Food Science and Garden Education Intern SOAR Elementary Summer Program 2025
Food Science and Garden Education Intern SOAR Elementary Summer Program 2025
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Job Description
Food Science and Garden Education Intern
SOAR Elementary Summer Program 2025
Organization Profile:
Each summer the Burlington School District hosts their fiveweek Summer Opportunities and enRichment (SOAR) elementary program. SOAR is intended to help support and raise capacity for students who are below grade level reading and math proficiencies. This program also prioritizes student development of their social and emotional learning core competencies especially relationship skills selfmanagement and responsible decisionmaking through handson learning opportunities.
The Burlington School District is committed to its core beliefs that:
- Every child can succeed
- Families and community are partners in educating our children
- Diversity and inclusion promote strong schools and communities
- A welcoming supportive climate fosters learning
- Selfreflection and accountability improve our practices
The SOAR Food Science and Garden Education Program supports curricular literacy and math skills in addition to socialemotional wellness. This happens via handson learning and enrichment activities that take place outdoors in the school garden and through classroom cooking projects specifically designed to reduce summer learning loss. Additionally throughout this program students focus on basic food science principles including: nutrition food preservation food chemistry eating as a human experience and more. Lessons are differentiated based on grade level and are structured with various levels of complexity to allow for student choice and growth.
Internship Overview Description and Objectives:
Goals for Internship:
This internship will provide someone with a snapshot of the value and versatility of handson placedbased education in a summer learning environment. With a focus on fresh seasonal and hyperlocal (grown in the school garden) produce the intern will learn ways to engage students more authentically with the world around them.
Concrete Work and Deliverables:
The intern will:
- Support gardenbased lesson and recipe development with guidance from Food Science Coordinator
- Coteach outdoor gardenbased lessons for K5 students
- Assist in the maintenance and care of Burlingtons school gardens. Garden tasks may include: weeding watering pest management and harvesting.
- Assist with preparing for teaching sessions (setting up garden and/or classroom space organizing materials etc.
- Support elementary school learning throughout various cooking projects
- Assist with all cleanup (tidying garden tools dishwashing dish drying room organization etc.
- Compose summary paragraphs of each grade levels garden and cooking activities
- Create a digital summative Summer SOAR Cookbook to be shared with students families and staff
- Support Food Science Coordinator with data collection of student and staff perspectives and opinions on summer garden and cooking learning opportunities
IndustrySpecific Skills:
- Lesson Planning/Curriculum Design Creating ageappropriate engaging and educational materials
- Experiential Learning Facilitation Guiding handson learning (gardenbased lessons and cooking)
- Child Development Knowledge Understanding how students learn/what is developmentally appropriate
- Classroom/Garden Management Supporting individual student needs keeping their attention and managing disruptions (average classroom size of 15 students)
- Food Systems Literacy Understanding and explaining where food comes from how it is grown and its impact
- Garden Maintenance & Instruction Teaching gardening skills plant care harvesting and more
- Culinary and Nutrition Education Teaching basic cooking skills healthy eating habits and basic nutrition concepts.
- Recipe Development & Testing Creating engaging youthfriendly and healthy recipes
- Food Safety & Hygiene Understanding practicing and modeling safe food handling
- Communication (with students & adults) Clear ageappropriate communication
- Collaboration & Teamwork Working with teachers staff and peers
- ProblemSolving/Flexibility Adapting lessons or activities at a moments notice
- Creativity Designing fun engaging activities for all learners
Location & Hours:
- The inperson SOAR portion of the internship will take place on Tuesdays Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8:00am4:30pm at Flynn Elementary School 1645 North Ave Burlington VT 05408 from July 8th31st. Some program planning lesson and recipe research and programmatic summary writing can take place remotely with prior approval and coordination with the Internship Supervisor.
SOAR Internship Portion: 150 hours
- Gardenbased support will take place at individual school gardens throughout the Burlington School District. This work will be on an asneeded basis in coordination with intern availability and programmatic needs. Some of this work will take place in May June and August outside of the Summer SOAR portion of the program. The timing of this portion of the internship can be very flexible.
GardenBased Internship Portion: 50 hours
Please Note: Teaching days may be subject to change and intern will be given advance notice of any schedule changes.
Duration:
MayAugust 2025 (please see above for more specific details)
Pay:
This is an unpaid internship. As soon as you apply for this internship please also immediately apply for UVMs Summer Scholarship to be considered for up to a $4000 stipend. Please note: All applications for the Summer Scholarships are due April 21 2025 at 5:00 PM.
Intern Qualifications:
The applicant must have:
- An interest in working with elementaryaged youth on handson food and gardenbased projects and activities
- Prior experience working with children in an educational setting
- A basic understanding of safe food handling practices and proper hand hygiene (additional onsite training will be provided)
- The ability to work rain or shine and a willingness to get dirty in the gardens
- Some prior experience with organic growing practices (additional onsite training will be provided)
- The ability to occasionally lift up to 20 pounds during gardenrelated tasks
- The ability to push/pull wheelbarrows or wagons and be bent over for periods of time (seeding weeding etc.
- Strong communication skills punctuality be highly motivated and show professionalism
- Access to reliable transportation
- A basic familiarity with Canva or other graphic design software for supporting the creation of educational materials
As per Burlington School Districts policy the hired intern will be required to obtain and clear a background check and fingerprinting before the start of the internship. Please note the District does not cover the $25.00 (exact cash only) fee to complete this.
Internship Benefits:
- On days of inperson SOAR teaching the intern will have access to a free nutritious lunch provided by the School Nutrition Team at Flynn Elementary school. Most dietary needs can be accommodated.
- In instances where there is an abundance of extra garden produce the intern will be able to take some for personal consumption.
Application Procedure:
- Please apply to this position directly using Handshake
- Please include a very brief (one paragraph) description of why you are interested in this internship position along with your resume
- Deadline for Application: Friday May 2 2025
Contact for This Position:
Oversight of this internship will be conducted by the Burlington School Districts Food Science Coordinator Jen Trapani (she/her). Please direct any application questions to: .
Required Experience:
Intern
Employment Type
Intern
