Piedmont Wildlife Internship Opportunities

About the Agency:
The Piedmont Wildlife Center serves as a hub for knowledge distribution throughout the Triangle area about wildlife, its need for protection and rehabilitation. An emphasis is put on the education and knowledge of species founding, and migrating through North Carolina. The Piedmont Wildlife Center’s mission is “to provide essential services that ensure the health and welfare of native wildlife."

Internship Description:
Each Internship at Piedmont Wildlife Center is tailored according to the interests of the intern and the needs of the agency. Interns may focus on the areas of wildlife conservation, education, or organizational admininstration. The activities listed below include tasks, and trainings that may be included in the internship program. In addition to these tasks and trainings, the student will choose and complete a special project for Piedmont Wildlife Center. A partial project list is also included below. Students may choose a project from the list or make a proposal for a different project, which is subject to the approval of the agency.

Training That All of the Intern Positions May Experience Include:
- Raptor Handling
- General animal handling procedures and captive animal care
- Eastern Box Turtle Study Protocols
- Mentoring in Nature Education program design and presentation
- Mentoring and instruction in Field Natural History including field guide use, recognition of local flora and fauna, developing knowledge and awareness of the patterns within our local ecosystems and interpreting them. Special attention can be given to individual topics within the field of Nature interpretation by request.
- Event planning and coordination strategies
- Nonprofit management procedures

Responsiblities That All of the Intern Postions May Experience Include:
- Assistance in fundraising efforts
- Creating systems of organization for educational supplies and materials

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Education and Conservation Shared Responsibilities May Include:
- Regular care of Education animals
- Assistance in planning special events         
- Assistance with educational presentations, outreach events and camp programs
- Develop written content on behalf of the organization

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Education Intern Specific Training May Include:
- Guidance in the basics of outdoor programs including: magnets, perambulators, challenges, didactics, questioning and coaching methods of teaching, stories, songs, games, and other tactics for developing an active learning environment- Opportunity to observe teachers in the field, help present youth programs, receivefeedback on teaching and develop a collection of techniques to help with guiding educational experiences.

Education Intern Specific Responsibilities May Include:
- Assist in the presentation of an adult and family weekend education program
- Present birthday party programs
- Help organize and market programs including at school programs, homeschool programs, onsite programs, birthday party programs, and afterschool programs
- Organize the nature museum
- Work on small projects selected from the organization's task notebook

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Wildlife Conservation Intern Specific Training May Include:
- Species-Specific care for wildlife and handling techniques
- Raptor care and handling
- Eastern Box Turtle Study Protocols

Wildlife Conservation Intern Specific Responsibilities May Include:
- Organize and schedule animal care volunteers
- Lead responsibility for box turtle study
- Organize species inventories at Leigh Farm Park

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Organizational Administrative Intern Specific Training May Include:
- Use of the computer systems and other administrative tools
- Database management
- Membership/fundraising strategies

Organizational Administrative Intern Specific Responsibilities May Include:
- Write press releases, feature stories and web content on behalf of PWC
- Answering calls and addressing questions about wildlife on our wildlife hotline
- Contact retailers and soliciting donations for the upcoming Gala
- Ongoing upkeep on the organization's databases
- Event planning and coordination of volunteers
- Make signs and displays for the organization
- Help redesign the organization's website
- Organize membership mailings
- Managing the membership renewal program
- General administrative tasks in support of program development including: Maintaining the program scheduling notebook, doing general program logistics, and contact spreadsheets
 
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Project List:

- Prepare and present two wildlife education programs for the general public
- Compile wildlife education packets for local schools and create a wildlife activity guide for children
- Orchestrate and intitate a new program, nature appreciation club for children, adult education program, etc
- Create new curriculum with at least two themed presentations designed for school groups on or off site
- Raptor Program: create protocols, create maintenance and care plan, setup cages and work on training education raptors
- Design Biological Inventory interface and contact initial surveys at Leigh Farm Park
- Event Organization-- provide leadership and organizational support for the PWC Gala Fundraiser (fall) or Wildlife Festival (spring)
- Design Educational content and interface for the new PWC website
- Help to design and orchestrate a local network for home rehabilitators to have a system of support, including surveying local rehabilitators and veterinarians and designing a network that will help provide better access to materials, training, referrals, etc
- Provide leadership and organizational support for the PWC Gala Fundraiser (fall) or Wildlife Festival (spring)
- Develop written content and design PR materials for the organization reflecting changes in the overall scope of the center
- Create a Wildlife Garden on site
- Create a new brochure for the organization and redesign the display board used for outreach events
- Create educational displays about wildlife for the cabin interior and outdoor park kiosk
- Initiate a mammal tracking project on Leigh Farm property with a focus on sensitive species eg. Bobcat

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                                         HOW TO APPLY
APPLICATION PROCESS:
Send the following to the contact(s) listed below:
- COVER LETTER
- ONE LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION
- RESUME

SEND APPLICATION VIA:
EMAIL: pwc@piedmontwildlifecenter.org

MAIL:
Internship Program
Piedmont Wildlife Center
364 Leigh Farm Rd.
Durham, NC 27707

FAX:
(919)-493-0988
* ATTN: Internship Program

DEADLINES:

• Summer Internships - March 15th
• Fall Internships - June 15th
• Spring Internships - September 15th  

 
CONTACT:
Sarah Haggerty or Gail Abrams: (919)-489-0900

FALL/SPRING/and SUMMER INTERNSHIPS AVAILABLE. IF INTERESTED PLEASE CONTACT SARAH OR GAIL.

THANK YOU!