Volunteering and helping others can help teens learn a lot of important lessons and become more empathetic toward those in need. Whether you’re attending a Catholic high school and looking for activities to support your faith or just seeking opportunities to support helpful initiatives around your community, here are five volunteer activities that are right for you.

Volunteer Opportunities for Teens

1. Soup Kitchens

Serving food at a soup kitchen allows you to help people you may not otherwise have the opportunity to interact with. This can open your mind to become more understanding of others’ experiences, and it can help you look at the world through different perspectives.

2. Animal Shelters

Working with animals requires a lot of patience and hard work. By volunteering at a shelter, you can feel good about helping to give those animals a better life. At the same time, you’ll also have the opportunity to learn valuable lessons about responsibility.

3. Retirement Homes

Older individuals can provide a wealth of knowledge about all areas of life. When you help out in a retirement home, not only will you learn plenty of lessons about hard work and responsibility; you’ll also have opportunities to form relationships with people and connect with them on a personal level.

4. Libraries & Museums

The cultural institutions in your community are likely to offer volunteer opportunities on an ongoing or as-needed basis. Working in these facilities can help you hone your college resume or even explore potential career opportunities. It also requires you to be reliable and carefully follow instructions from supervisors — skills that will come in handy in the future.

5. Mission Trips

If you want to immerse yourself in a volunteer opportunity, mission trips allow you to travel the world while serving those in need. It forces you to widen your perspective and learn about the experiences of people in other parts of the world, while also addressing some of their core needs and strengthening your own faith in the process.

Attending a Catholic high school that supports community service is a good first step toward personal growth. Saint Joseph High School is an all-boys high school situated on a gorgeous 70-acre campus in Metuchen, NJ. Students come from Middlesex, Union, Essex, Hunterdon, Somerset, and Monmouth counties to receive a high-quality, faith-based education. Established in 1963, this Catholic high school is one of the top-rated high schools in the area. You can learn more about their admissions process online or call them at (732) 549-7600.