Service with a Smile

By Jill Levin
Edited by Amy Crelly

More and more schools are adding community service hours to their curriculum and graduation requirements. Many teens log those hours close to home and during the summer months, when their schedules are more flexible, but fulfilling community service requirements doesn’t have to mean foregoing the camp experience or missing out on a summer adventure. If you are looking for a return on your investment in your teen’s summer experience, a well-organized community service program may just be the best investment you could make.

When teens step outside the comforts of home, immerse themselves in a foreign culture, or work alongside others who are less fortunate (whether just outside their neighborhood, in another state or halfway around the world), they are likely to have a more meaningful experience than if they just stayed around town for the summer.

Remember: a great summer service project looks good on college applications too, and it’s the kind of experience that might inspire a stand-out essay or set your student apart during the interview process. School requirements and extracurricular points aside, a program that sparks a passion for service is its own reward.

Most teen programs today offer some service component, but the focus varies dramatically – from the design of the program, to the type of work performed, to living accommodations. To pick the right program for your child, it helps to look at recent trends and know your options.

Type of Work
From work with animals to helping younger children, to construction or ecology projects, there are all kinds of projects to choose from. (Be sure to check with your school coordinator, however, to determine if the project meets your school’s requirements.) Some programs work with established organizations, like Habitat for Humanity or Easter Seals. Other programs work in collaboration with the natives of a region. Conservation programs are also gaining popularity. Whatever the project, the opportunities abound for language learning, cross-cultural experiences and meaningful new ways for kids to explore their world!

Mission or Focus
The “original mission” of the program generally guides how many hours will be spent doing community service and what the participants will do in their free time. “Hard core” service programs usually choose a central project that the participants can see through to completion. Teens live with host families for at least part of their time away, and spend less time on adventure activities and travel. Talk with your teen and decide whether service, language, or adventure travel is the primary goal for your teen, or if you’re looking for a balance of all three. This can help guide you toward a particular trip.

More Variety
Some programs aim to give teens a “taste” of several different projects. Your child may work to improve a schoolhouse or assist in a day-care program in a poor village in Costa Rica, then the next week move to another location to assist in ecological studies to protect rain forest habitat. In the United States, there are even programs where students perform community service work during the day, then return to a college dorm room where they spend evening hours and weekends engaged in activities with other high school students studying on campus.

Younger Students
Most community service projects were traditionally reserved for older high school students, but recently there has been a demand for programs tailored to “tweens.” Today, it is not uncommon to find a service program in Costa Rica for kids finishing 7th grade or a marine conservation program in the British Virgin Islands for 8th graders. There are even two-week travel programs in Alaska or Hawaii with a service component for kids as young as 5th grade. There are also programs that offer family service adventures, allowing parents to bring children as young as 9.

Whether close to home or further away, summer programs offer younger kids a great way to “try on” different kinds of projects. Will your child enjoy working in nature, working with people, or dealing with data? Does she get more satisfaction serving in her own community or exploring someplace new? Finding out what works for your child (and what doesn’t) will allow her to choose future service projects more wisely, and that’s important since you’ll want your teen to be really enthusiastic about the service project she chooses for her high school graduation requirements.

Accommodations
When it comes to choosing a program, living accommodations are an important factor for most teens. Very important. Will they stay in tents, hostels, dorms? For some, living with a host family will be the most rewarding part of their summer experience; for others, this causes the most apprehension. The variety of programs available today means most teens can find projects they care about with accommodations that suit them.

Domestic Programs
Maybe now more than ever, we are aware of the problems we face right here in the United States, and domestic service programs are responding. Your teen could work with migrant farm workers in the Central Valley or help Native Americans in the Southwest, join watershed clean-up efforts, help homeless youth right here in Sacramento, or pitch in at an animal sanctuary. These service programs, lasting anywhere between 2-5 weeks, are often more affordable for families, since they don’t involve the added cost of an international flight.

Whatever program you choose, community service can be one of the most rewarding things your teen will ever experience.

Jill Levin is a parent and camp advisor for Tips on Trips and Camps, one of the oldest and largest camp advisory services.