At one time, lugging golf clubs or sacking groceries was a given for many teens. These days, youngsters wish they had it so good. In fact, during the third quarter, the national unemployment rate for teens ages 16 to 19 was a staggering 25.1 percent—nearly 10 percent higher than three years earlier. As jobs grow more scarce, many teens are finding other ways to fill out the ol’ résumé: namely, volunteering.
Clayton High School senior Simone Bernstein was 13 when she started looking to volunteer—and unfortunately had many organizations turn her away because of her age. With those experiences in mind, this year she created a website, stlouisvolunteen.com, to assist other youngsters. “I basically made it out of sheer frustration,” she says. Today, the site lists dozens of organizations—from Ranken Jordan pediatric specialty hospital to Ride On St. Louis equine therapy—that accept teenage volunteers, and Bernstein continues to hear from interested groups and teens. “I wasn’t expecting so much feedback,” she says, adding that she’s still developing the site while juggling classes.
In the meantime, what’s she doing to make money? “Right now, I babysit, and I’m also a Sunday-school assistant teacher,” she says. “But I really try to focus on volunteering, because I feel like there are so many more benefits.”
