Colleges, for admissions, do not prefer one opportunity over another.  Having a job is just as valuable as paying for a summer camp. Regularly helping out at home, or having a hobby, is considered as important as volunteering. Colleges are interested in how you spend your time outside of socializing and being in school. Colleges are realistic that different students and families have different time and financial obligations.

Summer programs, after-school enrichment, gap year programs and more can be found at the website: TeenLife This website serves as a resource for high school students and families looking for opportunities.

Volunteer opportunities.  A good website to use to find volunteer opportunities is VolunteerMatch.  Teens can input their zipcode and areas of service they are interested in pursuing. Results will give the student the organization's webpage, address, description, last update date, what skills they are looking for in a volunteer, etc. to make it easy to reach out any opportunities. 

Employment.  South High's Counseling Department maintains a physical job board in the Counseling Loft.  Students can drop by to review opportunities and information.