Cataloging library books and writing reviews, tutoring in NSD schools and volunteering at science fairs — senior Akhila Lankalapalli (she/her), former National Honor Society Activities Coordinator and Key Club Sophomore Representative, has been volunteering for six years. She has spent 350 hours volunteering in high school, reaching over 150 hours in her junior year, well above the National Honor Society average of 38 hours. Beyond organizing volunteer opportunities for the clubs, she also volunteered with clerical work for the Kenmore City Council.
“Over the summers, I worked at the Kenmore City Council, where I did records organization. I worked with the financial sector as well as the infrastructure sector,” Lankalapalli said. “One day I’d be working with newsletters. Another day I’d be at a city council meeting.”
Amongst her other volunteering opportunities, Lankalapalli also found time to volunteer at the Northshore Senior Center, organizing and delivering food for two to three hours on Saturdays.
“It’s almost like it was shopping for that person. Because then go back to the pantry, look at the little form they gave me, and be like, ‘Oh, well, this person needs two pounds of rice, and they also want pasta,’ so I take that back, then I go back and deliver it and just repeat,” Lankalapalli said.
Lankalapalli said that because of the breadth of available opportunities, she would encourage other students to volunteer, even for just a couple of hours on a weekend. As an Activity Coordinator for National Honor Society, she used her connections from places she used to volunteer to bring opportunities to National Honor Society.
“I was volunteering in so many different places. And I was like, I can use these connections, and I can bring these to the student body because there’s almost 300 members, so imagine bringing all those people to these places I visited,” Lankalapalli said. “If one person could bring some change, I feel like 300 people would have a really big impact.”
Freshman June Lauper’s (she/her) first volunteer experience involved removing bushes and planting trees in Kenmore with her family. While she mostly volunteers outside of school, Lauper also volunteers through Key Club in campus cleanups and church dinners. Including last summer, Lauper has volunteered more than 100 hours since last June.
She spent around 80 of those hours as a counselor at Girls Rock Math, a summer day camp that incorporates art with math education. For two weeks every summer for the last four years, Lauper has worked with girls ranging from kindergarten to sixth grade. After some preparation, she starts her day by reading and teaching about impactful female leaders. Later, she helps lead arts and crafts activities, which the camp uses to explore mathematical concepts.
“You teach them and you do projects and art with them,” Lauper said. “It actually doesn’t even feel like volunteering because it’s really fun, and the kids are really sweet.”
The camp offers multiple themes to choose from for each age group. The arts and crafts activities include tracing and coloring, completing scavenger hunts and making specialty items such as wands for a Harry Potter-themed camp. Lauper said her favorite theme was the fairy theme for younger children — and that this volunteering opportunity was also her overall favorite.
In addition to Key Club, Lauper is a member of National Honor Society. She said that she enjoys hands-on helping and that, similarly, students should follow their interests when volunteering. She added that volunteering with friends makes the experience much more enjoyable.
“You’re not getting paid, but honestly, it’s really fun.” Lauper said. “If you don’t want to do it alone, just bring one of your friends, and it’s actually really fun once you get into it.”
As a result of volunteering, Lauper said that she has become happier, improved her communication and time management skills and become more connected with her community. Lauper said that beyond high school, she plans to try to continue volunteering.
“There’s never gonna be enough time for everything,” Lauper said. “But I just think when you find those times that you can do something instead of sitting at home, or taking a nap, or instead of just hanging out with your friends, you could hang out with your friends while volunteering.”
Similar to Lauper, sophomore Sophia Prater (she/her) helps local nature reserves through volunteering for the Swamp Creek Habitat Restoration Project. She has volunteered a total of 70 hours throughout high school, 50 of which were spent preserving the ecology of local parks.
“Sometimes it’s getting rid of invasive species, or they have us planting trees or digging up roots,” Prater said. “You can switch to what you want, if you get tired you can take a break, or if you want to do something different, you can do that. It’s really nice.”
Prater was introduced to the habitat conservation group through Key Club in her freshman year. This year, she said she joined National Honor Society because she discovered she enjoyed volunteering. Beyond just nature conservation, she also helps with donation drives and cleanup efforts.
“I would do the Santa breakfast at Northshore Middle School, where we would help low-income families get a Christmas celebration,” Prater said. “We would take their pictures with Santa, make balloons for them, paint their faces, give them jackets and toys.”
Despite starting out timid, Prater said she gained leadership skills through volunteering. She said she would encourage others to start volunteering, even if they are shy.
“I would say maybe start by joining one of our clubs here in Kenmore if you are a high school student,” Prater said. “And then maybe start with easier activities; if you are shy, maybe you start with donating a blanket or cleaning out a park.”
Prater said she intends to continue volunteering throughout high school and into adulthood to help others and offset difficulties within communities.
“I think it is giving back to the community, because there’s so much waste now, so being able to give back a little bit is really nice,” Prater said.
