Gain Experience and Help Others
CYA offers students the opportunity to enrich their semester abroad by combining academics with meaningful hands-on experiences. We help dozens of students arrange internships, research projects, and volunteer opportunities in Athens. CYA students have done everything from shadowing doctors and assisting at research centers to serving at local soup kitchens and caring for donkeys at an animal refuge.
Participating in an internship or volunteering is a powerful way to gain professional experience, deepen cultural understanding, and build friendships and networks while in Athens. CYA is also a Bonner-Approved study abroad program, which means Bonner Leaders & Scholars can fulfill their required community service while studying abroad at CYA in Greece.
Opportunities
Options for internships, volunteering, and research span a wide range of fields, including: refugee aid, soup kitchens, environmental groups, animal welfare, special needs education, film and theater, writing and editing, libraries, museums, art galleries, marketing and advertising, non-profit organizations, and research centers at local universities.
Volunteering Organizations
CYA has a strong network of contacts in Athens. Below are just some of the organizations and placements with which we collaborate. Tasks vary according to each organization’s needs at the time of application.
MEDASET – Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles – Protects sea turtles and their habitats through research, policy work, public awareness, and conservation projects across Greece and the Mediterranean.
– FRIENDS OF THE CAT – NINE LIVES Greece – Feeding stray animals in Athens.
– WE NEED BOOKS – A Multicultural Library and Cultural Center in one of the city’s most multicultural neighborhoods, Kypseli. Their mission is to: enrich lives and empower communities by providing free and equal access to information, knowledge and services; foster social inclusion and promote interculturalism in a safe and welcoming environment.
Their mission is to: enrich lives and empower communities by providing free and equal access to information, knowledge and services; foster social inclusion and promote interculturalism in a safe and welcoming environment.
Students volunteering there help mostly by teaching English to young learners in a more creative and interactive way and by cataloguing English language books on online database, researching titles for content warnings and genre specifications, translating groupings from English to Greek and vice versa.
– MELISSA NETWORK – Network providing supportive services to migrant and refugee women and their children. Volunteers might help through interaction with and care of the children in the day care center, as well as other tasks.
– METADRASI – Facilitates the reception and integration of refugees and migrants, as well as unaccompanied migrant and refugee youth in Greece. Volunteers might teach English to young refuges and migrants.
– ELIAMEP – (Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy) – Students typically assist with policy-related research or support the organization’s social media and communications work.
– HERAKLEIDON MUSEUM – An interactive cultural center of science popularization as well as a technological museum that focuses on antiquity, with emphasis on the achievements of the ancient Greeks.
Volunteers help them with the English-speaking visitors: guide them throughout the main exhibition, giving them a starting point from which they will begin the tour, an idea of what to expect, how long the tour will last and providing explanations.
– MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF ATHENS (ATHENS CITY MUSEUM) – Housed in a building that was the first royal palace of Greece, the Museum’s collections include Athens-related items from antiquity to contemporary art, and displays of furniture depicting typical living-room arrangements of 19th century Athenian aristocracy. Volunteers might assist with scanning and digitizing items for the museum’s archives, work on research projects aimed at potential collaboration with other museums and organizations, and give museum tours in English.
– HELLENIC CHILDREN’S MUSEUM – The Children’s museum is a kind of museum specially designed to serve the needs and abilities of children as well as parents and teachers who contribute to their development. In the Children’s Museum children can observe, think, research, play, experiment and create. The educational programs and exhibits are studied by expert scientists and contribute to the development of the child, encouraging critical thinking, initiative, creativity and autonomy. A typical day at the museum involves setting up the stations for play (model supermarket, bubble station, cookie making, etc), and then facilitating play between the children and with their parents.
– MVI (Medical International Volunteers) – Provides medical support and care to immigrant refugee women and children. Volunteers who speak Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Bangla, and Hindi might assist with translation, some project management administrative tasks, social media, and fundraising support.
– BOROUME -A non-profit organization, whose mission is to reduce food waste and fight malnutrition in Greece. They have several actions during the week where a group of young Greek students (and not only) collect from the outdoors farmers markets the left-overs at the end of the day and distribute them to people in need. A great opportunity to get involved in a really important action and get to meet other Greek people!
– MUSEUM OF CYCLADIC ART – A world-renowned museum dedicated to Cycladic culture and ancient Greek art. Volunteers may support exhibitions, educational programs, and visitor services.
– ENDEAVOR GREECE – Part of the global Endeavor network supporting high-impact entrepreneurship. Students may assist with research, events, or communications, gaining insight into the Greek start-up ecosystem.
– ANIMA – The largest and most prominent organization in Greece for wildlife care and rehabilitation. Their rehabilitation center in Kallithea and is currently treating wild and domestic animals that were injured during this past summer’s fires in the northern suburbs of Athens. Volunteers work alongside experienced personnel as well as other volunteers.
Main tasks: cage cleaning, food preparation, bowl washing, grooming.
– ATHENIAN AGORA EXCAVATION – Promising students can apply for the ASCSA summer excavation in the Athenian Agora.
…and many more! For a full list of current opportunities, including placements at university research centers, please contact Angela Kouvara, Student Affairs Advisor at CYA.