If you ...
- enjoy working with school children,
- love the natural world,
- and have flexible time now and then on weekday mornings, September through May,
... then consider becoming a School Walk Guide!
School Walk Guides get all the fun of guiding children's discovery outdoors, but have shorter training and a lower time commitment than Docents.
- Volunteer Voices
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- What School Walk Guides Do
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School Walk Guides lead school groups of about six children and an adult chaperone on walks lasting an hour and a half. The walks usually leave from Piney Woods, and are supported by scopers at Sea Lion Point. Most walks take place on weekday mornings.
Special care is taken to staff the School Outreach Program (SOP), which funds free buses for fourth grade students at Title One schools in Monterey County.
School Walk Guides work alongside Docent school walk leaders, but are trained for this specific job. You can sign up for walks that fit your schedule on the volunteer web site.
- What Makes a Successful School Walk Guide
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School Walk Guides will need to:
- Interact effectively and courteously in various situations with school aged people of different cultures and interests
- Be able to say, “I don’t know,” instead of giving inaccurate or questionable information
- Update their background knowledge and interpretive skills to share with the students as appropriate
- Walk for a 1 and 1/2-hour
- Are available on weekday mornings when most school groups arrive
- Tolerate a wide variety of weather conditions
- Navigate uneven, often rocky trails that may contain stairs and/or unstable surfaces
- Respond to questions from students in a clear and understandable manner
- Encourage children to use their senses to take in this unique and beautiful place
- Training Requirements
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To train for this position, you would...
- Complete the online School Walk Guide training
- Work with a mentor
- Shadow three different experienced school walk leaders
- Do your own self-study, including review of the Geology, Plants, Birds, and Tidepool brochures
You are encouraged to...
- Join training walks for the Docent trainees (if available)
- Shadow docent public walks
- Attend the monthly docent meetings
- Attend bi-annual School Walk Workshops or Roundtables.
- Ongoing Service
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Following training, lead at least five school walks in your first school season. In subsequent school years, lead at least eight walks. (But more would be terrific!)
To Apply...
Send an email to volunteers@plsnr.org. We will let you know the next steps. You can request more information at any time - however be aware that the best opportunities to learn from experienced walk leaders will be during school months.