Service Projects for High School Students: How to Start Making an Impact in High School
Service projects are a great way for high school students to not only give back to the community but also to explore yourself and your values. Starting a service project might sound daunting, but we have put together a list of activities and ideas of service projects for high school students. In this blog post, we are also sharing the benefits of service projects and the advantages gained from getting started in high school.
Types of Service Projects
Typically, a service project involves assisting the greater community and ranges from teaching, helping, and even volunteering. The most important part of starting a service project is identifying what service or activity that speaks to you. What type of volunteering or community service interests you the most?
Examples of Teaching-Oriented Service Projects
Tutor kids in different school subjects (math, language, etc)
Teach kids how to code
Coach youth sports (1 on 1 coaching, large groups, or coaching a team)
Teach music lessons
Examples of Volunteer-Oriented Service Projects
Give out food and necessities to individuals in need
Clean up large events (environment-focused)
Help small local businesses with marketing (website, social media, posters)
Become a lifeguard
Examples of Personalized Service Projects
While these are great options that high schoolers can take on and make a meaningful impact in your community, do not forget the power of your own personalized service project. Just because you can volunteer as a lifeguard does not mean you have to if you find yourself spending your time exploring something else. A personalized service project, which shares similar ideas from starting your own passion project, can help you stand out in college admissions and reveal more about yourself about your determination and interests.
Personalized service projects ideas:
Combine AI with an interest that speaks to you that helps others (AI + Education is one example)
Volunteer for an organization that helps or supports individuals from your heritage
Make an interest more accessible for others (create blogs, videos, or informational media)
Prototype or develop an innovative product that helps those in need that relate to your interests (creating technology that can assist blind people)
Benefits of Service Projects for High Schoolers
The benefits of working on a service project as early as high school are clear, which range from helping those in need to exploring your values, all while in the process of enriching your college applications.
Helping Those In Need
Apart from just “doing” a service project, you are in some way helping others through your service. Whether you choose to help unhoused individuals or tutor math, you are aiding people in their process to reaching their goals. Through your service, you may learn techniques on how to more efficiently help others or even gain key insight into various domains of the world. This can not only inspire those who you help, but also inspire yourself as you continue to explore your passions.
Exploring Your Values
From working on and being involved in a service project, you realize what you enjoy and this will influence what you choose to pursue in the future. Maybe you find out that teaching kids how to code isn’t reflecting your true self, so you narrow your scope when it comes to what it is you resonate with. It is very fulfilling to start a service project and help people, however, through exploring different channels of possible projects, you come to grasp a greater understanding of how you can help yourself help others.
Making Your College Applications Stand Out
While we do not recommend working on a service project for this reason alone, service projects that you are passionate about may help your college application stand out. As a high school student, starting a service project shows an aptitude for helping others and demonstrates qualities such as leadership, ingenuity, and perseverance. Your service project also shows colleges who you are as a person and why you chose to do what you did in regards to your background. If you wish to pursue a more personalized service project route, you can combine a niche of yours to create a more technical experience, such as learning the back end of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to serve as a tool for a certain topic (At Inspirit AI, we help students create AI projects for social good). Perhaps starting a fundraiser piqued your interest in networking and communication, where you can further delve into business methodologies.
How to get started on a service project as a high schooler
Throughout this blog, we have shared numerous ways that can hopefully inspire you to come up with your own personal service project that can not only benefit others, but yourself. Make sure that you use this opportunity to explore what you can learn and how you work best when trying to help others.
If you are interested in seeking out ideas on combining your interests with a socially benefiting project, you should seek our programs at Inspirit AI. The Inspirit AI live online program exposes high school students to fundamental AI concepts and guides them to build a socially impactful project. Taught by our team of graduate students from Stanford, MIT, and more, students receive a personalized learning experience in small groups with a student-teacher ratio of 5:1.
Starting a service project as a high schooler is not an easy task, but the work is rewarding and the benefits are obvious. At Inspirit AI, we continue to be amazed by our students and the outstanding work they put out to the world!
About Inspirit AI
AI Scholars Live Online is a 10 session (25-hour) program that exposes high school students to fundamental AI concepts and guides them to build a socially impactful project. Taught by our team of graduate students from Stanford, MIT, and more, students receive a personalized learning experience in small groups with a student-teacher ratio of 5:1.
