If you enjoy working with young people and inspiring them to pursue science and nature education and careers, please consider becoming a YSI volunteer. The rewards far exceed anything you might imagine. For over 50 years our family of volunteers has helped YSI grow into one of the best Science Education Institutes in California.

Contact any one of our Science and Nature Centers for additional information to sign up. Thanks.

___ Do you enjoy working with or on behalf of young people?

___ Do you want to support science and nature education that inspires children to learn more and be excited about science and nature?

___ Do you want to be part of educating the next generation of science and technology professionals, teachers, researchers, and critical thinkers?

___ Are you a Junior High or High School Student needing to earn community service hours while you learn cool things, explore career paths and enjoy nature, all while you help YSI?

You can volunteer for an hour, a day, a week, or longer. Minimum age for volunteers is 14 unless otherwise noted. Here's a sampling of some of our on-going opportunities.

Volunteer opportunities evolve all the time. If you don't see something here for you, contact us. (volunteer@ysi-ca.org)

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These are the areas you might want to volunteer. Click on any one for details.

Animal Care

Instructor’s Aide: After School Program

Instructor’s Aide: Summer Science Camps

Organic Garden

Professional Skills and Trades

Viola Anderson Native Plant Trail

YSI Thrift and Gift Shop

Vital Support Areas

Marketing

Community Outreach

Desktop Publishing

Special Events

Fundraising

Internet Research and other Surfing Activities

Volunteer From Your Easy Chair

 

Animal Care - Help us feed snakes, exercise turtles, and maintain our animals’ homes.  Volunteers help Staff Curators feed and care for our educational ambassadors used in our programs. We welcome Junior Curators beginning at age XX (Requires training and a longer-term commitment.)

Instructor’s Aide: After School Program - Want to work with kids?  Help Pre-K through 5th grade students learn about plants, animals, chemistry, physics and more with games, experiments, stories, and crafts. Volunteer Aides help teachers prepare materials and instruct children in a safe and fun learning environment. Minimum age: XX

Instructor’s Aide: Summer Science Camps - Ready for some Summer Fun?
Then come to Camp and work with Pre-K through Junior High students. More than 140 camps are held on a wide variety of subjects. A minimum commitment of three weeks is required, and the weeks do not need to be consecutive. Each Summer Camp Aide works directly with a Summer Camp Instructor to help prepare materials and lead their camp in a safe, fun, educational way. Please contact volunteer@ysi-ca.org for a complete description.

Organic Garden - Don’t be a couch potato!  Help us grow potatoes (and more!) in our Organic Garden in Sanborn Park, a hands-on learning center for school groups and summer camp kids.  Assist our garden manager with planting, watering, composting, mulching, and weeding. Come play in the dirt! This is a great 1/2-day and full-day team-building opportunity for community groups and corporate supporters.

Professional Skills and Trades - You know what it takes to maintain your own home, right? Imagine what it takes to maintain three of them -- especially when you have 30,000 kids! YSI often needs the skills of individuals with expertise in various fields, from plumbing to carpentry to maintenance, and more.

Viola Anderson Native Plant Trail - It’s not a jungle out there, and we’d like to keep it that way!  Each year thousands of Vasona park visitors and school children stroll along this trail and learn about 39 species of native plants.  Help us remove invasive non-native species, trim shrubs and trees, water plants, and remove debris. This is a great 1/2-day and full-day team-building opportunity for community groups and corporate supporters. (Age requirements vary depending on equipment used.)

YSI Thrift and Gift Shop - Join the most dedicated group of volunteers around. The 100+ members of our Guild operate our Thrift and Gift Shop on Alum Rock Avenue in East San Jose. Click here to learn more.

Vital Support Areas - The administrative side of the house needs volunteers too. This is all about the infrastructure that supports everything YSI does, so our Instructors are free to do what they do best...teach. This includes the following areas.

Marketing - Help is need with everything from taking YSI program flyers to your child's school or local market to joining the Marketing Team that implements our marketing plan.

Community Outreach - We have many opportunities to host a table or booth at community events...more than our staff can handle! Your help is needed so YSI can be present at these important events. Training and materials provided.

Desktop Publishing - Have a passion for branding? We do! Want to help us look our best? We do all our design in-house and would welcome your help on one-time publications and on-going collateral material.

Special Events - Like coordinating the big picture or helping with the smaller details? Help is needed leading up to and on the day-of our Insect Fair in May and our Wildlife Festival in October. You can help with a single task, like preparing materials, or with a bigger slice of the puzzle, like coordinating the craft tables. Or you can volunteer for just a couple of hours at the event. Like to throw parties? We also hold special events for our members and donors each year.

Fundraising - Can't forget this one! Our Science Matters Team would welcome your support as we introduce people to YSI at our "Under the Microscope" events, maintain relationships with donors, and hold our annual Science Matters! fundraising event.

Internet Research and other Surfing Activities - We like to stay up-to-date on trends and findings in science and environmental education. If you like such internet exploration, surf for us! Or, we often don’t have time to take advantage of many of the marketing and other opportunities that are free to us on the 'net. Help YSI leverage the single best tool in modern times since Velcro (or is it duct tape? Post-its?)

Volunteer From Your Easy Chair - Talk about a "kick-back" way to help: things that you can do at home while you watch TV...like cutting out nametags, collating materials, bundling fliers, etc. This is a great way to be "on-call" for us with various important tasks. Many hands make light work. Please lend us yours!