To apply for the 2008-2009 school year or learn more about employment opportunities, please contact Gregory Bahr (see contact info below).

Requirements: B.A. or B.S. Degree from an accredited university.
Experience working with children.

You will gain skills in:
-Outdoor leadership
-Science education
-Public speaking and performance
-Natural history and plant and animal identification
-Group and time management
-Lesson and program planning

You will receive:
-$250 per week (including training)
-Room (personal room in house with 1-2 other interns or personal trailer)
-Board (kid-friendly food in a dining hall. Limited dietary needs addressed when possible.)
-$500 health stipend

Responsibilities:
Interns must have a genuine love for children and the outdoors. Our workweeks are 40 hours long but often span entire days (with breaks interspersed). For example, on Monday, depending on your schedule, you may work from 9:30 am to 9:30 pm. You will live and work in a small community and thus will have to be flexible, understanding, and communicative. Interns must be dedicated and hard working, giving beyond 100%. The work week runs from 9:30am on Monday (pre-student prep – students arrive about 1:00pm) until about 3:00pm on Friday (ending with an inservice).

The educational hikes are theme oriented and based on the California State Science Standards. This is the foundation that we use to prepare lesson plans. During staff training we cover how to lesson plan, model teaching on trails, and spend time preparing sample lessons. While we strive to provide mentorship with senior naturalists and the principal you are also expected to be an independent worker – we have found the best way to learn how to do this job, is by jumping in.

Forest trail – You will be responsible for 1 intro, 1 all day hike, 1 night hike, 1 half day hike, and 1 closing hike through the redwood forest, a total of about 15 hours.

Beach day – Every week you will spend about 6 hours at the beach. Beach environments include the marsh, tide pools, and sandy coast. You will make 2-3 stops on beach day, usually spending 1-3 hours at each stop.

Evening program – Every evening there is a 2-hour long program. Monday is Crazy Coastal Crash Course (a coastal prep lecture) and campfire, Tuesday is night hike, Wednesday is Music Social (a fun dance) and campfire, and Thursday is Performing Arts Campfire (students perform skits). You will co-lead 2-3 evening programs a week (night hike is independent and you will lead one each week). During evening programs, you will learn to project your voice, tell stories, sing songs, and engage a group of 90-120 students. You are then responsible for cleaning up after programs and checking 1-3 cabins before bedtime at 9:30pm.

Meals – You will co-lead 2-5 meals per week depending on the schedule. Working meals consists of entertaining students before letting them in the dining hall, directing them to set the tables and put food out, making announcements when students can come get food and clean up, dismissing students, and directing them to sweep the dining hall.

Medic – The medic is a rotating position. Medic is responsible for checking in and dispensing medications throughout the week. Medic also covers the office (taking care of any medical or discipline issues that come up) and will play an active role in campfires. They are also on call at night during the week to answer any “night emergency calls”. As the medic is not on trail, this is also a time for naturalists to refresh their skills, shadow other naturalists, and create/improve program teaching materials. Medics work every night but have some time off during the day.

Miscellaneous:
-You will be carrying backpacks, tending compost, setting up evening programs, hiking long distances, and other various physical tasks. You must be physically fit and capable.
-Most Fridays there are professional development in-services for about 2-3 hours that may include natural history learning, positive discipline, the AEOE Northern California Fall Conference, or field trips.
-Lesson planning, cleanup after hikes, and communication with the principal are scheduled into your work week, but will occasionally run into your own time.
-The schedule for next year is not set in stone, Traditionally we have one week off for Thanksgiving, at least 2 weeks for Winter Break, one week for President’s Week in February, andone week for Spring Break.
-You are under contract from start dates to finish dates so time off during the week or weeks off is not possible. Leaving early from the contract is not possible either (except for extreme situations). The schedules do vary however and can allow you some business hours to take care of personal needs with different times off during the week.

More about where you will live:
Our sites are located in the redwood forest in the Santa Cruz Mountains-- a beautiful place to live! The redwoods keep the forest cool or cold during most of the year, and the rainy season extends from November to March. We are only a few inches of rain per year from being considered a “rain forest,” and occasionally it will rain every day for weeks. This ample precipitation gives us an amazing array of mushrooms in the winter and flowers in the spring. The moist climate also makes our forest a great place for banana slugs and salamanders, which we find in abundance. We also have daily Mule Deer encounters, and monthly coyote and bobcat sightings. Our sites are about 10 miles inland from Highway 1 and the Pacific Ocean, which is also usually pretty chilly. The central coast of California is incredibly picturesque with sandy cliffs and rocky tide pools, and a marsh full of migratory birds. Out in the open ocean, marine mammal sightings include harbor seals, elephant seals, sea lions and even gray whales! Our sites are surrounded by several county and state parks, so you can literally walk out your door and hike or bike for miles.

The forest is a relatively isolated place and cell phones do not work on site. Small mountain towns dot the roads. Just inland from the coast is the small town of Pescadero, which boasts a thrift store, restaurant, artichoke bread, and a gas station with the best burritos on the coast (and, of course, gas) The closest “big town” (the place where you would do your grocery shopping) is Half Moon Bay, which is about a half hour away. Redwood City, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco are all about an hour’s drive.

One of the best things about our “Pescadero Valley” is the large community of naturalists to which you will be exposed. SJOE itself typically has 16 naturalists employed and there are four other outdoor schools very close by, making a community of around 45 naturalists with whom to play music, discuss education techniques, naturalist knowledge or simply to spend time on the weekends.

To apply, send resume and cover letter to:
Gregory Bahr
75 Wright Dr.
Loma Mar, CA 94021
(650) 879-0299
gbahr@sjcoe.net