Green Scholars - Sustainability & Environmental Curriculum Development Virtual/Remote Internship
Green Scholars
The Green Scholars program is a project-based, honors-level high school curriculum that seeks to inspire high school students to create change in their communities while building a foundation of knowledge that will enable them to do so. By educating students on the basics of sustainability, giving them resources to succeed in professional settings, and helping students develop skills necessary to complete a sustainability project for their community, the Green
Scholars program strives to empower students to help create a more sustainable world. The Green Scholars Development team consists of four sub-teams: environmental literacy, professional skills, project management, and program management. Interns on all subteams will work on content development along with revisions to the current curriculum. In addition, interns may work on video projects and online content design for the online version of the curriculum.
Environmental Literacy: The Environmental Literacy subteam educates students on the basics of the environment and the importance of sustainability. By becoming more environmentally literate, students can choose a project in sustainability that they are most passionate about and understand how environmental issues impact their everyday lives. This team focuses on teaching students the basics of environmental science theory and applications to real-world issues.
Professional Skills: The Professional Skills subteam helps educate students on the basics of how to succeed in professional settings after high school. Many students are not trained for the next steps of their careers, whether they want to apply to college, seek out an internship, or start a professional career right out of the gate, this team is here to help. The Professional Skills team seeks to bridge that knowledge gap and teach the skills needed to help students succeed, both in their work life and in their sustainability projects.
Project Management: The Project Management subteam educates students on the basics of how to successfully design and implement a project in their school or community. Project development is a vital part of the Green Scholars curriculum. It allows students to explore and understand sustainability through hands-on projects. Through these projects, students will develop management and communication skills that they will use for the rest of their lives. This team ensures students will have the resources necessary to bring positive change to their communities. Currently, interns on the Project Management team also work on the Program Management team.
Program Management: This subteam assists teachers in implementing the Green Scholars program and prepares them for the wide array of scenarios they may face while implementing the curriculum. As each school and student is unique, this team gives teachers resources to modify the curriculum based on the needs of their community. For example, coastal schools may wish to focus on ocean issues, while schools in more rural areas may have students wanting to explore projects in agriculture. Currently, interns in the Program Management team also work on the Project Management team.
Skills needed:
- Excellent research, writing, and editing skills
- Ability to think critically about real-world issues
- Good organization and communication
- Creativity and being open to new ideas
- Willingness to learn
- Team Player
Desired Experience:
- Experience teaching in an educational environment (any age level, but middle/high school preferred)
- Research, whether done in school or otherwise
- Background in writing
- Past sustainability work, especially in a community setting
- Video production skills are a plus
“Sustainability, Education, Action”
What is Seaside: Seaside Sustainability is a nationally recognized, award-winning 501(c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to community engagement, public education, and environmental conservation. Seaside aims to be a leader in environmental and STEM educational programs and recognition initiatives. We help by promoting public awareness about the importance of environmental health, providing resources to develop problem-solving skills, and chances to get engaged as part of a community to take action. We organize our works and initiatives around these areas: plastic mitigation, marine citizen science, sustainability education, and solar energy in the community.
Why Intern at Seaside: Seaside’s internship program is hands-down one of the best in the area! With its roots firmly seated in education and hands-on learning, there is no doubt that that is why we have more than 50 interns at any given point throughout the year. Our programs and initiatives encourage members of the community, young and old, to build and nurture a relationship with local land and seascapes. An internship at Seaside allows you to explore a myriad of internship opportunities, relevant to almost any future interest. Join Seaside Sustainability for any season, or during breaks in your school schedule. We are looking for part-time interns in high school, college, and beyond to work on a diverse and challenging array of projects and initiatives. We are accepting applications for unpaid internships, with hours available any day of the week and practically any time of day: weekdays, weekends, and evenings included. We prefer to have our local interns work in person at the office in Gloucester, and we also invite interns from all over the United States and internationally to apply. Seaside Sustainability provides interns with real and meaningful work, and internships are available in any season with flexible time schedules.
Mission: Seaside Sustainability's mission is to preserve and protect the world's oceans, seas, wetlands, and estuaries by motivating citizens to evaluate the critical issues facing the water environment, educating the public on best practices for sustainability, and providing guidance for taking effective action. Among our most important areas of focus are the elimination of consumer plastics and the creation of educational programs for students of all ages. By partnering with diverse stakeholders, including educational institutions, environmental groups, and other organizations across the public and private sectors, Seaside Sustainability is committed to building an informed citizenry to address the sustainability of water-based ecosystems in communities around the world.
Vision Statement: Seaside’s programs and initiatives encourage members of the community, of all ages, to build and nurture a relationship with local land and seascapes. We believe that environmental challenges can be overcome by instilling ethical and social responsibility into our existence. And we address these challenges by illuminating the heavy costs of environmental degradation by providing resources to develop skills, solutions, and community involvement.
What Interns Do at Seaside Sustainability: Our interns are not limited to just one role; we encourage each intern to take advantage of the opportunity to explore a variety of roles and responsibilities. Our interns are never bored as they’re always given real and meaningful work that is essential to the day-to-day operation of the company. As an intern with Seaside Sustainability, you will be asked to perform a myriad of tasks, most of which can also be found at https://www.seasidesustainability.org/intern-details.
