Environmental Educator

Environmental Educator

Audubon Vermont, Huntington, Vermont

Spend your days outside, sharing the joys of the natural world with the community while serving at the National Audubon Society’s Vermont office! As our Environmental and Outreach Educator you will be fully integrated into the Audubon Vermont team while you grow and learn about outdoor education, natural history, and conservation in Vermont. You’ll have the opportunity to lead hundreds of students, ages 0-99 in place-based education all year long. Apply today!

This position is part of the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board AmeriCorps (VHCB AmeriCorps).  The VHCB AmeriCorps program supports the innovative dual-goal approach to creating stable affordable housing opportunities for Vermont residents while preserving the natural and working landscape.  VHCB AmeriCorps is a national service program that places members with non-profit housing or land and energy conservation organizations around the state.

Audubon is dedicated to protecting birds and other wildlife and the habitat that supports them. Audubon’s mission is engaging people in conservation on a hemispheric scale through science, policy, education, and on-the-ground conservation action. What defines Audubon’s unique value is a powerful grassroots network of nearly 500 local chapters, 23 state offices, 41 Audubon Centers, Important Bird Area Programs in 46 states, and more than 600 staff across the country.

The Green Mountain Audubon Center (GMAC) in Huntington, VT hosts the state office of Audubon Vermont. The Audubon Center’s 255 acres of conserved land provides a unique setting to host natural science education programs for schools, families, adults, teachers, and the greater community. The Audubon Center’s education programs reach upwards of 6,000 individuals on an annual basis, providing people with direct experiences in nature. Our traditional programs are outdoors, science- and conservation-based, interactive, and lead participants to take action to help protect birds, other wildlife, and their habitats. While we have a library full of programs, we continue to look for new creative ways to engage the public and the AmeriCorps Member is critical to this endeavor. As a place of learning, the Audubon Center also conducts scientific research in the form of avian monitoring and is a bird-friendly land management demonstration site for the public.

Essential Functions:

• Teach environmental education programs for audiences ages birth to adult year-round at the GMAC. Programs include our Forest Playschool for 3-5 year olds; Forest Classroom for 6-11 year olds; public programs like nature playgroup, family programs, seasonal topic-based programs, our monthly homeschool program, afterschool, school vacation camps and more.
• Teach outreach programs for both adults and youth at their location for schools, camps, and other groups.
• Co-develop and teach summer day camps for children ages 3-14 for approximately 8 weeks of the summer. Serve as a member of the summer camp team.
• Create lesson plans for programs you design and school-break vacation camps.
• Collaborate with the Audubon Center Director, Education Manager, and Professional Educators to achieve community-building strategic goals, including increasing access to environmental education. We regularly lead programs for organizations that serve underrepresented groups.
• Join the education team in attending professional development opportunities geared towards improving the quality and reach of our programs and individual professional growth.
• Join Audubon staff at Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion trainings.
• Participate in an Independent Service Project under the guidance of VHCB AmeriCorps
• Participate in all VHCB AmeriCorps Trainings, Service Days, Events, and Program Initiatives
• Engage in professional and personal development activities and networking opportunities

Additional Information:

This position requires service in both an office setting and leading education programs outdoors, in all conditions. Outdoor conditions must be safe for students, but can still include rain, snow, below freezing temperatures, sun and heat. Serve side-by-side with Audubon interns, summer camp educators, high school counselors-in-training and Jr conservation technicians. Our education team works from our Center in Huntington. The typical schedule is from 8am – 4:30 pm Monday – Friday, but many public programs occur nights and weekends through the year. This position will also include travel around our immediate service area, to connect with groups that are interested in Audubon programming. The member should expect to teach every day. A typical day might look like: setting up and leading a preschool field trip from 8am – 11am, heading to the office to finish a lesson plan for vacation camp, a lunch break on the porch, then a staff meeting with the whole Audubon team where the member provides feedback and shares their opinions. We are looking for a member who can join and contribute to our team!

Position begins September 9th, 2024 and ends August 8th, 2025.

This position is Full Time: Requires 1,720 hours for an average of 40 hours per week for 47 weeks. Member will receive a living allowance of $30,000 (pre-tax) for the service term. Member will receive an education award of $7,395 (pre-tax) upon successful completion of service. 

Other benefits include health insurance, federal school loan forbearance, and various training and networking opportunities.

To Apply: https://vhcb.org/our-programs/vhcb-americorps/positions

For questions about this position or to send additional materials:

Debbie Archer

Education Program Manager

802-434-3068

Pronouns: she, her

Application deadline: August 8th, 2024. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis; open until filled.

Additional information on the AmeriCorps is available at www.americorps.gov.