Help my sister find something awesome to do with her time

February 4, 2012 8:45 PM

Junior in high school wants to do something "meaningful and impressive." She likes the intersection of science + culture/society + writing/journalism. Ideas?

Sister is 16. She loves writing, radio, and studying the impact of science on society. She wants to do something that will be interesting, that contributes to the community in some way, and that will look nice on her resume come time to apply to college.

She already has these things going on:
- volunteer interpreter and tutor to a deaf child
- part-time job
- contributor to local paper
- leadership position in creative writing club
- volunteer for local NPR chapter
- selling her art; half profit goes to charity

Anything expensive is out - she's saving up for travel. She'd rather not spend her energy applying to fancy programs. Other than that, she's in intense brainstorm mode, failing to come up with much, and willing to consider just about anything. More volunteering will already be happening.

posted by jingle to Education (8 answers total)

Define expensive. She could start a non-profit -- it's not that hard to do but it costs a few hundred dollars. She could then devote the non-profit to providing people with new science based solutions that solve some sort of problem for them. If she is already interested in the intersection of science and society she should be able to come up with a bunch of problems/solutions to focus on.
posted by cairdeas at 9:06 PM on February 4, 2012

Write a kids' book on some sciency topic and try to get it published. Even if it doesn't work out before she applies, it'd look nice as a differentiator on a college application.
posted by killdevil at 9:09 PM on February 4, 2012

It seems like many of these activities are solo or self-initiated, where she's in the leadership role. Perhaps she'd benefit from (and enjoy) working with a mentor in a field she's curious about, assisting in a lab or other science setting where she can learn and network, rather than starting something new on her own again.
posted by judith at 9:19 PM on February 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

Job shadow a tech writer? You don't mention your location, but I bet she could get in touch with a technology journalist and hang out for a week or a day.

She could also build a website and blog what all she is doing in a formal manner (not just Facebooking it). The internet loves overachieving kids.
posted by cjorgensen at 9:34 PM on February 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Find some fairly arcane open source packages related to the science discipline she's most interested in and volunteer to write documentation and tutorials. I imagine there are scientific developers out there with modest English skills who would step her through the basics of their software over video chat. She'd be honing relevant science skills and contributing to the community that uses the software, plus she could name drop everything and everyone involved.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 9:35 PM on February 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

She's working with a Deaf kid - does she sign? If so, she could make youtube signing videos for any of the topics she's already working on.

ASL Videos! They're not just for music videos.
posted by rmd1023 at 7:42 AM on February 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

Please don't suggest that she start a nonprofit - there are more than enough of them out there already, and a 16-year-old, no matter how intelligent and mature, isn't likely to do much with it. If it's going to get big enough to actually do much, she'll need other people on board, as well as money, and it's unlikely that yet another startup is going to attract that, especially one helmed by a teenager. You don't want that enthusiasm bogged down in paperwork. If she wants to go down that route, I agree with judith - find her a mentor to work with.
posted by andraste at 11:58 AM on February 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

Given her interests, what about putting together a "this american life" style radio show about a specific innovation or way that science impacts society in some way that excites her? It could be anywhere from something practical like a machine that people use to something more philosophical like quantum physics. She could contact and interview the scientists and some regular folks in her community. The vast majority of scientists will be flattered that she is interested and happy to talk to a teenager.
posted by steinwald at 5:29 PM on February 5, 2012 [1 favorite]