The 2026 Spring Volunteer Weekend will take place May 15-17/18, 2026. This is a residential experience with arrival on Friday and options to depart on Sunday or Monday.
If you are interested in attending, or know of anyone who might be, please fill out the Interest Form by clicking the button below by March 25, 2026.
We do our best to get as many volunteers as possible out to the island to help with the projects we have each season but aren't always able to invite everyone out. Once you have expressed interest via the form, we will contact everyone by mid-April to confirm and share further registration instructions. Filling out the form is NOT registering for the weekend.
Click here to fill out an interest form for the 2026 Spring Volunteer Weekend
Volunteers help make the 'Shoals experience' a reality for its participants, and have been an integral part of life on Appledore since the beginning of the lab. Every campus building has at one time been re-painted, re-shingled, and lovingly maintained with the help of our steadfast volunteers. Each year a swarm of volunteer cleaners scour the campus by washing windows, scrubbing floors, caring for and maintaining microscopes, meters, and plankton nets, and so much more!
Please be sure to consider your ability to travel to Appledore Island and participate. The terrain on the island is rocky and uneven, the weather in the Isles of Shoals can be unpredictable, and the work at times may be strenuous. If you do not feel as though you are able to give back to Shoals Marine Laboratory during volunteer weekend please consider other means of giving to support our students.
If you have any questions about the weekend, please email shoals.lab@unh.edu.
Children between the ages of 15 -18 are permitted to attend and volunteer with permission of the SML staff, and must be accompanied by an adult (parent or guardian).
If you would like to sign up to receive future notifications about volunteer opportunities at
Shoals Marine Laboratory, please click the below button.
