This summer will be my 3rd summer at Southeastern Health with Junior Volunteers. I have tried thinking of ways to keep them engaged by having Lunch & Learn sessions on Wednesdays at noon with a healthcare professional telling them about their profession and what it takes to become a Radiologist, for example. Turn out for this was not good, maybe 5 kids out of 40 each week.
I, like probably many of you, compete with other great programs for teenagers during the summer, along with family vacations. This causes our teenagers to miss a lot of time volunteering. Even if they tell me they can commit to 4 of the 6 weeks, they will call or email me and say they cannot come volunteer and in the end miss additional days volunteering.
Would you mind sharing what you do for your summer Junior Volunteer Program to keep them connected to your program? Do you offer mini sessions such as 3-two week sessions and they have to attend one of those two week sessions? What do you do if they only volunteer three out of six weeks? How does your program work? I appreciate your feedback.
Thank you!