High school volunteer opportunities
HonorHealth’s high school programs provide high school students with valuable opportunities to engage with their local community while gaining an understanding of the health care industry. Summer volunteers work directly with patients, families, guests, and team members. Explorer Club students interact with a variety of health care professionals and have hands-on activities as they are introduced to health professions.
HonorHealth is seeking high school students who are kind, mature and able to provide excellent customer service. Prior to applying, high school students are asked to carefully consider the required time commitment. Neither program includes job shadowing, research, or internship opportunities. Students in our program fill a variety of volunteer roles, focused on providing our patients and their families with an extra layer of care and comfort while at HonorHealth.
Explorers Clubs
HonorHealth Explorers Clubs are student-run and expose students who are interested in health care careers to a variety of hands-on events, learning opportunities and chances to interact with health care professionals. Meetings are held once per month and students must be in high school, grades 9-12 during the academic year, to participate.
We have two types of Explorers Clubs: Medical and Nursing.
The application for the 2026-27 academic year is currently closed. The application for 2027-2028 academic year will open in mid-May 2027.
Medical Explorers Club
The Medical Explorers Club covers a wide variety of health care professions and is offered at HonorHealth Thompson Peak, Deer Valley and John C. Lincoln Medical Centers. The club exposes students to hands-on events, learning opportunities and the chance to interact with health care professionals from multiple disciplines.
Each meeting is built upon club members’ interests and involves:
- Speaking with nurses, physicians and other professionals about medical education and career paths.
- Visiting departments within our medical centers.
- Hands-on learning activities.
In past club meetings, students have:
- Dissected sheep hearts with a cardiologist.
- Sutured bananas with an emergency department physician assistant.
- Wrapped casts with an orthopedic surgeon.
- Learned how to prepare for surgery with an HonorHealth physician.
- Received advice about preparing for medical school.
Nursing Explorers Club
The Nursing Explorers Club focuses on the diverse careers within the nursing profession and is located at the HonorHealth Center of Clinical Excellence near Deer Valley Medical Center. Club meetings are run similarly to the Medical Explorers Club, but activities and speakers focus on nursing.
Example activities:
- Learn to insert an IV with a med-surg nurse.
- Read blood pressure with an ICU nurse.
- Dissect a pig heart with a respiratory therapist.
- Receive advice about how to prepare for nursing school from nurse educators around the Valley.
Summer High School Volunteer Program
The application for the 2026 summer program is currently closed. Applications for the 2027 summer program will open mid January of 2027.
The Summer High School Volunteer Program is open to Arizona students who will be a junior or senior in high school during the next school year. Current seniors should not apply. Students must have completed 10th grade and be at least 15 years old at the start of the program. High school seniors can visit the college opportunities page to learn more about volunteering
High school students who participated in previous summers should email their supervisor to express their interest to return. Students who participated previously should not fill out the application unless directed to do so.
Time commitment
The program is a seven-week session running from June to mid July and requires a commitment of two (2) four-hour shifts each week, with a minimum of six weeks of participation. If a high school volunteer misses three or more shifts during the seven-week session, they may be removed from the program. Volunteer shifts are available between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. If your family has a two-week vacation scheduled during the program dates, you are not eligible for the program as you cannot miss more than one week of service.
Examples of volunteer duties
Our high school volunteers perform a variety of duties in our medical centers and at Desert Mission Food Bank. High school volunteers will interact with HonorHealth team members, patients, and family members. This experience allows them to improve communication skills and build confidence while giving back to the community.
Below are examples of volunteer titles and duties:
- Information Desk volunteer: Greet visitors and patients arriving for care, escort family members to visit patients, support administration as needed and respond to guest questions.
- Supply Chain volunteer: Deliver supplies to nursing units and various areas of the medical center, assist with stocking materials and log data into a computer.
- Surgery Waiting volunteer: Greet patients arriving for surgery, support families in the surgery waiting area and work with team members in perioperative services.
- Desert Mission Food Bank volunteer: Sort donated food, organize the warehouse and fill grocery carts to distribute to families and individuals.
Upon acceptance to the summer program, volunteer placement will be based on the needs of the campus.
Please note, there are no positions that perform direct patient care. High school volunteers are not permitted in patient rooms to assist medical professionals due to confidentiality regulations. HonorHealth does not allow shadowing for students 17 and younger. High school volunteers will focus on customer service, supporting patients and their families, and assisting team members.
Education opportunities through M.E.D. sessions
In addition to volunteering, summer participants take part in Meet. Explore. Discover. (M.E.D.) sessions, which provide health care-related education and career exploration. There are more than 20 M.E.D. sessions, focused on career exploration through conversations with physicians, researchers and clinical staff, and tours of our facilities.
Examples of previous M.E.D. sessions include: “Tour of the Sterile Processing Department”, “Exam of Forensic Nursing”, “Discussion of Pediatric Care” and “Tour of a Trauma Facility”. High school students accepted into the summer program will learn more about these education opportunities during the onboarding process.
Frequently asked questions
To learn more, please review the Summer High School Volunteer Program FAQs.
