Every day, millions of volunteers can be found at parks across the country, contributing their time and energy to improve their communities. From cleanup, planting and restoration events to teaching youngsters to read to helping seniors use technology, volunteers are a valuable asset to almost every park and recreation agency.

Many students are required to complete a number of volunteer service hours in order to qualify for high school graduation. Maryland was the first state to establish a service-learning graduation requirement in 1992, requiring students to undertake 75 hours of service from the time they start middle school through their high school graduation, or an alternative program designed by the individual school district and approved by the state. The District of Columbia requires 100 hours of volunteer community service during high school for graduation. At the local level, an increasing number of individual schools and school districts require some form of service for graduation, as well. 

High school graduation requirements are not the only reason teens seek volunteer opportunities. Participants in Eagle Scouts, the National Honor Society and other organized clubs must complete service projects. Some students seek volunteer opportunities that will help them develop skills to prepare for future career opportunities, while others hope volunteering will look good on their college applications. 

Many park and recreation agencies see the value of working with schools and students in their community to leverage this volunteer pool and have established programs for teens to complete service projects in their parks and recreation centers. For the parks, benefits include: 

• Deeper community connections as teen volunteers develop relationships with the park and agency staff, often returning to visit the site with their families; 
• Cultivating potential future employees; and 
• Simply completing work that needs to be done. 
• For the teens, the benefits of completing community service in local parks and recreation centers are numerous as well, and include: 
• An opportunity to develop a sense of community responsibility, make a difference, and “give back” to their community; 
• Making friends and meeting other teens with similar interests; 
• Developing relationships with adults that can serve as mentors and role models; 
• Cultivating job skills and the chance to try out a job field to see if it is a good fit; and 
• Strengthening college applications by demonstrating community involvement. 

So what does teen service in parks look like? 

Nature Service Learning Camp in Rockville, Maryland

On a mild and sunny July day, 12 students visit their local farmers market in Rockville, Maryland, set up a table and get to work. The students — ages 10 to 14 — are participating in a Nature Service Learning Camp hosted by Rockville Recreation and Parks’ Croydon Creek Nature Center. The camp was designed to help students earn their required Student Service Learning hours while they investigate local environmental issues. 

The focus of this week’s camp is soil conservation. After a few days of soil studies and volunteering on an organic farm, the students hit the pavement to do some community outreach. Armed with their talking points on the importance of soil, they approach farmers market patrons to offer a free reusable shopping bag and ask them to sign a pledge to help protect the environment and the soil. 

Nature Service Learning Camp participants admit that their initial interest in the camp was earning service hours. “I was a little interested in environmental issues before this camp,” one of the campers revealed. “But now I am more interested. I want to make a difference.” 

Elissa Totin, supervisor at Croydon Creek Nature Center, has truly embraced the value of teen volunteers and offers a number of opportunities for youth of all abilities and interests to get involved. Aside from the camp, one of Totin’s favorite teen service projects is creek cleanup events. “It’s great to see the kids get out there and get their hands dirty,” she says. “But my favorite part of the cleanup events is when teen volunteers bring their families. The parent-child interaction is so powerful, especially as the kids teach their parents about their role in helping the environment.” 

Youth Engaged in Service (Yes!) in Seattle, Washington

Seattle Public Schools require students to complete 60 service-learning hours in order to graduate from high school. As a member of the Service Learning Seattle steering committee, Seattle’s Department of Parks and Recreation provides opportunities for students to earn service-learning hours in their parks. 

Gwen Wessels, recreation leader for Seattle Parks and Recreation, oversees the unit that focuses on youth employment and service learning. Every summer, Wessels works with around 200 teens through Seattle’s Youth Engaged in Service (Yes!) Program. During this six-week program, youth are assigned a number of service projects, typically focused on ecological restoration. Participants are also encouraged to come up with their own projects. 

In one of Wessels’ favorite examples of youth-led projects, teens noticed a problem at Piper’s Orchard, an heirloom apple orchard adjacent to Piper’s Creek in Seattle’s Carkeek Park. Apples that fell off the trees were washing into the creek, and youth volunteers saw a need to devise a strategy to prevent this. The result was a device they called an “apple catcher,” made from chickenwire rolled into bundles and covered in burlap. Youth-designed, -manufactured and -installed “apple catchers” have since prevented the fallen fruit from littering the creek. 

Many of the youth Wessels works with are what she calls “youth on the margins.” These teens may be involved with the juvenile justice system or are otherwise at-risk. In these cases, Seattle’s youth service programs provide an opportunity for personal growth and engagement with the community. Some program participants are even eligible to earn a stipend for their work. 

“By participating in our youth employment and service learning programs, teens are exposed to hands-on work, sometimes for the first time,” Wessels says. “They are then often inspired to better understand their environment and their community, and they take so much pride in the work that they do.” 

A Variety of Teen Volunteer Opportunities in Alameda, California

The City of Alameda, California, offers a diverse array of opportunities for teen volunteers to earn their required 20 hours of community service for high school graduation. According to Christina Bailey, recreation services specialist at Alameda’s Recreation and Parks Department, each of her agency’s programs fills a unique need for people in the community. 

Operation Green Sweep, for example, is a program for middle- and high-school students to shadow staff at park sites and help with weeding, planting and park beautification and cleanup projects. The Teen Volunteer Program offers outgoing teens the opportunity to work with younger kids at after-school and summer programs at Alameda’s recreation centers, teaching swim lessons or leading activities at day camps or after-school programs. Participants in both programs undergo an application process, and Teen Volunteer Program applicants must also interview and attend a training session before volunteering. 

The Alameda Youth Committee is a leadership development and volunteer program for teens in the community to plan and coordinate activities and events for their peers, including a teen talent show, an annual haunted house, dances and day trips. These highly engaged and motivated teens complete an in-depth application and interview process before joining the committee and participate in two meetings each month, in addition to their event coordination duties. 

In Alameda and other communities, it is not uncommon for teen volunteers to eventually work their way up to agency staff. Volunteering as a teenager is a great way to try out a career field, and working with teen volunteers allows agency staff the chance to cultivate future employees. Bailey herself was a former teen volunteer in Alameda’s aquatics program. “I started out taking swim lessons and eventually wanted to volunteer,” she says. “I then undertook some specialized training, and ended up working for the Department.” 

Teen Service Program Tips for Parks

Are you ready to start a teen service program in your park or recreation center, or are you thinking of ways to grow an existing program? Here are a few strategies and best practices from the field: 

Consider an ideal student-to-adult ratio for your project. For example, the City of Rockville uses a ratio of 1:8 for their Nature Service Learning Camp. 

Ask potential teen volunteers to apply or interview. A brief interview can tell you a lot about the applicant’s interests and intentions and add to the volunteer’s experience in terms of gaining job skills. 

Provide opportunities for students of multiple ability, skill and comfort levels. A trail or creek cleanup project may be a great opportunity for students who are comfortable in the outdoors, while others may be better suited to working with young children. 

Learn about service requirements at your local schools and publicize volunteer opportunities through school channels. Many park and recreation agencies tap into high school graduation requirements to identify and recruit teen volunteers and may even be listed in school publications as a provider of service opportunities. 

Provide meaningful opportunities for youth volunteers. Young people want interesting, engaging and meaningful service opportunities. Challenge them and provide opportunities where they can make a tangible difference in their community. 

Share your agency’s challenges with your teen volunteers and empower them to come up with solutions. Entrusting your teen volunteers to help you address the real problems you face could result in creative solutions while helping the youth develop problemsolving skills and a deep sense of self-efficacy.

Jessica Culverhouse is NRPA’s Senior Manager of Fundraising.