Position: Scout Island Nature Centre Executive Director in Training
Start date: To be discussed
Half time Salary Position Specific Hours are Flexible
Hourly rate: 28/hour to begin
Creative, exciting work coordinating, designing, supporting nature education and the Nature Centre with a team of educators and Williams Lake Field Naturalists volunteers.
You would also carry out administrative functions ((i.e. applying for grants, funding reports, manage budgets for various grants and fee-for-services)
Qualifications
Degree in a related field (Natural Resource Management, Biology, Education, Nonprofit Management), or equivalent in work experience, in a related field.
Confident verbal and written reporting/presentation skills
Adequate computer skills (word processing, xcell, power points, web site) & understanding of financial management
Excellent organizational, interpersonal skills & professional etiquette; able to work well independently, as well as within a group Skill in supervising and advising students (high school and university) that work as summer staff.
Keep Reading
Do want to be Scout Island Nature Centre’s next Executive Director (ED)? First consider this:
Tuesday March 7, 2017 at Scout Island Nature Centre—A Typical Day– Reflections from Sue the present Executive Director
7am–ED checked out all the trails and ice safety and found a deer leg—perfect for “placing”. She dragged it to a spot the Nature K can find it tomorrow when they go to Hare Island
8am– Kacie Young arrived to get ready for the Nature Kindergarten day.
8:30– am Martin Kruus arrived to get ready for his group of Home Schoolers. ED helped find materials he needed and advised on ice safety
9am– Bus with Nature K children arrived and children took off for an outdoor adventure until about 10:30. Then they moved inside until lunch doing math and literacy centres
At lunch time they went outside to slide and dig in the snow, but they had a hard time hearing each other because of the red winged blackbirds singing so loud
After lunch they were inside for cozy owl time and more centres then back outside for adventures at the mud kitchen then off to Hare Island and the “finding” of the deer leg.
9am– Teacher On Call for the older home schoolers arrived to get ready and by 9:30 the older and younger home schoolers are were all over the upstairs of the nature house and outside having adventures. This went on until 3pm including a visit from Jenny Howell to teach them about being “Water Wise.” They spread out all over to have lunch and had to share the microwave with the Nature K teacher and EA and their own teachers
9am –ED met with Brandon who is helping her organize some new web pages
11:30-ED got her lunch in before all the children and teachers arrived to use the microwave—also did a quick clean up of the bathrooms and got out the compost bucket for home schoolers to use. Fred (WLFN president and major volunteer) checked in to pick up mail and update ED on planned repairs needed. A brief discussion on possible funding needed for the repairs.
12 noon –Jane, Jacinta and ED met to organize Air Aware education ideas
2pm Anne, Mary and ED met to brainstorm ideas for the Spring Break “Writing in Nature” program—Did you know that Anne is writing a novel about Scout Island? She is the perfect person to lead young writers.
2pm Jim also arrived to see if he can fix our wifi—It gets really crowded in the office!
Phone calls interrupted all day to sign children up for spring break program, ask natural history questions, …
3:30: Lakeshia (high school student doing an independent study) and Kris (her mentor) arrived to check out birds for an hour. This is part of Lakeshia’s citizen science for her Independent Study course. Kris and Paula are her mentors. Frances is her teacher. ED got everyone together to do this
5pm: Momentary quiet inside
Outside all day there were birds singing; people walking; dogs sniffing; hares hopping; Ring-necked Duck at the outlet (3 days ahead of the average return date); a Killdeer on the clear ice in the channel (perhaps reflecting on the wisdom of this biological urge to be first back on territory); otters playing off of Otter Point; and the crows busy locating all of the suet and fruit that some one decided to hang along the trails today.
5:30– The quiet didn’t last long. The Sparks and leaders arrived for their bimonthly gathering. It was pretty noisy so ED went out for a crepuscular (dusk) walk. She was just in time to see the beavers emerge for a breath of fresh air. They had been trapped in their lodges for the last few days as the ice covered over again. The crows that had just settled for the night in the tall aspens along the willow trail made a noisy protest at the immature eagle that flew over
7:30—Finally, it was quiet at the nature house—time to catch up with emails and notes about all that happened during the day. Tomorrow it will start all over. Not every day is this busy, but 2-3 days a week are.
People to the Nature House total today:
62 children
40 adults (including parents dropping home schoolers and some nature k and volunteers into check on things)
Does this sound confusing or chaotic? I see it more like a symphony and ED as the conductor. First of all, all of the members of the orchestra (that includes, teachers, program participants, educators, volunteers and even the birds) love Scout Island and each brings a unique tone that makes up the symphony. The conductor (executive director) has to bring energy, commitment, an idea of what the music could sound like, and creativity to bring it all together. He/she has to have expertise in lots of things (or a commitment to developing that expertise) just like a conductor. The conductor doesn’t play all of the instruments but understands the instruments abilities and how it contributes to the whole melody.
A love and fascination of nature is essential. A biology background is really useful (from degrees or self study). Organizational skills and the ability to have several balls in the air at once is also essential. And–lots of energy.
This is the best job I have ever had and I intend to be around for a while to mentor the next lucky conductor of this symphony.
If this sounds like the job for you, send a resume and a cover letter that explains how you could be the conductor by October 31 to shemphill at xplornet.com
Robin and Trish narrate their visit to Nepal in March-April 2019.