Teens & Schools

Most SOLVE events are open to volunteers of all ages. Each event registration page lists its own age restrictions and supervision requirements. Make sure to read the information and restrictions carefully before registering.

Volunteers ages 13-17 can create their own accounts or have an adult create one for them. At registration, there will be a requirement to include the email address of an authorized adult. An email with a youth permission and waiver form will be sent to that address. Once that form is electronically signed, the youth can explore the SOLVE event calendar and register for age-appropriate events.

Yes! Teens under 18 are welcome to lead events, as long as they have an adult partner (such as a parent/guardian, teacher, troop leader, or club advisor). The adult partner must attend orientation with the teen and accompany them at the event.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Both the teen and adult create a SOLVE account.

2. The adult completes the Event Leader Form and creates events on behalf of the youth.

3. Once the form is submitted, the next step is to attend an orientation together or set up a 1:1 session. You can find upcoming sessions on our Orientation Page.

4. After orientation, SOLVE staff can also help set up a shared account if you’d like the teen to learn how to co-manage events.

Event leaders are responsible for important tasks like ensuring all volunteers sign liability waivers, monitoring safety, and responding if an incident occurs. Because these responsibilities require someone 18 or older, a guardian, or trusted adult must be present. This allows the teen to focus on leading volunteers, welcoming participants, and guiding the project, while the adult serves as the official safety lead and ensures all requirements are met.

An authorized adult is permitted to register a youth or youth group that they will be supervising during a SOLVE event by registering as a 'team.’ This will streamline the registration and waiver process and is recommended for adults who wish to sign up their children to volunteer alongside them, for teachers who wish to volunteer with their students, and for supervisors leading youth organizations. The steps are simple. First, create a team, then register the youth volunteers as team members, and lastly, sign up everyone all at once for an event. See additional details below on how to create a team.

First, you must either login to your account or create one by selecting ‘Log In’ in the top right corner of the SOLVE site. You will see ' My Teams ' from the ‘My Account’ drop down for additional information and to get started.

Yes. SOLVE works closely in collaboration with many different youth organizations including schools, scouts, environmental clubs, leadership programs, community service organizations, conservation corps, outdoor programs, and science education organizations. You can sign up a youth organization for an existing event by creating a ‘team’ or lead an event for your youth organization as an event leader.

If you are unable to consent to the liability waiver for youth in your team but will be chaperoning them at the event, please receive signatures on a SOLVE waiver from parents and guardians prior to attending. These signed forms should then be brought to the event and given to the event leader. We have copies available in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Russian, Somali and Ukrainian.

We highly recommend creating a team and registering youth in advance. If there are open spots at the event, however, you are welcome to arrive without registering. We ask that you please contact the event leader so they can prepare the proper number of supplies for the project.

Some events are exclusively for volunteers age 18+ and will be indicated accordingly on the event description page. For example, all events labeled as ‘Urgent Need’ are exclusively for volunteers 18 and older due to safety concerns.