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Applications are available for teens interested in the summer Discovery Guide Program at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.

Students who have successfully completed sixth grade and have not entered their senior year of high school are eligible for the eight-week program.

Training will be from 1 to 4 pm, June 4-8. Following training, teens will be asked to fulfill 30 hours of volunteer time at the museum and volunteer for at least two museum events in the fall and spring.

Discover Guides help visitors explore and understand exhibits and assist with hands-on activities in the Discovery Room.

The guides learn about behind-the-scenes work in the museum's collections and laboratories.

Discovery Guides have the opportunity to expand their knowledge of natural history and ecology and receive experience working with the public.

Guides can earn community service credit, receive volunteer recognition and develop their public-speaking skills.

Interviews will be held in May. Applicants will be notified by email or mail of their interview times.

30 applicants will be accepted.

Application Information:
By phone: 405-325-1652
Email: volunteer@snomh@ou.edu
Website: www.snomnh.ou.edu

Application deadline is April 1, 2012.

The Norman Public Library is calling area teens to come lend a hand at their local library while getting some valuable volunteer experience during this year’s Summer Reading Program.

Teens ages 12 to 17 can sign up to volunteer to help either with the Children’s Department or with the Teen and Adult Services areas of the library. Applications to volunteer are available at the Children’s Desk or the Information Services Desk of the library, 225 N. Webster Ave.

Volunteers have a variety of assignments, including assisting during numerous summer reading programs, to help prepare for programs and events, to hand out tickets, to shelve books and other materials and to do other tasks that go on behind the scenes at a public library.

In addition to turning in an application, teens interested in volunteering this summer also are asked to have an idea of their availability during the summer, and each must attend a Summer Orientation training.

The library will host four different trainings on the following dates:

• Orientation for volunteers in Children’s Department

Saturday, May 19, 2 p.m.
Tuesday, May 22, 5 p.m.
Saturday, May 26, 2 p.m.
Thursday, May 31, 6 p.m.

• Orientation for volunteers in Teen or Adult Department

Saturday, May 19, 3 p.m.
Tuesday, May 22, 6 p.m.
Saturday, May 26, 3 p.m.
Thursday, May 31, 7 p.m.

For more information on volunteering in the Children’s Department, call 701-2630. For more information on volunteering in Teens, call 701-2620.

The Oklahoma City Community Foundation recently awarded a $25,000 grant to Norman's Center for Children and Families Inc. to assist with the expansion of the organization's neighborhood centers program.

To implement the expansion, the nonprofit agency is seeking volunteers and community partners to help with evening programs that serve children and youths living in and around the Kennedy and Wilson elementary schools.

Services include three nights per week of out-of-school and family support services at each elementary school, after-school services at Longfellow and Irving Middle Schools and two gender-specific mentoring groups, Girl Power and Young Men Under Construction.

For more information on volunteering or partnering, call resource coordinator Christy Mackey at 364-1420.

Area youths interested in helping others can sign up for a summer CAMp, sponsored by Community Action Missions of Norman.

Students who have completed the sixth grade or a higher grade level are eligible to participate in one of four CAMps, which provide volunteer mission opportunities for the youths and aid nonprofit community organizations, group Executive Director Donna Hooper said.

This year's CAMps are:

May 30-June 2 at Cornerstone Kids Ranch in Ada, where participants will help the ranch get ready for elementary school day camps by painting, trimming weeds, cleaning horse stalls and preparing craft tents, among other activities.

July 9-13 in Norman, where volunteers will team up with Mission Norman to lead vacation Bible schools at two apartment complexes and end the week by staging a block party.

June 20-23 in Norman, hosted by Goodrich Memorial United Methodist Church, involving a variety of work at a number of nonprofit agencies.

Aug. 1-4 in Norman, hosted by University Lutheran Church, involving a variety of work at a number of nonprofit agencies.

Hooper said this is Community Action Missions' 13th year to offer CAMps, “which provide young people with life-changing, community-impacting activities.”

Through the camps, Hooper said, participants learn “to put their faith into action to serve those in need.”

Campers work six to seven hours a day, stay overnight at local churches and spend the evenings doing planned activities such as holding devotionals or participating in team-building exercises, she said.

Each CAMp is limited to 30 participants. While the CAMps are free to participants, Hooper said, donations are needed to support the program. Donations can be monetary or in kind, she said.

Get involved

For more information or to register for a CAMp, call Hooper at 329-8041 or 887-1787.

Donations may be made by mailing checks to 819 Terrace Place, Norman, OK 73069, or online at www.cam-inc.net.