# Volunteering Suggestions



## bobberly1 (Jul 16, 2008)

I'm a sophomore in high school and I'm looking for something biology related to volunteer in over the summer. I want something that'll be somewhat enjoyable, help me with college, and get my foot in the door as far as the scientific research and conservation community goes. I'd be interested in really anything related to biology, I keep frogs, fish, coral, fossils, minerals, inverts, and plants so I'm not hard to please. 

So, has anyone here gone through any programs or volunteered with any museums or conservation efforts that they enjoyed? As my info says, I live near Boston, but I could travel for an especially good opportunity. As a side note, Costa Rica seems especially cool because of the fact that it's very interesting but has very reasonable air rates. Arizona too. Thanks for reading, feel free to share any experience or knowledge you have.


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

I had to do the same thing in high school and was lucky enough to get a volunteer job at the reptile/tropical rainforest house at the woodland park zoo. 
Contact your local zoo/aquarium/ wild animal rescue center and see i there are volunteer openings


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## wcsbackwards (Oct 4, 2008)

You could look into finding a wildlife rehabilitator and volunteer to help them out. You could also look into colleges and universities nearby to see if there are any professors doing research you might be interested in. Then you could send them an email detailing what your goals are and how you would like to volunteer.


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## MonkeyFrogMan28 (Feb 3, 2009)

I live a hour from Boston. What you should do is go to Amherst for a week when our first spring rain comes. This should only be a couple months away. Last year I save 66 spotteds by my home.Get together with som officals and help watch and carry Spotted Salamanders to their breeding sites. Make sure you get permission MA has the strictest laws on their salamander species. You should be able to google it and I am sure they take volunteers . I am off to work so I cant elaborate any more.


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## wcsbackwards (Oct 4, 2008)

MonkeyFrogMan28 said:


> I live a hour from Boston. What you should do is go to Amherst for a week when our first spring rain comes. This should only be a couple months away. Last year I save 66 spotteds by my home.Get together with som officals and help watch and carry Spotted Salamanders to their breeding sites. Make sure you get permission MA has the strictest laws on their salamander species. You should be able to google it and I am sure they take volunteers . I am off to work so I cant elaborate any more.


That sounds like a lot of fun!


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## bobberly1 (Jul 16, 2008)

Thanks everyone!


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## mellowvision (Feb 6, 2009)

If I were still living near Boston, I'd sign up for the volunteer program at the New England Aquarium in a heartbeat. I currently live in NYC and volunteer at the NY Aquarium, and it's my favorite place to be. I've learned a lot there, and met a lot of inanely smart people. 

Volunteering

I'm not sure which direction you are away from Boston, but there are a few other places that have always caught my attention. There are aquariums on both Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Could make for an exciting summer. The Franklin Park zoo has a volunteer program as well. Zoo New England

In terms of places to maybe find a job, as opposed to volunteering, check out Finger Lakes Aquaculture in Dedham and Wood Fisheries in Gloucester. Aquaculture is the future. 

I really can't emphasize enough how much I enjoy volunteering at the Aquarium.


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## edwing206 (Apr 9, 2008)

I graduated last year and also had to volunteer. I think it was a total of 60 hours. I volunteered at the Seattle Aquarium, I put in about 105 hours(it was either 105 or none at all haha). I had lots of fun. Got to meet some cool people, see some cool stuff. I would try to do something like that. I am a fish nerd too so that was a plus.


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## pl259 (Feb 27, 2006)

Here's another, close to home...

New England Herpetological Society


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## thedude (Nov 28, 2007)

frogparty said:


> I had to do the same thing in high school and was lucky enough to get a volunteer job at the reptile/tropical rainforest house at the woodland park zoo.
> Contact your local zoo/aquarium/ wild animal rescue center and see i there are volunteer openings


you can volunteer in their rainforest house??? wow i know what my girlfriend is going to beg me to do with her during some time off from cascadia. although she wont have to beg too much because thats the coolest exibit ive ever seen!


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

thedude- I had a sweet in to get in there! My mom was a massage therapist here for years, and one of her clients worked there. I found out they needed help finding specimins for their western pond turtle breeding program, and since I helped them find multiple specimins I got the volunteer spot. It was totally killer....except roach patrol which was kind of gross, but still cool in a way. I love woodland park. Usually as a volunteer you get stuck in the petting zoo first shoveling llama shit.


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## thedude (Nov 28, 2007)

thats awesome man. for my birthday my girlfriend bought this weird membership thing for both of us that lets us do work there on the weekends. the pamplet for it shows a volunteer feeding an otter, so we thought we would do something like that. instead, everytime they email us, its to rake leaves and shovel poop in the petting zoo! kinda sucks. i would be fine with raking leaves or shoveling poop, i just wish it was in an actual exibit you know?? like cleaning out cages in the reptile house or something. what the hell do i care about farm animals? id even be fine with shoveling elephant poop. oh well, ill have to try talking to some people there about other volunteer opportunities.


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## elscotto (Mar 1, 2005)

bobberly1 said:


> I'm a sophomore in high school and I'm looking for something biology related to volunteer in over the summer.


I would suggest going to the ESA.org website (Ecological Society of America), and looking through or subscribing to their Ecolog listserv. They list a lot of volunteer /internship reserach opportunities, both in the States and in the tropics. 
-Scott


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## mtolypetsupply (Dec 18, 2008)

You may be able to use the college internship databases, despite not being in college. 

check out this list I found:

Summer internships for undergraduates

and

Biology Internships

try looking under "internships" in addition to volunteer opportunities.

Best of luck finding something AWESOME!


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## jwthought (Oct 30, 2004)

Not neccesarily frog related but try ircf.org. They ask for volunteers from time to time. Last I checked, they were looking for volunteers to help out with the blue iguana program in the Caiman Islands. Maybe a little pricy after airfare and all that, but I'd love to do something like that sometime.

If you are willing to travel, another possible option i know of is a wildlife rehab facility in Panama called Paradise Gardens. I spend some of my year there and I volunteer with them occasionally. Feel free to PM me for more info.


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