A steady volunteer role gives you experience and a supervisor who knows your work. Some awards also require a minimum number of hours, so check their rules and keep a record. Here are placements Alberta high school students can explore.
Hospitals and health care
Alberta Health Services runs youth volunteer and research placements in regional hospitals and clinics, with direct exposure to clinical environments and health administration. Intake is ongoing rather than a single annual deadline, so ask your nearest site whether it has openings.
Two things worth knowing before you apply. Placements usually carry a minimum commitment measured in months. And a committee can verify them, which helps on an application for a health-related award or program. If you are aiming at medicine, read the medical experience guide alongside this.
Science centres and public science
TELUS Spark in Calgary takes volunteers to work alongside its science communicators, running workshops, staffing exhibits and supporting programs. Intake is ongoing.
Civic and policy work
If your interest is closer to government than to a lab, the City of Edmonton Youth Council is an official civic agency rather than a simulation. Members research and write policy proposals that go to City Council. On an application, a proposal that went to City Council is something you can point to.
Further out, the Ocean Networks Canada Youth Advisory Council is open to Albertans and pairs environmental work with real data analysis, which is good preparation for a research application later.
Teaching what you already know
Turn a subject you are already good at into service.
- Future Creators at the University of Alberta is a student-run group taking free STEM kits and mentoring out to grades 5 to 12.
- Hackergal's National Ambassador Program is built for Grade 9 to 12 girls who have aged out of the beginner programs and want to run them instead.
- JA Southern Alberta's Company Program is 20 weeks of building and running a real company with a mentor.
If you want the hours counted formally
The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award is non-competitive and structural. You log hours across physical recreation, a skill, voluntary service and an adventurous journey, and nobody competes for it. You earn it by finishing the requirements. If you are volunteering anyway, registering means the same hours also produce a recognised international credential.
Awards for community involvement
Community involvement is the stated criterion on hundreds of listings in the directory. Here are some examples, from largest to smallest.
- The Clay Riddell Community Hero Scholarship in Calgary, $8,500 to $10,000.
- The Calgary Flames Foundation Community Involvement Scholarship, $2,000, for Grade 12 CBE and Calgary Catholic students with a volunteer record.
- The Kelly Creaghan Stepping Up in the Community Award, $2,000, province-wide.
- The South Country Co-op Scholarship, $1,000, in Medicine Hat.
The largest pays the most and draws from a whole city, and the local one pays less and draws from one town. The local awards guide explains why to weight your effort toward the bottom of that list.
What to do about it
- Pick one placement with ongoing intake and start now rather than in Grade 12. AHS, TELUS Spark and JA all take students continuously, so there is no window to wait for.
- Log it as you go. Dates, hours, who supervised you, one sentence on what you did. Two years of it is hard to rebuild from memory.
- Register for Duke of Edinburgh if you are already putting in hours, because the same effort then also produces a credential.
- Ask your supervisor for a reference in the spring, not in October with everyone else. The reference letter guide covers what to hand them.
Programs move. Intakes pause, councils change their terms, and a placement that was open last year may not be. Each program page linked here links to the provider's own page. Confirm there before you plan around it.