Location: Circleville, WV
Dates of Employment: Spring Season (30 March – 31 May 2020), Fall Season (29 August – 15 November 2020)
Deadline: We hire on a rolling basis, apply early to ensure your spot!
Supervisor: Course Director
Overview: Experience Learning is seeking outdoor professionals to lead high-quality, adventure-based experiential education courses in a remote and challenging setting. Field Instructors help students gain confidence, experience, and appreciation for mountains through lessons and activities such as hiking, backpacking, camp craft, orienteering, caving, stream ecology, forest ecology, geology, rock climbing, canoeing, outdoor cooking, and survival skills. In addition, Field Instructors tailor courses to meet the thematic goals of each school served, leading students in discussions and initiatives around leadership, communication, environmental stewardship, teamwork, and creative problem-solving.
Organizational Background: Experience Learning, formerly The Mountain Institute’s Appalachian Program, has a forty-year record of delivering practical and tangible solutions for mountain regions in the Himalayas, the Andes, and the Appalachians. Seasonal Field Instructors are based at the Spruce Knob Mountain Center in West Virginia. Their primary responsibility will be facilitating beyond the classroom wilderness learning programs including four – eight day long field courses in the national forest, single and multi-day onsite residential courses, and *off-site field-based courses at various wild locations in the Mid-Atlantic region. The mission of these courses is to help people become confident, competent individuals with a clear vision of their responsibilities and potential for improving the human condition and the natural world.
*The spring season offers more opportunities for instructors to lead offsite trips compared to the fall season.
Responsibilities:
- Maintain a physically and emotionally safe environment for students and guests.
- Prepare and deliver hands-on, experiential, and inquiry-based lessons in a remote outdoor setting for both day and evening programs.
- Lead 1-5 day field based and residential programs in challenging settings that include hiking, backpacking, camp craft, orienteering, caving, stream ecology, forest ecology, geology, rock climbing, canoeing, outdoor cooking, and survival skills.
- Facilitate discussions and initiatives around leadership, communication, environmental stewardship, team work, creative problem-solving, and other subjects.
- Implement and model excellent risk management strategies and administer first aid as needed.
- Teach and lead groups in the outdoors, in varying weather conditions, and on uneven terrain.
- Prepare facilities and gear before trips and clean facilities and gear at the end of trips.
- Prepare and cook meals for visiting educational and rental groups under supervision of Kitchen Manager.
- Maintain a professional demeanor while interacting with groups and guests.
- Assist with facility upkeep as needed, including basic carpentry, repairs, vehicle maintenance, and general troubleshooting.
Requirements:
- Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experience
- Current Wilderness First Responder Certification (Preferred)
- Minimum of Wilderness First Aid & CPR/AED certification (Required)
*WFA certification offered onsite 28/29 March 2020, WFR certification offered onsite 19-27 August 2020
- Effective communication, leadership, and interpersonal skills
- Positive attitude, determination, and unassailable work ethic
- Teaching experience, either formal or informal
- Ability to confidently lead groups in a remote outdoor setting
- Desire to teach and work with young people from varying social and economic backgrounds
- Curiosity about the natural world and willingness to learn academic natural science lessons
- Experience working in the outdoors, especially in inclement weather
- Desire to protect, conserve, and promote mountain ecosystems
- Ability to live in shared space with other instructors and practice positive self-care.
- Valid driver’s license
- Ability to work flexible hours including evenings and some weekends
- Desire to live in a remote place with an outstanding community of outdoor professionals and to work hard to make positive change in our world.
Benefits:
- Pay commensurate with applicable experience, starting compensation rate: $62.00/day for 3 month seasonal instructors
- Social Security match (7.65% of gross salary)
- Workers’ Compensation Coverage
- 1 day of health leave per month worked
- Temporary or seasonal employees with a contract of more than 130 days will accrue 1 day per month and up to a maximum of 5 days of paid time off.
- Access to company pro deals
- Opportunities for organizational advancement
Experience Learning is an Equal Opportunity Employer