STEM Camp Director

CuriOdyssey is seeking Camp Directors to support Camp CuriOdyssey campers in summer 2022.

Camp CuriOdyssey provides camper driven investigations of science and the outdoors, enabling them to grow as critical and creative thinkers while they experience and understand how the world works. Our campers are 5-11 years old,  predominantly from the local area and come to us with varied learning abilities. Camp groups are small to ensure that campers enjoy personal, rich explorations alongside skilled staff, volunteers, and peers.  Camp staff creates an environment that empowers campers to question, investigate, and imagine.

Camp CuriOdyssey is supported by a team of Directors, Leaders, Inclusion Specialist, and Leaders-in-Training, reporting to the Director of Education. Camp CuriOdyssey’s STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art/animals and math) focus is reflected in robust curriculum developed around the following Camp themes: Gadgets and Gizmos, Art Inventors, Junior Keepers, Nature Quest, and Museum Medley. Camp Directors will implement our robust curriculum for our Kindergarten to 4th grade campers, provide supervision, leadership, and support to camp staff and youth volunteer “Leaders in Training” and ensure that the camp environment empowers campers to question, investigate, and imagine. For the summer of 2022 we are seeking 3-4 Camp Director positions to lead one of the following camp themes: Gadgets & Gizmos, Art Inventors, Museum Medley, and Nature Quest.

Gadgets & Gizmos camp explores physics, engineering and chemistry, Art Inventors explores the creative intersection of art and multidisciplinary science, Museum Medley offers new-to-CuriOdyssey Kindergarten-First Grade students a “sampler” of camp curriculum, and Nature Quest explores natural sciences at CuriOdyssey and Coyote Point Park.

We challenge campers to be empowered by their failures and try new ideas. The goal is to create a camper driven learning environment tailored to the child’s learning needs with great respect for the identity, cultural background and lived experiences of each learner.

Primary Responsibilities

• Facilitates the Camp activities for a specific Camp theme; Gadgets & Gizmos, Art Inventors, Museum Medley, or Nature Quest.
• Understand and alter camp content in alignment with CuriOdyssey’s approach and to meet campers’ diverse learning styles
• Supervise and guide camp staff (Leaders, and/or Leaders-in-Training), ensuring that campers have a safe and fun learning environment
• Proactively communicate with a camper’s caregiver/guardian about the exciting camp activities, the camper’s involvement in camp, and/or camp’s policies and procedures.
• Provides support to other camps.

Desired Qualities

• Commitment to the mission of CuriOdyssey and science/environmental education.
• Creative, curious, and compassionate approach to facilitating positive learning experiences for children.
• An individual who understands and respects children, recognizes that learning is a process not a product, is committed to positive behavior management, and makes the learning process engaging, fun, and driven by the individual camper.
• Experience and expertise working with youth and a basic understanding of life, earth and/or physical science.
• Demonstrate a growth mindset, a positive attitude towards new experiences and profound respect for children as intelligent learners.
• This position requires the candidate to take and clear a Livescan fingerprint and background check.
• Must currently have or be willing to get a CPR/First Aid Certification.

Camp During COVID-19: 

Our camp program will be conducted indoors and outdoors at CuriOdyssey adhering to current health and safety guidelines. This includes but is not limited to wearing appropriate face covering, physical distancing and hand-washing.

Vaccination is a vital tool to reduce the presence and severity of COVID-19 cases in the workplace, in communities, and in the nation as a whole. CuriOdyssey has adopted this policy on mandatory vaccination for Education Program Staff to safeguard the health of our employees from the hazard of COVID-19.  This policy complies with OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard on Vaccination and Testing (29 CFR 1910.501).

All employees covered by this policy are required to be fully vaccinated as a term and condition of employment at CuriOdyssey. Employees are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after completing primary vaccination with a COVID-19 vaccine, with, if applicable, at least the minimum recommended interval between doses. Either is to be followed by a booster dose.

Physical Demands and Working Conditions

The physical demands herein are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential job functions.

Environment: Work is conducted at CuriOdyssey and immediately local space at Coyote Point. Camp will take place indoors and outdoors in various weather conditions.

Mobility: Physical ability and endurance to occasionally carry and lift heavy materials, up to 50 pounds. Frequently move from a sitting to standing position. Traversing uneven surfaces, bending, reaching, sitting on the floor with children and twisting are daily repetitive physical actions.

Compensation and Benefits

Payrate: $22.00/hour
This is a non-exempt seasonal position, full-time starting June 6 through August 19. Please note that there is an unpaid vacation week, July 4-8. Limited flexibility to accommodate non-emergency time off requests.

The general work schedule for camp training and camp is Mon. – Fri. 8:00am – 5:00pm.  

How to apply:

Please send a resume, cover letter, and references to Director of Education, Jessa Barzelay, at jbarzelay@curiodyssey.org with “Camp Director” in the subject line by February 11, 2022.