Shared by Andrea Hasenfus, as Guest Blogger.

Every summer I receive calls from parents of teenagers asking:

"What can my teen do at Pocahontas State Park this summer? School just got out and he’s already bored!"  

This year we have a solution, read on to find out the answer...

Teens can earn 25 community service hours for college applications or high school requirements at Pocahontas State Park

Local teens come to Pocahontas State Park every summer for many different reasons:

• A first or continuing summer job
• Going to the pool with family or friends
• Attending a concert
• Running the trails with their team
• Mountain biking, or even
• Helping with summer camp

This summer there’s another reason:

25 community service hours are up for grabs for school clubs, college applications, or both. Teen Volunteer Week is Monday July 6 to Friday July 10, 2015 and will be a focused effort where young folks from the surrounding area can come to the park every day, work hard from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and at the end of the week, be proud of their efforts (and tans and new muscles). 

Participating students will sign up and become an official state park volunteer, with an official record of their logged hours, and even start earning benefits.

Teens can choose from various projects that may include trail maintenance

Teen participants will be able to have a little bit of choice as to which projects they would prefer to work on, and the project list will be finalized right beforehand, ensuring that the park’s immediate and pressing needs can be taken care of by this young workforce.

Some examples of how you can help may include:

• Trail maintenance on some of Pocahontas’ 80 miles of trails
• Clearing debris and new saplings in an old camping area to prepare for the big concert campout at the end of the month
• Renovating the old nature center
• Painting the old Civilian Conservation Corps cabins

If you are a teenager, or a parent of one, and working at Pocahontas State Park for a week sounds like a good idea, you can sign up by clicking here. Create a new volunteer account, and select ‘Teen Volunteer Week’ as the opportunity. See you in July!

Pocahontas State Park is located at 10301 State Park Road, Chesterfield County, about 20 miles from Richmond. Click here for directions to the park or to learn more about this beautiful state park in the heart of Virginia.