Internships
for Outdoor Leaders
Build your resume, make a difference, and have fun. You’ll learn skills that make you stand out – like leadership and resourcefulness- all while having big adventures, exploring wild places, and making memories that will last a lifetime. Set yourself up for success. Check out our internships!
Set yourself up for success.
Whether you studied…
marketing, graphic design, social work, psychology, philosophy, environmental education, business management, nonprofit administration, outdoor recreation, or something else.
If you want to work in…
summer camps, nonprofits, churches, social work, environmental education, forestry, wilderness outfitters, wilderness therapy, Nat’l Parks, Dept of Natural Resources, youth ministry, and more.
Amnicon’s paid internships will help you grow.
Seasonal Internships
Summer Internships
Position Description
ALL of our summer seasonal staff positions can be turned into internship opportunities. Apply to be either a Wilderness Guide or on our Base Team, and contact your Advisor to see what they need to see in order to grant internship credit. Usually, your school will send us a form to fill out, which we are more than happy to do. Then, throughout the summer, we’ll find ways to tailor your employment duties to best suit your field of study. Each summer internship is unique to the intern.
Qualifications
- Present for the entirety of staff training
- At least 19 years of age, or having completed one year of college
- Emotionally prepared for hard work in the service of others
- Organized and self-motivated; able to work without direct supervision or specific daily direction
- A flexible thinker with demonstrated problem-solving ability
- Able to work comfortably alone or with others for long periods of time
- Able to collaborate and work constructively with others to accomplish short- and long-term objectives
- You do NOT need to identify as Christian to work at Amnicon, however, you must be willing to engage in and lead faith-based activities with your campers and with the staff community, an intentionally Christian community focused on compassion and service
- Able to sustain physical activity for several hours at a time (i.e. paddling, hiking, lifting, etc.)
- Excited about working with youth and having a positive impact on their lives
- Enthusiastic about living and working in the outdoors. (Extensive wilderness/camping experience is not required. Enthusiasm, determination, and positivity are all preferred over previous wilderness experience)
Compensation
Salary: $300/week = $3,600 for the whole summer
Certifications:
- Wilderness First Aid ($400 value, lasts 3 years)
- Wilderness Water Safety ($200 value, lasts 2 years)
- CPR/AED ($50 value, lasts 3 years)
- Mental Health First Aid ($100 value, lasts 1 year)
Housing & Food for the whole summer
Spring & Fall Internships
Position Description
Each seasonal internship position is tailor-made to the intern! When you apply, let us know what kind of a time commitment you are able to make, and what your field of study is. We’ll work with you to create a position that will help you grow and meet your academic goals.
Generally, our Spring & Fall interns spend their time equally between:
- On-site operations: Hosting guests and retreat groups, creating safe and welcoming spaces, and conducting routine cleaning and maintenance.
- Outreach: You’ll work with Amnicon’s directors to promote summer camper programs and recruit summer staff.
- A customized project: Depending on your skills, interests, and area of study, we’ll work with you to create a project that suits you and furthers the mission of Amnicon. There are many ways this could turn out. Apply Today to begin discussing the possibilities!
Qualifications
- Emotionally prepared for hard work in the service of others
- Organized and self-motivated; able to work without direct supervision or specific daily direction
- A flexible thinker with demonstrated problem-solving ability
- Able to work comfortably alone or with others for long periods of time
- Able to collaborate and work constructively with others to accomplish short- and long-term objectives
- You do NOT need to identify as Christian to work at Amnicon, however, you must be willing to engage in faith-based activities with the staff community, an intentionally Christian community focused on compassion and service
Compensation
All Amnicon internships are paid. We do our best to offer fair and competitive compensation packages. Depending on whether you are able to commit to working full time or part time, your salary package will be constructed differently. You may choose to be compensated with free housing, groceries, and wilderness safety certification courses. Apply Today to begin the conversation about what your compensation package could be.
Full Year Internships
Outdoor Leaders Full Year Internships
Position Description
Your responsibilities will vary greatly depending on the focus of your internship and the season of the year. Like the weather around here, we have four distinct work-seasons in which our goals and objectives for the season vary dramatically. On the whole, there are three main facets of your internship:
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Your unique area of focus
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Outreach
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Operations
You’ll spend an average of one third of your time in each of these areas throughout the year.
Your area of focus could be something that fits in with the outreach and/or operations at Amnicon, like digital marketing and media, outdoor recreation, land management and forestry, or non-profit business administration, etc…, or your area of focus may take the form of a special project that you will design with our input for the purpose of meeting your educational and professional goals while also advancing Amnicon’s mission. Each intern will have a unique area of focus, and we will all work together as a team (directors included) on outreach and operational efforts, such as summer staff recruitment and on-site hospitality, not to mention whatever wild stuff nature will throw at us on any given day! Life in the woods is full of surprises. Since we work as a team, the surprises are just part of the fun!
Qualifications
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Emotionally prepared for hard work in the service of others
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Ambitious and eager to grow and take on increasing responsibility throughout the term of your internship. (Some interns will be capable of working up to a level of responsibility comparable to a program director.)
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Organized and self-motivated; able to work without direct supervision or specific daily direction
-
A flexible thinker with demonstrated problem-solving ability
-
Able to work comfortably alone or with others for long periods of time
-
Able to collaborate and work constructively with others to accomplish short- and long-term objectives
-
You do NOT need to identify as Christian to work at Amnicon, however, you must be willing to engage with others and lead faith-based activities from a Christian perspective with your campers and with the staff community. We are an intentional Christian community focused on compassion and service.
-
Able to sustain moderate physical activity for several hours at a time (i.e., paddling, hiking, lifting, etc.)
-
Excited about working with youth and having a positive impact on their lives
-
Enthusiastic about living and working in the outdoors. (Extensive wilderness/camping experience is not required. Enthusiasm, determination, and positivity are all preferred over previous wilderness experience.)
Compensation
In the summer, each intern fills a role on our residential summer staff and is paid commensurate with that role:
Housing & Food provided by Amnicon for the whole summer.
Salary: $300/week = $3,600 for the whole summer (raises and bonuses available for returning staff and for incoming staff with higher certifications and/or significant previous experience)
Certifications Provided:
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Wilderness First Aid ($400 value, lasts 3 years)
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Wilderness Water Safety ($200 value, lasts 2 years)
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CPR/AED ($50 value, lasts 3 years)
From September to May the compensation package changes as we shift to reliance on grant funding for the internships:
Housing and Food is still provided throughout the whole year. Winter housing is more substantial and more comfortable than summer housing.
Stipend: $900/month = $8,100 for September-May (that you didn’t have to spend on housing, groceries, utilities, fun adventures, plus unique and impressive certifications and experiences.)
Continuing Education and Travel Opportunities provided:
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Attendance at the Lutheran Outdoor Ministries conference, a nation-wide gathering of camp directors
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Fall-Colors Canoe Trip – teambuilding, skill-building, envisioning and establishing goals for the coming year, and relaxing in the wilderness surrounded by vibrant fall colors.
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Winter-Survival Trip – stepping outside our comfort zones together to learn a totally different way of being outdoors… without canoes! We’ll use this opportunity to get perspective on how your internship experience is going and consider goals for the remainder of the time until summer.
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Spring Whitewater Canoe Trip – A celebration of our year-round community and what we’ve accomplished together, and a beautiful way to flex our teamwork muscles when they are at their strongest.