Volunteer Information
Every HTS volunteer can become a recognized Officer and Leader depending on hours served
Path to Leadership
Dear Potential Health Through Science (HTS) Volunteer,
We need you! This web site shows you that HTS has many opportunities in a variety of different areas to suit your interests as a volunteer.
The most prominent aspect of HTS is its citywide mentoring and community events attendance.
School Visits
There are 20 Title I Elementary schools that welcome HTS mentors on a monthly basis from 7:30-9:00am on Austin ISD Late Start Thursdays. On those days, high school classes start at 10:15am, so HTS high school volunteers can go to elementary schools and give in-class mentoring to help 4th & 5th Grade teachers fulfill the science curriculum. Hopefully, the school assigned to you will have an experienced HTS leader. In rare cases you will be sent by yourself if you attended the Dell Medical School training. What you will always do —even if there’s a huge volunteer team at your school—is behave autonomously and be responsible for teaching the small group of kids you have been assigned to mentor in the best way possible. HTS provides you with the content and curriculum, and it takes 5-30 minutes to prepare for a school visit. You are required to provide feedback after your visit and –if possible—some pictures of your mentees in action.
HTS volunteers are encouraged to forge a relationship with their mentees, so volunteers have to continue coming throughout the year. To promote continuous volunteering, Dell Medical School provided a School Leadership Diploma to those volunteers who do five school visits. If you do six or more visits, you’re positioned in the school leadership track (X) and may become an officer immediately if a second set of criteria is met regarding community events.
Community Events
These events don’t involve mentoring. HTS participating schools and others have after-school and weekend events such as CATCH/Health Fairs, STEM Nights, School Science Fairs, Garden Days, Field Days and others. Our web site posts these and people can volunteer on a first come, first served basis.
To become a community volunteer, you will attend with an experienced volunteer for the first time, but for next events, you can volunteer on your own if it’s a small event or with more volunteers for large events. You will be responsible for taking the materials to that event such as one of the HTS trifolds, activities and flyers. These materials promote health, healthy living and/or health sciences. If the event isn’t at an HTS participating school, you also have to promote HTS school visits and provide information about our organization, besides talking about health issues.
After the event you will provide pictures of attendees by your booth, an event report and write a thank you letter to the school contact and any other staff or faculty you met at the event.
If you attend six events, you will receive a Dell Medical School Community Leadership Diploma. If you do seven or more events, you’re positioned in the community leadership track (Y). If you have fulfilled (X)+(Y), you will be eligible to become an HTS Officer.
Leadership Track: Becoming an HTS Officer
Everybody can be an Officer at HTS if you have (X)+(Y). You just have to choose your position depending on your expertise. These are the: Positions/Officer requirements/Chair or Co-Chair (Higher Officer Position) requirements
Every officer has to provide pictures and content for the Web Site and Social Media.
Additional Officer perks are invitations to meetings with sponsors or to speaking engagements at different venues.
Failure to fulfill commitments and to provide required periodic reports during a semester without a valid excuse to HTS Leaders will result on that Officer position to be taken off the web site.
HTS Chapter Leader
For HTS Officers from schools that don’t have an HTS Chapter, there is the possibility to become a Chapter Leader.
After fulfilling at least one Chair requirement, that HTS Chair has to prove he or she can motivate other people by recruiting another volunteer from that new school. If there are enough volunteers to open a school club and they find a teacher sponsor, they can open an HTS Chapter.
That HTS Chapter will receive support from LASA HTS at all levels.
HTS Leaders
The person who holds the most Chair and/or Co-Chair positions will be HTS President. The people that accumulate a number of Chairs, Co-Chairs and Officer positions will be HTS Vice-Presidents.
If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]
We need you! This web site shows you that HTS has many opportunities in a variety of different areas to suit your interests as a volunteer.
The most prominent aspect of HTS is its citywide mentoring and community events attendance.
School Visits
There are 20 Title I Elementary schools that welcome HTS mentors on a monthly basis from 7:30-9:00am on Austin ISD Late Start Thursdays. On those days, high school classes start at 10:15am, so HTS high school volunteers can go to elementary schools and give in-class mentoring to help 4th & 5th Grade teachers fulfill the science curriculum. Hopefully, the school assigned to you will have an experienced HTS leader. In rare cases you will be sent by yourself if you attended the Dell Medical School training. What you will always do —even if there’s a huge volunteer team at your school—is behave autonomously and be responsible for teaching the small group of kids you have been assigned to mentor in the best way possible. HTS provides you with the content and curriculum, and it takes 5-30 minutes to prepare for a school visit. You are required to provide feedback after your visit and –if possible—some pictures of your mentees in action.
HTS volunteers are encouraged to forge a relationship with their mentees, so volunteers have to continue coming throughout the year. To promote continuous volunteering, Dell Medical School provided a School Leadership Diploma to those volunteers who do five school visits. If you do six or more visits, you’re positioned in the school leadership track (X) and may become an officer immediately if a second set of criteria is met regarding community events.
