pre-packaged off the ground-- gets a moderator, gets funding to pay that moderator, gets word out-- she will have graduated.
Who is she interested in helping, without the benefit of a pre-packaged club? Is there a local hospital that needs help? A VA center/ hospital? A child care center?