The Office of Environmental
Education and Public Affairs in the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality is
seeing an early influx in the number of jobs and internships posted to its
website. The site reflects governor McCrory’s commitment to providing educators
with professional opportunities and much-needed resources by serving as a
statewide clearinghouse for environmental education tools and hosting job
postings. It also features a grant
database and an interactive calendar that includes professional development
opportunities for educators, field trip opportunities and family events.
Environmental
education-related job postings typically pick up in February as organizations
prepare for summer camps and other seasonal opportunities. However, job postings
began to spike in early December for both seasonal and full-time education
positions. Along with the increased traffic, the office has heard positive
feedback from both employers who are hiring educators and educators who are looking
for positions. Suzanne Mwengi, Membership and Outreach Coordinator with the
Friends of the Western North Carolina Nature Center said, “I just wanted to
thank you again for posting our position to your listserv and allowing us to
post it to your website! We’ve now
filled the position. We had several
applicants state that they heard about the position from the EE listing.” The
office’s jobs listing had about 6,000 page views in December and has already
received 5,500 views in January.
In
addition to the popular jobs listing, which receives an average of 4,600
website views a month, the office also maintains an ongoing list of grants for
educators that gets an equal amount of views. One recent success story came
from Jessica Kellerman, a teacher with Sandy Grove Elementary in Hoke County who
received a grant posted to the site. “I just wanted to thank you again for the
wonderful website. I have used it to find local sites to take my special
education students on field trips and I recently secured a grant to put an
adaptable swing outside for recess for students in wheelchairs from a grant
found on your website. When I was at NCCAT this week I shared the website with
fellow educators because I know it is a resource that is organized and up to
date.”
The office encourages agencies
and organizations to use the site to advertise their workshops, events and
positions. To learn more about all the resources offered by the Office of
Environmental Education and Public Affairs, you can visit their website at www.eenorthcarolina.org
