National Environmental Education Week on April, 2024: Good Internshipthat will pay you and possibly give Housing for FREEIncluded.?
National Environmental Education Week 2024. Bay Backpack Blog National Environmental
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well, being in education, you do an environmental educattion internship (park guide - called interpretation) for national parks directly through the park or thru SCA Student Conservation Association. Assateague Island National Park hires interns for about $125 a week with housing provided. and you get to live at the beach for free. Pretty sweet deal. I worked there and you do get paid and get housing, its just a stipend to cover expenses.
University of Queensland vs Australian National University (for a BSc)?
Australian uni life is significantly different to uni life in the US. Most Australians still live at home at uni. Their social circle is mostly their high school friends. Those living on campus are mostly international students, Australian tend to stay close to home for uni, we don't move state like American students do. As such uni life is non existent compared to American uni life. You go the for uni, to study. That's all. There might be a band to listen to once a week or so, but that's it.
Canberra as a town is almost dead after 6pm. Not much is open. Not many people are not the streets. Brisbane is a bit better but that action is not "uni" action.
Also note that unless you have a PhD in a scientific area, getting a job with just a Bachelor of
Science is near on impossible. Australians use that degree to get into any field that requires, a Bachelor in anything, where the aim is just to employ a uni grad hard less of field, but for getting a migrant visa you need a specific job where that degree is specifically needed and without a PhD you will not have it.
Peace Corps?
I came back from my 27 months in Peace Corps this past December. I was very much welcomed for my teaching, and I made friends that I will never forget -- both among my fellow volunteers, and among the people of Tanzania.
What Peace Corps requires is that you have a skill you can use in volunteering. What have you done with your life so far? Do you know anything about health? Anything about agriculture, carpentry, or another skill with your hands? Do you have experience in teaching, or a degree in science or math? A degree is usually required for science and math teaching, but not for teaching English and not for environmental and health volunteers -- but it helps. Their only requirement (to be considered) is 18 years of age or older.
Peace Corps will not pay for your student loans -- they don't have the money that our military has. What they will do is defer. Deferrment means that you will not be required to make any payments on your loans until you return from your service; this can be to your benefit if you have money in a savings account which will gain interest. The interest on the loans does not increase, etc... basically the loans pause in all their activity while you are gone.
It is most definitely an experience worth having! It gave me two years' experience in teaching, with ESL experience that helped me to get a job teaching at a good private school. Beyond the gain back at home, I was able to show some of my family the country (a visit from home) and I was able to make a difference in the lives of many students and a large number of friends from every country in the world. If you have the freedom to spend two years away from the States, you should definitely volunteer!
The Peace Corps is for US citizens only and is therefore more careful with its volunteers than many organizations. As a fellow volunteer stated, the organization is perfect for someone who has never left the country before. There are many weeks of training, and the volunteers are assigned "homestay families" who are also coached in the safety and teaching of their volunteer. Some of our volunteers who had experience outside the country found their extra care tiresome, but it does mean that the volunteers are safe.
Peace Corps does not have an active program in any country that is volitile, and if an area becomes volitile they will evacuate the volunteers. There are drills and plans to follow for each volunteer so that they know their role in such a situation.
With the Peace Corps, there are contacts in every town and the people in your village have all necessary contact information with headquarters should they be needed. They also provide free medical care at the headquarters. If there is any danger by terrorists or civil unrest, they will bring you to headquarters and, if necessary, help you all to evacuate.
The "food allowance" is about the same as your "Host Country National" counterparts, housing is provided, and they give you language training and a "counterpart" or helpful local resident to help orient you. The "food allowance" depends on the country you are assigned to, but it is usually about $150 - $300 a month -- more than enough to buy your food in a country where basic groceries cost about $50 a month!
You really should look into it and see if you would like to join; it is most definitely an experience worth having. You can contact me also, if you have questions. You have plenty of time to research it.
And yes, the volunteers made a tangible difference in their communities and the ones nearby. There are environmental volunteers (digging wells, teaching agriculture, teaching sanitation), health volunteers (teaching both in schools and in communities, including HIV/AIDS education), and education volunteers (teaching primarily in schools, science and math subjects).
If you have other questions, let me know! If you have experience with the Spanish language, there is a very good chance that they would accept you for the Western Hemisphere assignments, and there are many more environmental needs there. Depending on what your abilities are with other areas, fluency in Spanish alone can be a useful qualification. Fluency in French can be a benefit in gaining an assignment in Western Africa. Just FYI!
