Instructors with The Outdoor School connect kids to the natural environment—a place where they can see, hear, touch, smell and even taste nature.

As the vital link between nature and the classroom, The Outdoor School (TOS) is a residential outdoor education program that focuses on hands-on experiential educational and outdoor courses primarily for 5th–7th graders. Students can learn about themselves, their natural environment and their peers while participating in fun and educational outdoor activities, facing challenges, overcoming fears, and sparking new ways to see the world.

Programming focuses on the philosophy of Universal Respect and Challenge by Choice.
Universal Respect means everything should be treated with respect. To respect others, children are taught to treat others as they would like to be treated, using encouragement and positive words and actions. Children will also be expected to show respect for themselves, the environment—and everything!
Challenge by Choice involves setting personal goals and reaching them using physical, mental and social challenges along the way. Goals can always be reset higher or lower. Children are encouraged to meet and exceed their goals, but are never forced to go beyond their limits!

Program Coordinators
Level-up your outdoor education career, further develop your leadership abilities, learn transferrable professional skills, and help build a community!

A team of 3-4 Program Coordinators will work together closely with the support of 3 full-time Directors to plan, schedule, and facilitate outdoor education programming. Responsibilities include acting as the on-call director of the day, managing and mentoring instructors, observing and evaluating instructors, liaising with teachers and school staff leading up to and during their visit, creating a master schedule of staff and activities, and of course working outdoors with students. Compensation includes housing, meals during program, and up to $425/week (plus the option to work on the weekend for additional pay).

Program Coordinators will work two seasons at The Outdoor School with a break in between. PC's start work in mid-August with the fall season ending in mid-November. After the winter break, PC's start work again in mid-January with work through mid-May. Apply now—possible mid-season start dates!

Outdoor Education Instructors
Outdoor Education Instructors are the heart of The Outdoor School and teach a pre-approved academic and adventure curriculum, facilitate team building and high ropes courses, and lead interesting evening activities (astronomy, night sensory and games/campfire). Three weeks of training will provide you with the necessary knowledge in academics, ropes course, and anything else you need to thrive at TOS.

Although TOS has a selection of over 15 classes and activities that schools may choose from (including teambuilding, reptiles, water quality, kayaking, high ropes courses, archery, outdoor survival, art in nature, and many more!), most Instructors learn between 5 and 7 classes—enough to keep you excited about teaching, but not so many that you are overwhelmed.

After a successful season as an Instructor, you may have the opportunity to return for consecutive seasons. Second season Instructors will be expected to take up more responsibilities, learn to facilitate more academic and adventure courses, provide leadership to incoming Instructors, and help facilitate training.

Additional responsibilities include holding a leadership role throughout the season (training, off site excursions, evening activities, etc.), becoming a lead Instructor, and serving as The Outdoor School’s representative for visiting schools.

Located on Lake LBJ in the heart of the beautiful Texas Hill Country, the property is far away enough from city lights to get beautiful views of the night sky, and just close enough to civilization to be 10 minutes away from local and chain restaurants, stores, and amenities.

Over 80 acres of native trees, grasses and wildflowers cover the northern end of the property, which provides a habitat for raccoons, deer and other wildlife. Picturesque Lake LBJ, filled with fish and other aquatic life, forms the southern border. The site is 45 miles from Austin, 90 miles from San Antonio and approximately 240 miles from Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston.

The Benefits
• A weekly stipend up to $375/week and the option to work for hourly pay on the weekend ($15/hour for lifeguards, $14/hour for non-lifeguards)
• Free housing, utilities, and WiFi access. All staff members should expect to have at least one roommate.
• There are no overnight student supervision duties required.
• The dining hall team provides meals to everyone so long as there are guests on property, typically Monday lunch through Sunday breakfast
• Pro deals when available
• Full use of camp amenities (including washer/dryer, staff lounge, kitchen, and many, many cool toys to play with)
• Lifeguard and CPR/first aid certification offered
• A central location to explore Texas’s underused State and National Parks as well as major Texas cities: Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth
• Watching yourself grow as you help their program grow

Why work at The Outdoor School? Check out these Instructor perspectives.

Will you thrive at TOS?
You must simply love kids, have a desire and ability to teach kids, enjoy working in the outdoors (in all kinds of weather!), are fun-loving, adventurous and hardworking, willing to go with the flow, a person of flexibility, excitement, patience, fun, and stamina, possess an ability to laugh at yourself, and open to feedback and growth.

All applicants must have finished one year of college (or equivalent).

The Outdoor School is AWESOME to work at because:
• Students come from public, charter, and private schools—allowing Instructors to work with students coming from a wide range of cultural, philosophical, and socio-economic backgrounds.
• The staff is family. This is not just a job, but a lifestyle. We try to hire in a way that everyone on staff is there for the right reasons and they value the importance of family and team.
• It's an ever-changing beast. We take pride in listening to the staff about their ideas and suggestions. The very next season staff members will notice some of those suggestions actually implemented. It’s really cool to see how open The Outdoor School is to more than happy to keep trying to reach excellence.

The Outdoor School in 30 seconds.

To apply, fill out the online application. Most interviews are conducted over the phone, although you are more than welcome to come by for an in-person interview if you are in the area!

Amy Koch (she/her)
Personnel Director
The Outdoor School
775 Camp Rd.
Marble Falls, TX 78654
(830) 598-6282
amy@outdoorschool.com
OutdoorSchool.com

The Outdoor School can be found in the Outdoor Education Jobs channel

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