Market Research Weekly Work: In order to fulfill our mission, we need to communicate with educators who are passionate about sustainability. To meet our weekly goals of outreach to these educators, all interns are required to spend no more than 2-hours a week collecting this critical and game changing information. When you are researching these educators, you are literally selecting the people who will be changing the lives of their students by taking part in our programs. This role is one of the most important parts of working here at Seaside. You will gain so many useful skills such as how to be a more effective researcher and how to remain organized all while playing a key role in expanding the size and scale of Seaside. As Interns join Seaside’s leadership, they take on increasing responsibilities and are not required to do weekly information collection.
Course Credit: Students may receive course credit for this internship. Staff will work with the intern’s school/advisor on achieving desired learning outcomes and completing all necessary paperwork.
Requirements: Seaside Sustainability requires interns to work at least 15 hours per week.
President’s Volunteer Service Award: Seaside Sustainability is now certified to give out the “President’s Volunteer Service Award” to eligible interns. This award was created to, “recognize the important role of volunteers in America’s strength and national identity. This award honors individuals whose service positively impacts communities in every corner of the nation and inspires those around them to take action, too.” This is a great achievement to put on your resume! What are the requirements for this award?
- Must be a citizen of the United States or a lawful permanent resident
- All hours must be completed within a 12-month period to be counted towards the final total
- All hours must be tracked in Seaside’s weekly shift report to be counted
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement: Seaside recognizes that environmental issues are human issues, and therefore everyone has a right to be a part of the solution. Seaside is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment that welcomes all participants irrespective of their gender, race, sexuality, religion, national origin, age, veteran status, or socioeconomic status. The demographics of our internship program directly reflects the composition of our national outreach while the composition of our board more reflects the local composition of our communities. With the understanding that Environmental Issues disproportionately affect low income communities, minority communities, and communities of color, we are actively seeking to ensure that our environmental work, our projects, and programs are crafted in a way that both reflects and aids in combating the plight of minorities, of people of color, of economically challenged, and other disadvantaged individuals.
General Skills Needed:
- Passionate and dedicated to making a difference in the environment
- Good virtual communication skills
- Comfortable working in teams
- Good time management skills
- Willingness to learn and work outside of their comfort zone
- Basic knowledge of communication technology (G-Suite, Zoom, Email)
- Leadership skills
Management Roles
Project Managers
Seaside Sustainability’s rapid growth is requiring the organization to look for enthusiastic students who wish to take their passion for the environment to the next level. To promote this, Seaside will provide Project Managers with a professionally guided internship that assists with intern management strategies and supports their aspirations for career development. PMs take the lead on more than 20 Seaside projects ranging from 2-10 team members working virtually. Being a Project Manager is truly a win-win situation: the environment benefits, interns benefit, and project managers gain invaluable experience. We are actively seeking to recruit college students, graduate students, and those with leadership experience to fulfill the role of a project manager. Interns at Seaside Sustainability may be promoted to the position of a project manager by exemplifying the characteristics of a model intern. Skills Needed: Project development, Task delegation, Superior organizational and communication skills
Management Fellows
Similar to the Project Manager position described above, a Fellow exemplifies organization, leadership, and communication skills and has the opportunity to lead a team of 3-10 interns in one of the teams above throughout their internship. This position is more demanding and requires someone with the ability to check emails and make phone calls outside of their regular working hours. The duties of this position include: interviewing applicants, onboarding new interns, meeting with interns 1:1 every other week, reporting to the Executive Director, and lastly, ensuring intern and project success. Skills Needed: Project development, Task delegation, Superior organizational and communication skills
Intern Directors
Seaside Sustainability’s internship program has been growing steadily since its creation, and now has the capacity to offer another management position to exceptional interns. Similar to the Project Manager position described above, a Fellow exemplifies organization, leadership, and communication skills and has the opportunity to lead a team of 3-10 interns in one of the teams above throughout their internship. This position is more demanding and requires someone with the ability to check emails and make phone calls outside of their regular working hours. The duties of this position include: interviewing applicants, onboarding new interns, meeting with interns 1:1 every other week, reporting to the Executive Director, and lastly, ensuring intern and project success. Skills Needed: Project development, Task delegation, Superior organizational and communication skills.
Advisors
Seaside Sustainability’s Community Advisory Team members work directly with our Executive Director, Eric Magers, and work alongside Board members, Intern Directors, Management Fellows, other Community Advisors and a large cadre of interns organized in teams to further advance the organization’s goals. Common Advisor duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Leading implementation of new management and organizational processes and procedures across the program. Delegating tasks to appropriate team members. Working closely with the Human Resources team to manage and oversee recruitment for future internship sessions. Collecting and analyzing feedback from interns throughout the program to gauge satisfaction and success. Skills Needed: Good communication with people of all walks of life, Leadership skills, Experience coordinating groups of people, A strong desire to facilitate a positive, hands-on internship experience.
Make Sure To Follow Seaside on Social Media!
And remember to check out our partner organization National STEM Honor Society www.nstem.org for another great internship opportunity!