Branciforte Small Schools—Agricultural Science/Horticulture

Branciforte Small Schools is an alternative public school campus centrally located in Santa Cruz on the corner of Water St. and N. Branciforte. The campus houses four small schools (Monarch Community School, Costanoa High School, Ark Independent Studies and Alternative Family Education), with students ranging from grades K-12^th. The outdoor classroom garden includes a greenhouse, production beds, a small orchard, composting systems, and perennial plantings.

This internship is an excellent opportunity to be a part of a unique school community, and enhance environmental and agricultural education. Activities may include: Planning, planting, maintaining, harvesting, marketing and selling seasonal crops ~ interdisciplinary Classroom based instruction ~ Recycling garden waste by composting and vermicomposting  ~ Coordinating volunteer garden work days ~Construction projects ~Fundraising. 

For more information....

BioSITE Science Program

Contact Person: Sandy Derby           sderby@cdm.org         408 2985437 x261     

BioSITE (Students Investigating Their Environment) is an environmental science program offered by the Museum for 4^th grade students from local elementary schools.  BioSITE staff, lead facilitators and high school mentors work with small groups of elementary students exploring the Guadalupe River investigating topics related to water quality, animal and plant life, river ecology and conservation ecology.

Lead Facilitator Role: assist BioSITE staff in preparation of lesson materials, maintenance of equipment, and in training of high school students.  During field day study sessions, Lead Facilitators provide support and guidance for high school mentors in teaching their small groups of elementary students.

Qualified Candidates: have a strong science background and a desire to work with children, with interest in pursuing a degree in an environmental science or education program.  Excellent communication skills; commitment to hands-on learning and teaching; and reliability will ensure a positive internship experience.

Good attendance is critical.  Internship stipend: $10.50/hour. For more information....

Food What?!

Contact Person:  Abby Bell  gardener@lifelab.org

As an intern you will: Shadow our program at least one 3 hour session per week, taking digital photos, Spend an additional 3 hours a week working on related projects, Update our blog weekly and organize photos on Picasa. (www.foodwhat.org), Document the “Strawberry Blast” event on Thursday May 10^th 9am-12pm, Create a tri-fold outreach pamphlet, Optional: videography and website redesign

For more information on Food What?!....

Westlake Elementary School

Westlake Life Lab is a program that teaches mainly hands-on science but also covers math, language arts, social studies, environmental issues, gardening, nutrition and more. We have 52 raised beds, a compost section, a succulent/cactus garden, and a greenhouse. Throughout the day classes come out for 30-45 minutes lessons (depending on grade level), half a class at a time.

Internships may consist of any of the following: helping teach a class (K-5), garden maintenance, special projects, and combinations of the above.

For more information on Westlake Elementary school....

Life Lab at Bayview Elementary school

This internship involves teaching students grades K-5 gardening and nutrition education at Bay View’s Life Lab Garden at Bay View Elementary School (corner of Mission St. and Bay St.). An intern can choose to focus their time on nutrition education or on garden beautification projects. We offer the opportunity to continue the internship and teach nutrition education in the classroom during the second term. Bay View Elementary School has a school-wide Life Lab/Garden Science Program. Our garden space and program getting better each year with the help of several UCSC students. This year we have about 15 classrooms using the garden on a weekly basis. In the garden, students learn garden science and nutrition. Over the school year, students will experience all aspects of gardening including, sowing seeds, planting, harvesting, and composting. In their nutrition classes, students learn about organic fruit and vegetables, cooking skills, and nutrition concepts. In their science classes, students learn about soil, nutrient cycling, life cycles, photosynthesis, and other science standards. Our goal is to spark an interest in gardening, science, and healthy food by teaching in a fun, hands-on manner.

For more information on bayview elementary...

Bonny Doon Life Lab Garden Club

Contact Person: Sarah Clarkson    427-2300

All students are welcome.  We are looking for intern(s) who would be excited about working with students in the garden or the science classroom along with the Life Lab Coordinator.  Our objectives are to teach students: science, nutrition, and cooperation, as well as cultivate responsibility and encourage students to become effective stewards of our environment. The intern would have freedom to create Life Lab activities, help with garden tasks, and ‘promote’ the Garden Club throughout the school. Sarah Clarkson, the Life Lab Coordinator would be the ‘official’ supervisor for this program. There is also some school funding devoted to Life Lab materials and supplies. We also have a website and it would be fun to have the intern(s) incorporate student writing or at least a few Garden Club reports on our website. All of the parents in our school receive a monthly invitation to visit our website. For more information visit this website....

