Volunteer Educators
Join Us in the Outdoor Classroom
Each year, our education programs engage thousands of students with their local streams and rivers. Getting to share students’ excitement of finding a crayfish, simulating major floods, or simply splashing in the water is a great joy for our small education team, but we can always use some extra help.
Our volunteer education program is a way for you to share in this joy and help us educate the next generation of river stewards. Whether you’re a retired teacher, a fledgling environmental educator, or just a lover of the river, we’d be thrilled to invite you to join us at a lesson.
What can you expect from these volunteer opportunities?
- Educational activities focused on topics of freshwater ecology.
- You will get in the stream for activities outside.
- Volunteer shifts are typically 1-2 hours long.
- Students ages range from K-12 with a majority of groups in 3rd-8th grade.
- Groups sizes for each class range from 10-30 students.
For New Volunteers
To get started as a volunteer educator you must attend one of our quarterly trainings. At these trainings we will provide an overview of our education programs as well as they ways you can help out at lessons. The next training will be held on Saturday August 31st from 10 AM – 12 PM at the RiverLink office.
If you’re unable to attend the training, you can contact us at education@riverlink.org to talk about alternatives to get started.
For the safety of our students, new volunteers must submit a background check and complete a sexual abuse awareness online training. If something comes up on your background check it does not disqualify you, it’s just an opportunity to have a conversation about it.
For Existing Volunteers
If you have already attended a volunteer educator training and passed a background check, you can click the link below to access our lesson calendar and sign up for volunteer shifts.
If you’d like to improve your knowledge about stream ecology before coming out to a lesson you can access some of our educational resources below.