You can join the Teen Ventures team by filling out our Google Volunteer Form. Additionally, we recommend attending the annual Empower And Help Gala held on the last Saturday of July to learn more about our initiatives and network directly with current members.

The program runs annually from September to July and is completely free for students to join. While there is no cost to participate in the program, team hosts fundraising campaigns throughout the year to cover the production costs.

The program is open to students in 8th to 12th grade. Team Director roles are open exclusively to high school seniors and college students.

The Teen Ventures program operates as a fully student-led production where members participate across three teams: Editorial, Design, and Outreach to collaboratively edit, design, market, fundraise for, and publish a 100-page magazine. Students can participate as General Members, Team Leads, Team Directors, or Guest Contributors depending on their desired level of commitment, leadership experience, and application preference. Please note that article submission is mandatory for all students participating in the program. 

To celebrate a successful production year, all contributors are invited to the official Empower And Help Gala at the conclusion of the project.

The Teen Ventures program offers four distinct role levels based on availability, experience, and commitment levels. All student roles will work collaboratively within our three teams: Editorial, Design, and Outreach.

1. Team Director (College Students and High School Seniors) – There are multiple Team Director roles. The Team Director oversees their entire assigned team. They set goals, manage production timelines, lead meetings, and ensure the quality of the team’s output. This role requires strong project management skills and a high level of weekly commitment.
2. Team Lead (High School Students) – There are multiple Team Lead roles. Team Leads manage specific sub-projects within their teams (e.g., a Magazine Layout Lead manages the magazine’s layout design, while a Citations Lead manages citation review cycles for article submissions). They assist the Team Director in keeping tasks on track and guiding General Members.
3. General Member (Middle and High School Students): The program has multiple openings for this role. General Members drive the magazine’s hands-on production. Depending on their assigned team, they write and edit copy, design graphics in Canva, coordinate fundraising campaigns, or manage marketing tasks. They work on tasks based on the current needs of their Team Lead and Team Director.

Participating in a magazine publishing project, while gaining high-level professional skills, is an incredible way to strengthen your resume and college application. Through this hands-on experience, members have the opportunity to develop expertise in content creation, editing, graphic design, project management, marketing, and budgeting, as well as essential soft skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, public speaking, teamwork, and collaboration. 

Beyond skill-building, participants earn certified volunteer hours, unlock leadership opportunities, get published, and receive formal recognition, with their names and titles featured on the magazine’s masthead.

Yes, participants receive certified volunteer hours for all the time they dedicate to the program’s meetings and assigned tasks. If you contribute a guest article to the magazine, you will earn 10 hours of certified volunteer service upon the successful completion and acceptance of your article submission.

Students who commit to the year-round program are requested to log volunteer hours ​diligently.

The weekly time commitment varies depending on the specific role you take on within the program:

1. General Members: Expect a manageable commitment of about 1.5 to 2 hours per week. This includes attending the weekly Sunday team meeting (30 to 45 minutes) and spending around 1 hour completing independent tasks for the magazine.
2. Team Leads and Team Directors: Because leadership roles involve extra project management, coordination, and planning, leaders should expect a higher commitment of approximately 3 to 5 hours per week.  This includes attending the weekly Sunday team meeting (30 to 45 minutes), meeting with Team members and leadership, and additional time to complete tasks.

Please keep in mind that, regardless of your role, this is a full-year commitment running from September to July.

Yes! We welcome guest article submissions from students who want to contribute to the project. If you are interested, please fill out our Google Interest Form, and our team will review it and send you further details regarding submission guidelines and deadlines. Please note that due to space limitations in the 100-page magazine, we may not be able to publish every accepted article in the print edition. If your article is accepted, you will earn 10 hours of certified volunteer service.

Physical copies of the Teen Ventures magazine are available for purchase directly on our website at https://empowerandhelp.com/shop/. ​ If you prefer a digital copy, you can download it for free by visiting empowerandhelp.com/teen-ventures-sign-up/.