Life Lab Science and Nutrition Internships at Gault School

Contact People:  Susan Dahlgren or Jessica Curcio 429-3856 ext. 1039     sgd@baymoon.com

INnternship includes: Organic gardening, composting, cooking, nutrition,growing food for salad bar. Supervising students during recess activities. Garden maintenance. Garden includes greenhouse, greywater recycling, outdoor kitchen, pond
Openings Include: Mon. 9a-2:40p Tues. 8:10a-2:40p Wed. 8:10a-1p Thurs. 8:15a-2:40p  (Fall, Winter or Spring Quarter). For more information on life lab school gardens...

Happy Valley Elementary School Life Lab Garden

Contact Person: Kira Maritano  kira.maritano@gmail.com

Happy Valley Elementary school is a K-6th grade public school located just
outside of Santa Cruz city in peaceful Happy Valley. Although the school had a
flourishing educational garden for many years, lack of administrative support and
teachers' preoccupation with content standards and other projects left the garden
ignored and dilapidated for an extended period of time. In the past two months
the garden has been on an upswing– it is now in a considerably better physical
state, and is actively used by the entire student body. However, there is still a
great deal of work to be done. Interning at Happy Valley Elementary as a Garden
Teacher is a phenomenal way to gain experience teaching environmental
education to children within the public school system, as well as to gain
experience in organic gardening and self-directed project implementation. This
paper seeks to outline the requirements of this internship in terms of the goals,
key components, and logistical criteria of the garden program, to allow for a more
structured work experience for the intern, and to foster a more successful school
garden for the children of Happy Valley.

Live Earth Farm Discovery Program

Contact Person: Emily Mastellone-Snyder  LEFeducation@baymoon.com (831)728-2032.

Live Earth Farm, established in 1996, is a 100 acre diversified, organic, family farm overlooking the Pajaro Valley in the Santa Cruz area of California. We offer a year round CSA with 850 members during the regular season. We grow 50 different fruits and vegetables ranging from perennial fruit trees to a wide variety of annual crops. We sell our produce at five area farmer’s markets and through our CSA program.The Live Earth Farm Discovery Program is an education non-profit based on the farm. We teachabout local, organic, and sustainable food systems using the farm itself as the classroom. We reachout to all segments of the community with an emphasis on low-income, diverse and underservedpopulations.
We are offering 2-4 Farm Educator Internships. Education programs include, but are not limited to: a weekly visit by 7th and 8th grade Montessori students, half day farm tours for students of all ages, once monthly home schooling family visits, and a summer art camp for 6-12 year olds, as well as a diversity of community farm days.
The position will involve leading farm tours, working with ongoing farm education programs andsome office work such as scheduling farm tours, working on promotional materials, and data entry.
Farm tasks include helping with basic maintenance of our educational garden on the farm, and mayinclude other tasks, such as vegetable and fruit propagation and production, animal care andgreenhouse management.
We are ideally looking for someone wanting to make a longer-term commitment. The ideal intern will work with the Live Earth Farm Discovery Program for more than one season, as to familiarize themselves with the farm and farm tours, and with opportunity for more in-depth learning of farm based and outdoor education, as well as experiencing the seasons on the farm. For more information visit their website.

The Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History: Neary Lagoon Watershed Walk Program

Contact person: Contact Peter Wampler   peter@santacruzmuseums.org   831-420-1110

Come join the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History Education Team! The
Museum is looking for one intern to help coordinate and lead school tours
through its Neary Lagoon Watershed Walk Program. This is an outdoor,
experiential program that gets kids interested about local watersheds while
educating them on the delicate balance of our water systems. The intern will
mainly work outside with education staff leading tours at Neary Lagoon. Other
duties will include delivering classroom presentations and helping to maintain
and develop curriculum. The intern candidate must be available for the entire
school year (Sept.-Dec. and Feb.-June). For more information visit their website.

Renaissance High School Garden Project

Contact Person: Jenn Laskin  jennlaskin@gmail.com  831 331 7420

The objective of the intern is to keep the acre of land maintained through
continual upkeep on the farm by watering plants, feeding animals, weeding,
planting, pruning, etc. Their will be multiple projects also being established in the
next year including an on site greenhouse (hoop house), restoration of the chicken
coop, the establishment of a pond (aquaculture), as well as the establishment of an
orchard. During the school year intern’s will be asked to help facilitate the
Nutrition Program/ ROP program with an on site teacher. Currently there is a
class of 24 high school students. The garden runs 5 days a week. In addition,
there is an after-school gardening program, so hours are pretty flexible.

