Travel is an important part of learning. Many high school students have a requirement to do some volunteering before they graduate. Why not make it a great experience while traveling abroad? Here are the top reasons high-schoolers love to travel all over the world and work on meaningful projects as part of volunteering programs.
1. Cultural Exploration and Immersion
High school students who choose to volunteer abroad are more often than not throwing themselves into an entirely new experience. Whether it be in a country across the globe, a thirty-minute car ride south of the border, or somewhere in between, they are immersed in something entirely new. Traveling abroad requires immersing themselves into a new cultural experience that they may or may not have experienced before. For a high school student, traveling abroad is a good thing to place on their resume.
With United Planet, you can experience and explore Japan’s unique culture first hand. Volunteers learn about local handicrafts and techniques by assisting with a local artisan’s workshop. Examples include drum-making, fabric dying, bonsai, and woodworking.
2. Volunteering and Working Experience
Aside from getting to travel to a new region of the world and explore entirely new things, students who are still in high school get the opportunity to acquire volunteering and working experience while in an incredible environment and as a part of a team. They can learn how people live and work as well as how life is in a certain part of the world. Many volunteer abroad companies offer volunteer opportunities to take care of children and elderly, global health opportunities or finding ways to sustain the environment. These are all good things they can include on their resume when applying to college or looking for a prospective job.
With United Planet, volunteers ages 15 and up have a variety of options to participate in community development Quests in Peru and gain valuable work experience. Depending on your interests and community needs, you can assist teachers at local schools, work in daycare centers, or after-school programs in Cusco, work with disabled youth, or care for the elderly.
3. Connecting with Others
As a product of volunteering abroad, high school students are able to work in groups with others and form unique relationships with other volunteers, group leaders, and locals. Relationships forged over volunteering abroad often extend throughout their lifetime, and new friendships, especially with those whose culture and heritage they may know very little about, in turn, lead to the development of a multicultural perspective that can provide an invaluable outlook throughout their life and career. High schoolers will develop networking skills that will allow them to make their way in the world. By making those connections, they’ll learn a lot about life. The best experience is the most hands-on.
With United Planet, you can connect with others by volunteering in South Africa. Volunteers ages 17 and up can coach at-risk youth players in a variety of sports in South Africa or work at a number of social projects, with activities ranging from teaching, to organizing arts and crafts workshops, to caring for children in local orphanages. On this Quest, you’ll live in and explore the city of Port Elizabeth and have the opportunity to visit the Kragga Kama Game Reserve and more.
4. Picking Up a New Language
More often than not, when students travel abroad for volunteering, they are thrown into a new culture that speaks a different language. This can rapidly lead to increased language proficiency, no matter if they’ve been learning the language in school for years or have just heard it for the first time. This can lead to a lifelong skill that is very useful as a bridge between cultures and people and is learned most effectively while immersed directly in an environment that speaks that language. Like at home, they learn English through speaking with friends and family. When volunteering abroad, they’ll get plenty of chances to practice their language skills with the natives. That’s just one skill they can gain while volunteering abroad.
5. Acquiring New Skills
When students choose to volunteer abroad, it can be an incredibly reformative experience. The skills that are learned through throwing themselves into a new environment while simultaneously participating in meaningful and impactful volunteer work can cause significant growth in areas such as maturity, adaptability, teamwork, and independence–all skills that are very practical and applicable to the workforce, not to mention life. These are the skills they’re going to need in college and the workforce. It’ll become easier for them to grasp challenges and make the best of it. They’ll also have something to give back to their community in this way.
6. Giving Back
Whether it be working on environmental stability, global health, or education, volunteering abroad provides a unique opportunity to give back to communities around the world. Many students cherish the chance to make a difference in others lives while also gaining new skills and experiencing the world outside of the bubble they grew up in. For most youth, staying at home is quite boring while traveling out of their state is cool, but getting to see the rest of the world is an experience of a lifetime that not many get to undergo. The connection that they make outside of their country may last a lifetime.
7. Hands on Education and Experiential Learning
While volunteering abroad as a high school student may not seem like a typical classroom environment, the learning that happens while volunteering abroad is immense, and can not only completely change perspectives, but stimulate growth in unforeseen areas such as problem solving, determination, and empathy. These skills are acquired by cultivating hands-on education and experience. Growing up, we must feel the world around us to get a better understanding of what’s going on and how it affects us.
Ready to go on your teen volunteer abroad trip?
Volunteering abroad as a high school student may seem frightening, and it certainly presents a new challenge to most students, however, the skills, language, perspective, friendships, and knowledge gained from these experiences often make volunteering abroad one of the most formative and influential things high school students can do before college.
Additionally, volunteering abroad early can also help you determine where and in what kind of environment you want to pursue higher education in, if at all. Getting to experience other places and styles of living can help you decide not only what kind of geographic climate you want to spend the next four years in, but also how many people you want to be around, as well as what part of the world you want to continue your studies, or career in. Ready to see what your future could be? Visit United Planet to see the difference you can make in this world or Apply Now for the program of your choice!
This post was written by United Planet high school volunteer Alexander Tsekov.
ABOUT UNITED PLANET
United Planet is a non-profit organization with a mission to create a global community, one relationship at a time. Established in 2001, United Planet offers volunteer abroad, virtual internships, internships abroad, gap year volunteering, and global virtual exchange in more than 40 countries.
