Teacher Naturalist Intern

NOW HIRING: Teacher Naturalist Intern

Job Type: Paid Internship
Location: Townsend, TN
Compensation: Starting salary $350/week, plus meals and lodging. On-site housing provided with monthly utilities paid by the Institute. Paid professional development including First Aid and Red Cross Lifeguard Certification.

Our Values and Culture

• We create experiential education programs focused on the natural world, knowing such learning and research opportunities are uniquely suited to bring about life changing outcomes in individual passion for learning, sense of worth, and behavior.
• We believe a lost connection with the natural world can be repaired beginning with experiences that take place in the original classroom—the outdoors. We believe such experiences produce cascading results that enrich individual lives, strengthen communities, and empower community members.
• We celebrate the distinctive setting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) provides as a living laboratory to explore the biodiversity that forms the building blocks of healthy ecosystems, examine past and present human impacts on the land, and navigate questions about how to best support the land that supports us.
• We carry out our mission with both urgency and joy, recognizing that the work of connecting people and nature could not be timelier.

We are seeking passionate people who want to learn how to use nature to make a difference in children’s lives. Teacher Naturalist interns help create an atmosphere of welcome, warmth, and belonging. They will meet and work with a wide variety of program participants, facilitating experiences for young children, school-aged summer campers, and adults.

Briefly, responsibilities include the following (more details listed in the position description):

• Work in all aspects of implementing summer residential camp programs for youth. This includes developing and teaching daily outdoor experiences, conducting evening programs like campfires, and supervising campers in the lodge.
• Strive to maintain an atmosphere of inclusion, value diversity, and actively promote equity.
• Incorporate feedback from mentors and year-round staff to further skills as an outdoor educator.
• Collaborate with the cohort of interns on group projects and work on individual professional development assignments.
• Assist with facility setup, cleanup, and maintenance and needed.

Please see the full position description for more details.