Adult Education and Interpretive Exhibits Intern

The mission of Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is to inspire meaningful connections among people, plants, and nature through horticulture, education, and research.

Summary

The Adult Education and Interpretive Exhibits Intern plays a major role in staffing the Gardens’ Butterfly House exhibit, working with the Education Department and volunteers in providing live interpretation for visitors. In addition, this position provides hands-on experience managing and implementing a wide variety of adult education programming at the Gardens, including helping with adult classes and supporting written and live interpretive exhibits in the Gardens.

This internship prepares college students to enter the field of environmental or museum education by providing hands-on experience with interpretation, informal education, classes, and demonstrations, in a public garden setting. In particular, the intern in this position will immerse themselves in our Butterfly House, taking care of live specimens, interacting with visitors, and providing hands-on informal education to the public. This internship allows students to learn how the Education Department leverages the incredible resource that is our landscape and gardens for a wide variety of learning modes and settings to serve our diverse customer and visitor base.

• Reports to:  Interpretation and Exhibits Program Manager
• FLSA:   Hourly, non-exempt

Essential Functions:

This job requires the performance of the following tasks, with or without accommodation. Incumbents may be regularly or occasionally required to assume additional responsibilities or perform additional tasks.  

• Learn the art and science of live interpretation while supporting the development of the Butterfly House interpretation.
• Support volunteer docents in the Butterfly House by assisting with volunteer training, development, and schedule management as needed.
• Interact with students and visitors by providing informal educational experiences in both structured and unstructured settings, including Discovery Carts, Learning Apiary, and Native Bee Exhibit.
• Support additional interpretive experiences such as our Discovery Cart, Back Woods nature-based play area, and docent training and support.
• Support our Adult Education programming, including the Certificate in Native Plants and Ecological Horticulture, by assisting with course registration and student management; corresponding with students and instructors; supporting the evaluation of our programs; and moderating and providing key support to online classes.
• Support daily informal educational activities in the Bibby and Harold Alfond Children’s Garden.
• Gain experience in all aspects of coordinating a busy education department.
• Learn and deliver best practices in customer service.

Qualifications:

• Must enjoy and be comfortable with interacting with the public. 
• Solid organizational skills.
• An interest in plants, nature, and the outdoors, and a desire to learn more about the role of education in a public garden and museum setting.
• Some coursework/experience in the field of education or the natural sciences is preferred.
• Experience using databases and spreadsheets is preferred.    
• Commitment to working across the organization to support the integration of IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility) principles into CMBG’s internal operations and its relationships with visitors and guests.

Work schedule:

40 hours/week, including Saturdays, from approximately mid-May to late August, with at least one day of the workweek a weekend day.  Flexible start and end date.

Physical and environmental factors:

This is an active job, requiring walking, standing, kneeling, squatting, bending, and reaching, up to eight hours at a time.  Work is performed both indoors and outdoors, often in inclement weather (hot, cold, wet).  The work requires standard visual acuity.

Additional information:

The hourly wage for this position is $15/hr. Assistance finding housing is available. The successful candidate must provide his/her own transportation to/from the workplace.

To Apply

Please click "Apply" below, by February 28, 2022, to email a cover letter, resume and references to: Vanessa Nesvig, Interpretation and Exhibits Program Manager. 

This is not necessarily an exhaustive list of responsibilities, skills, duties, requirements, efforts, or working conditions associated with the job. While this job description is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job, the company reserves the right to revise the functions and duties of the job or to require that additional or different tasks be performed when circumstances dictate (such as emergencies, changes in personnel, work load, rush jobs, or technological developments).