Volunteering While In College

Once you're in college, you may think that now you can just focus on your studies and relaxing with your friends, but you'll still want to keep a focus on your extracurriculars. These help determine what route you will take in college and in your profession as a young career person, and they also help a potential employer to learn more about you. If you feel that volunteering is a great way to spend your time and you want to make a difference in your community, then you'll definitely want to find some volunteer opportunities for college students. We pulled together some volunteer opportunities for college students so you can find the perfect fit for your personality and your career path.

Animal shelters

If you love animals, volunteer at a local animal shelter. Those animals could always use some extra love, and you'll get your fix of cats and dogs, even though you can't keep one in your dorm room.

Food pantries and shelters

If you want to volunteer but can't leave the campus, never fear. Most have a campus food pantry and need students to help run it. While you may just mostly be sitting there, you will be there in case someone shows up in need and they can go "shopping" and stock up on some groceries they wouldn't be able to get otherwise. If you can leave the campus, there are many food pantries and homeless shelters in different cities, and they always need some volunteers to help prepare and serve meals or help sort through different donations.

Give blood

This isn't a time-consuming option, but can certainly make a huge difference and even save lives. Without blood donations, hospitals wouldn't have the supplies to give life-saving blood to patients who come in in need. It only takes a few minutes, but if you can, you may just save a life.

Coaching

There are many ways to coach, you can help coach a small group of kids in a sport or you can join the YMCA or Big Brothers/Big Sisters program and take on a kid as a mentee. This can be a great way to put some good out in the world.

Tutor

You can volunteer your time to help fellow students at your college if you happen to be a science or math whiz. This is a great way to help others improve their grades, all while mastering your skills.

No matter what your interest, we are sure there is some form of volunteer opportunities for college students that will get your attention. You may even find that you meet new people and are able to grow your career network while volunteering with different organizations.