Part-Time Summer Camp Assistant Naturalist - Shaver's Creek Environmental Center
Penn State UniversityAbout the role
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Approval of remote and hybrid work is not guaranteed regardless of work location. For additional information on remote work at Penn State, see Notice to Out of State Applicants.
JOB DESCRIPTION AND POSITION REQUIREMENTS
Assistant Camp Naturalist
Assistant camp naturalists will glean techniques, skills, and hands-on experiences while serving in a supportive role for the group leader (camp naturalists) during nature-focused summer camp at the Shaver’s Creek facility. This supportive role includes assisting with group management, leading games and activities, singing songs, reading stories and addressing the needs of campers. Through this experience you will learn how to work well with children outdoors, design activities and games, set goals, and grow through leadership experiences.
Gimme the details, please!
- At Shaver’s Creek facility, you will work 47 - 50 hours each week.
- Most of those hours are working outdoors (regardless of weather conditions) with children and peers on and along narrow dirt trails in nature.
- Access to bathrooms in stalls depends upon the schedule for the day but is typically every 2 or 3 hours.
- Gear for yourself and activities is carried on you; with or without accommodations (in your backpack or provided pack basket) and is likely to weigh 10 - 15 lbs.
- Pay is $9.50/hour for the first 40 hours worked in a week. Hours above 40 earn time and a half. Over the course of the summer, this translates to about $4300 before taxes.
- Housing may be available for out-of-the-area applicants. (There are a few rooms available and are filled on an as-needed and on a first-hire basis.)
- Training: Monday - Friday, typically 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. for the first two full weeks in June and will include certification in First Aid, CPR, AED, and Epi-Pens (Certification in advance of training is not needed.)
- Training time includes peer bonding opportunities, techniques on working with children, examples of games and activities, lesson planning guidance, time on the trails, emergency procedures, and what a day of camp really looks and feels like.
- Camp week hours worked: Monday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.; Tuesday - Thursday 8:00 a.m.- 5:15 p.m.; Friday 8:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.; Saturday (having likely stayed overnight via camping on-site and only three times a summer) 6:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. These hours include a staff meeting and limited prep time in the morning, as well as meetings at the end of the day.
- There is a “mid-season” week over the week of July 7, 2025. We will have off that Monday a
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