Year-Round Teen Volunteer Roles

Teen volunteers ages 13 and up play a key role in animal care and providing and engaging and fun visitor experience throughout the year.  If you are interested in volunteering with us in a year-round or school year position, please review the volunteer opportunities below and fill out our General Volunteer Application Form

Animal Care Assistants
Our live animals require daily care, and we have a team of teen assistants who help us make sure they are fed and watered, and that their cages are kept clean and safe. This job often requires the handling of animals themselves, and we need volunteers who are willing to do this without fear.  
Park Attendants
Volunteers help us water plants in the park, remove invasive species, and other park maintenance jobs.
Special Event Activity Guides
Volunteers help guide children and their families in fun and educational activities during our Spring Fling, Family Fun Nights, Pumpkin Patch. 2 or 3 hour shifts.
School Break Camp Counselors
Middle and High School students are invited to be counselors at camps for 5 – 10 year olds. One-day School’s Out Day Camps are held during winter holidays and spring break. Camp counselors assist the teachers and help individual campers with crafts, projects, games, etc.

Training is provided for individuals or groups of people interested in volunteer positions that require guidance and specialized instruction

Summer Volunteer Positions

Teen volunteers play a key role in our summer programs. The application window for our 2021 Summer Teen Volunteer Program has now closed. Our next opportunities for Teen Volunteers will open up during the 2021-2022 school year.  

If you are over 13 years old and you are interested in volunteering with us over the summer NEXT YEAR, please check back here in early spring 2022 for our summer volunteer opportunities, and fill out the Summer Teen Volunteer Application Form when it goes live and submit it, along with the General Volunteer Application.

Summer Science Camp Counselors
Middle and High School students are invited to be counselors at camps for 5 – 10 year olds. Week-long camps are held between June and August. Camp counselors assist the teachers and help individual campers with crafts, projects, games, etc.
Sneak-a-Peek Assistants
Teens who assist with our Sneak-a-Peek program work with the instructor, an NDC Staff member, to prepare craft and other class materials, help children ages 3.5 – 5 with class activities and and crafts, and help clean up after class is over.  Activities will take place both indoors and outdoors.
Summer Story Time
Teens lead our Nature Story Time on Wednesdays at 4pm throughout the summer, reading themed books and assisting preschoolers and their caregivers with simple crafts and/or songs and other activities.
Animal Care Assistants
Our live animals require daily care, and we have a team of teen assistants who help us make sure they are fed and watered, and that their cages are kept clean and safe. This job often requires the handling of animals themselves, and we need volunteers who are willing to do this without fear.

Mandatory training sessions are provided for all Summer Teen Volunteers.

  • "Nature at Your Doorstep provides a way to tap into children's curiosity, wonder and upper level thinking skills."
    Teri Consetino, Science and Children, April 1998
  • "This book... provides ways for teachers to share nature with their students. It is well organized and easy to follow....The data sheets are informative and interesting to the students. . .The activities are appropriate for schools with large woodland areas as well as those with just small grassy areas. My students were interested in the investigations and enjoyed collecting the data. This book would be a useful addition to any resource room. The activities strongly support the standards in science, mathematics, language arts, and social studies. The materials needed to teach the lessons are easy to obtain and are available in most classrooms. A sample ten-day lesson plan is provided for those teachers who want more direction."
    Teaching Children Mathematics, Jan. 1998, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc.
  • “Very good! I will definitely use these lessons in a classroom. Thumbs up!!”
  • “… a very hands-on and exciting way to educate.”
  • “I will definitely recommend this workshop to all educators regardless of their content areas. These lessons would incorporate much more than science.”