Program Description: Arrowhead Ranch is an Outdoor Science School program based on the California Dept. Of Ed., Science Framework. We are located in Southern California among the beautiful San Bernardino National Forest in Lake Arrowhead. Elevation is 5,500 feet above the county of San Bernardino. We have about 10,000 public school students ages 10-12 come up to attend our 5th/6th grade outdoor hands-on science school.
Our teaching is done outside using the the natural surroundings as our classroom. We have acres of trails that we travel daily with the students. Our policy is not to lecture but to let the flora and fauna of the area teach the kids. We do a square dance and staff skits the first night the kids arrive. We travel up to two miles on each hike during the days lesson. We travel in groups with a Naturalist(our teacher) leading a boys cabin group and a girls cabin group to to form a trail team. The classroom teachers also come up for the week with the kids. They are invited to observe on the trails. They are not asked to teach, because we have Naturalists do all the hands-on teaching.
Each group size varies from week to week dependant upon the school's boy/girl breakdown. The average size of one cabin group is 12-15 kids. There are three hikes on Tuesday and Wednesday. We do a special projects day with stations on Thursday. The stations are set-up for all the students to do experimental studies, compass usage, microscopes, frog pond studies, hikes into a new area, a sack lunch is taken out for the day and the kids play games, sing songs and it is neat way to spend the last full day at camp. Thursday night is the students skit night. The cabin leaders have worked with their group all week to create a skit akin to the theme of the week. This is a fun round up of the weeks activities and gives an emotional warm fuzzy closure to an eventful week.
Friday, the students pack their bags and have a 9:00am brunch instead of an 8:00am breakfast.The busses arrive around 11:00 to 11:30am. We load all the luggage on the busses, same as Monday when we unload all the luggage. We give the kids hugs and high fives and they gather on to their bus. We wave good-bye with another spectacular week under our belt. We are all about learning and having fun with the kids.
Once the students have departed for home, we then clean the cabins and other areas that we used during the week for the camp. Once that is done, we check out and usually leave between 2:00-3:00pm. We are paid until 3:00pm on Fridays. We are allowed to leave as soon as we have been checked out by the camp's cleaning supervisor. The only exception to this is the inservices done on paydays. We are paid every other Friday. We are treated to lunch or a pizza party. We then use this time for continuing education for the staff. It is great time to reflect, learn new techniques to use with the kids or just listen to new thoughts and ideas for improvements.
The program is run by the director and the assistant director.Our office staff take care of all the behind the scenes activities, like setting up the zoo presentation, the camp photographers schedule and the dance man. All staff paperwork goes through the office to ensure that everyone is on payroll at the proper rate. All staff training is paid at half pay for the that week.
Job Description: Directors must posses inner leadership ability. Requires balanced, optimistic, organized, planner,ability to direct staff in a positive way, listen to teachers request and respond professionally, report directly to owner on issues, articulate changes and solutions to problems, handle stress and remain positive at all times. The director must have a sense of humor in order to remain on top of the week. Director must have a vested interest in the positive outcome of each week, ensuring the staff did their jobs and that the kids had a great time. Must have strong people skills and able to continue team building structure with staff each week.
Job Type: Year Round
Status: Permanent
Program Type: Residential
Qualifications: BS/BA in one of the sciences. CPR and First Aid Certification. Wilderness First Aid a plus. 2 years experience in an outdoor science environment. Strong commitment to making and reinforcing positive change and continue to keep rules and regulations in force.
Salary: $80/day, depending on experience
Benefits: HOUSING, UTILITIES, FOOD, MEDICAL BENEFITS
Medical: yes
Dental: yes
Vision: yes
Housing: program
Meals: program
Deadline: Open Until Filled
Available: January 6 - July 1, 2008
Procedure: Please call, email, fax or mail applications
Contact Information: Kathy Farley
Address: PO Box 123, Lake Arrowhead, CA 92352
Telephone: 909-337-7265
Fax: 909-337-2007
Email:
Website: arrowheadkidscamp.com