Community Events
These events don’t involve mentoring. HTS participating schools and others have after-school and weekend events such as CATCH/Health Fairs, STEM Nights, School Science Fairs, Garden Days, Field Days and others. Our web site posts these and people can volunteer on a first come, first served basis.
To become a community volunteer, you will attend with an experienced volunteer for the first time, but for next events, you can volunteer on your own if it’s a small event or with more volunteers for large events. You will be responsible for taking the materials to that event such as one of the HTS trifolds, activities and flyers. These materials promote health, healthy living and/or health sciences. If the event isn’t at an HTS participating school, you also have to promote HTS school visits and provide information about our organization, besides talking about health issues.
After the event you will provide pictures of attendees by your booth, an event report and write a thank you letter to the school contact and any other staff or faculty you met at the event.
If you attend six events, you will receive a Dell Medical School Community Leadership Diploma. If you do seven or more events, you’re positioned in the community leadership track (Y). If you have fulfilled (X)+(Y), you will be eligible to become an HTS Officer.
Leadership Track: Becoming an HTS Officer
Everybody can be an Officer at HTS if you have (X)+(Y). You just have to choose your position depending on your expertise. These are the: Positions/Officer requirements/Chair or Co-Chair (Higher Officer Position) requirements
- Community Events/Attended events at 6 different schools and Renewed Commitment to Repeat that attendance the new school year/Make your own Healthy Living trifold to be approved by medical advisors and generates by himself or herself an invitation to a new event
- School Visits/Qualify as HTS Officer and Renewed Commitment to do six or more school visits the new school year/Add a new Title I Elementary School to HTS participants list
- AERSF Special Awards/ Previous year experience and Renewed Commitment to another full AERSF coverage requiring AERSF Training, Friday Evening Preselection & All day Saturday Judging/Create a New Special Award
- STEM Events/Judged one elementary school science fair (SF) and Renewed Commitment to judge again/Compete in Science Fair and bring your own SF Trifold to events and generates by himself or herself an invitation to a new event
- Medical Lectures/Helped before, during and after lectures and Renewed Commitment to help at all or most lectures/Organize a lecture with a new Medical Professional as a speaker and does all the mailing and follow-up portion
- Diabetes Information/ Develop creative flyers about Diabetes vetted by medical advisors to post at elementary, middle and/or high schools/Organize a lecture with a new Diabetes Expert as a speaker and does all the mailing and follow-up portion
- Support for African Health Initiatives/Helped design posters for African Health Initiatives and/or develop a continuous partnership with African teen leaders/Fundraising for African Projects
- HTS Chapters Abroad /Communicate periodically with Foreign, provide support and Inform them about events that can be Skyped/Help open a new HTS Chapter Abroad
- HTS Chapters at other Austin Schools/Communicate periodically with non-LASA Chapters, provide support and help organize community events with them/Help open a new HTS Chapter Abroad or another Austin school
- Sponsor Relations/Most Officers will be assigned a sponsor whom they have preferably already met and that sponsor has to be updated twice per month on HTS events and results/Gets a new Medical or STEM sponsor previously approved by AISD Sponsor
- Volunteer Relations and Recruitment/Recruit friends as new HTS volunteers and be in charge of answering potential volunteers’ questions/ Receives an Invitation to Present about HTS with the goal of recruiting volunteers and members of the audience sign up for HTS
- Communications/Provides school or community event clips for the HTS Web Site/Expands the HTS Web Site Menu with a New Project that has to be approved by AISD Sponsor Dr. Ten Brink
- Social Media/An Officer is assigned a platform that has to be active before, during and after and event/ Proven activity advertising each HTS event multiple times before it happens, providing timely updates during the event and comments when the event is done.
- New Projects/Officer suggests a project and develops it after it becomes sponsor-approved or Officer is assigned a project by sponsor or HTS leaders/Completion takes 12 hours or more
Every officer has to provide pictures and content for the Web Site and Social Media.
Additional Officer perks are invitations to meetings with sponsors or to speaking engagements at different venues.
Failure to fulfill commitments and to provide required periodic reports during a semester without a valid excuse to HTS Leaders will result on that Officer position to be taken off the web site.
HTS Chapter Leader
For HTS Officers from schools that don’t have an HTS Chapter, there is the possibility to become a Chapter Leader.
After fulfilling at least one Chair requirement, that HTS Chair has to prove he or she can motivate other people by recruiting another volunteer from that new school. If there are enough volunteers to open a school club and they find a teacher sponsor, they can open an HTS Chapter.
That HTS Chapter will receive support from LASA HTS at all levels.
HTS Leaders
The person who holds the most Chair and/or Co-Chair positions will be HTS President. The people that accumulate a number of Chairs, Co-Chairs and Officer positions will be HTS Vice-Presidents.
If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]