If boredom starts to consume the break, help yourself and others through volunteering. With the Bright Futures program, students can earn college scholarships, significantly lessening the money they’d be required to spend on college.

With three different levels (thirty, seventy-five, or one hundred hours) that students can receive awards for, students can choose how much they want to put into it, and if it’ll pay off for them, since these funds are only valid within Florida.

Regarding where to volunteer at, there are seemingly limitless options. However, students need to sign up quickly, so they can turn in their forms before the due date, which is approaching rapidly.

Some suggestions for places to volunteer include Best Buddies, Clearwater Marine Aquarium, the Humane Society, Special Olympics, the YMCA, the Ronald McDonald House, nursing homes, the Salvation Army, soup kitchens, the American Cancer Society, hospitals, hospices, libraries, anti-smoking campaigns, and more.

With various jobs and organizations available, it isn’t too hard a task to find one nearby.

Unfortunately, after that, students will need to fill out a mountain of paperwork and recommendation forms and sometimes get interviewed before they pass on their project for approval.

Also, before starting the project, it needs to be approved by the district, which students can do by turning in the forms from the PHUHS website in to their guidance counselor via the front office.

On top of that, there are a few restrictions on where students can volunteer for Bright Futures.

Some of the restrictions are apparent, like the volunteering can’t be required by the court, or it isn’t allowed to provide economic or materialistic benefits to volunteers.

Yet, the project also isn’t allowed to be within the volunteer’s family or done as a form of religious piety.

Furthermore, service hours cannot be cashed in through donations, and it is required that a supervisor is present. Lastly, the student cannot receive additional academic credit for Bright Futures volunteering, unless it is earned through approved courses.

Although volunteering for Bright Futures has to be completed before the start of junior year, many upperclassmen have to fulfill community service requirements as well.

So, summer is the perfect time to get that out of the way, while, at the same time, shielding students from suffering boredom’s wrath.

Whether it’s out of necessity or for the fiscal benefits in college, volunteering will need to be done at some point, and summer break is a perfect time to do it.