RIEKES Center for Human Enhancement

Contact Person:  Ken Clarkson  Riekes.nature@gmail.com  650-823-4346  Fax: 650-261-6006

We have a weekly kids nature awareness program for homeschool kids that
runs from September thru May. Kids meet weekly at the UCSC Arboretum from
9 am to 3 pm with staff meeting 830 am to 330pm. We are looking for interns
to assist with our mentoring programs on a weekly basis. We are looking for
interns who are highly inspired to work with youth in nature and have an
interest in furthering their own journey in connecting with nature. Interns must
also be comfortable being in nature in all types of weather (we go out with
kids rain or shine). We will mentor the interns in the following core routines of
nature awareness: hazards, games, journaling, tracking, sit spot, wandering,
ecological indicators, songs, sensory awareness, survival skills, and bird
language. For more information visit their website....

Art of Nature Santa Cruz Natural History Museum

Contact Person:  Deborah McArthur   Deborah@santacruzmuseums.org  831‐420‐1168 Fax: 831‐420‐1137

Our springtime exhibit, the Art of Nature, is a collection of art from the California Guild
of Natural Science Illustrators. During the month of April, we will be prepping for tours,
organizing supplies, and upgrading our school program. From May 1 to June 1 we offer
Art of Nature tours for K‐6th grade school classes.
As the Art of Nature intern you will help with behind the scenes work to prepare for the
school tours, help with docent training on Monday, April 30, and then lead field trips in
the Museum for elementary age students. For intern time commitment, we need 10am‐
2pm at least one day Tues‐Friday. You must also be able to attend the docent training
on Monday, April 30, 10am‐1pm. Friday afternoons we have one‐hour meetings where
staff and interns check‐in. These meetings help us all get to know one another and gives
us a chance to ask questions, go over highlights and concerns from the week, and
especially for interns teaching ‐ a chance to learn teaching techniques, develop your
own style, and gather feedback from others doing similar work.

For more information visit their website...

Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History

Contact Person:  Deborah McArthur  Deborah@santacruzmuseums.org 831‐420‐1168  Fax: 831‐420‐1137

Established in 1905, the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History is one of the oldest institutions in Santa Cruz. Guided by the mission of Connecting people with nature and inspiring stewardship of the natural world, the focus is on the diverse natural habitats found in Santa Cruz County – shoreline, wetland, sandhills, chaparral, redwood forest – their contained biodiversity, and the native people who managed this landscape before the Europeans arrived.

We are seeking an intern to be a part of our docent team. The Intern will lead school tours for grades pre‐K through 4th on Ohlone Indian life and Adaptations & Habitats of Local Animals, and help develop two new docent programs: Museum Hosting and Natural History Storytime. Candidates must be available to attend the following Docent trainings: The Intern’s weekly schedule after training is flexible and may include Saturday shifts.

For more information visit the website...

Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History Organization

Contact Person: Liz Broughton  Liz@santacruzmuseums.org  831‐420‐6115 Fax: 831‐420‐1137 

This intern will work at the Museum of Natural History as a guide for our school tours
and public programs, and helping to develop and upgrade our Education Resource Loan
Program. We offer a variety of tours for preschool through 6th grade including programs
on: Native Ohlone Culture and History, Local Animal Habitats & Adaptations, and the
Art of Nature. Tours take place Tuesday‐Friday, 10am‐1pm, during the school year. In
February, we will launch a new winter, weekly event ‐ Natural History Storytime on
Thursdays 3:30‐4pm. Each week will focus on a natural history theme. We are also
starting a new Hosting program. Museum hosts are volunteer floating docents who
welcome Saturday visitors to the Museum and help the exhibits come alive. Our loan
program includes slide shows, specimen and education kits on topics such as: rocks,
fossils, shells, bees, and dinosaurs.
The Intern will gain awareness of Museum programs working with the Education
Manager, the Visitor Services Manager, Education Assistants, and Museum Docents.

For more information visit their website...

Landmark Elementary Life Lab

Contact person: Kristal Caballero, phone: (408)515-8941, email: kristal.caballero@gmail.com