Camp Specialist Internship

Urban Adamah is an educational farm and community center in Berkeley, California that integrates the practices of Jewish tradition, mindfulness, sustainable agriculture, and social action to build loving, just, and sustainable communities. 

Every summer, Urban Adamah offers an  outdoor summer camp for kids in preschool - 8th grade. Summer Camp features hands-on projects and activities exploring themes that integrate nature-connection, crafts, farming, community-building, and Jewish values. Camp Urban Adamah is designed to create a space for children to thrive and express their natural curiosity and passion, all within a vibrant, loving, and inclusive Jewish community. Our counselors ensure that children of different ages can have joyful  experiences within a small group of peers.

Daily activities at Summer Camp include gardening, feeding chickens and collecting eggs, music and stories, farm-to-fork food preparation with our bicycle powered blender and solar oven and in our industrial kitchen, arts and crafts, nature connection activities, and more. We do everything through the lens of Jewish tradition and storytelling, whether it be through our shomrei adamah farm activities, or eco-mitzvot songs. We open and close every day as a whole camp community with circle time, songs, storytelling, and acts of love and kindness.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The camp specialist internship offers you the opportunity to build your skills in a particular speciality (art, cooking, music, or farming), teach children in a spirit of mindfulness and joy, and live in community with other college-aged students.

Each intern will work 25 hours a week at camp and on the farm in exchange for room and board and an end-of-summer stipend. Interns live on the farm itself in a modern building with a large, well-stocked kitchen and plenty of living space. Interns will share a room with one other person.

In return for room and board in the Bay Area, interns lead daily activity blocks in their area of specialization. Each block is an hour long and interns work a maximum of two blocks in a day. Interns help with children during all-camp activities, including the daily morning circle and end-of-week Shabbat service. Some intern specialists may be expected to help counselors in small group activities as well. There is also ample time to brainstorm, develop and plan new activities, and collaborate with peers.

Interns will get regular, consistent supervision and feedback from the Camp Director as well as the Farm Director and other members of the Urban Adamah staff. They will receive extensive training before camp starts as well as weekly learning opportunities in Jewish values, farm techniques, mindfulness, DEI, nonviolent communication, and other topics.

While intern specialists are critical to camp life and expected to work required hours on the farm and at camp, you may also work off site if you would like to pick up a part time job.

THE FOUR SPECIALTIES

Each intern will specialize in one of four specific areas. In each one, we are looking for people who find joy in teaching others, who have skills already developed in a particular area, and who are enthusiastic about farm life and being outdoors.

Farming
Engage children in creative activities to foster appreciation for farm life. Work with children to plant, tend, and harvest summer crops; farm interns will also work with Urban Adamah’s lead farmer to tend the farm through the summer with responsibilities to include flipping garden beds in the field, harvesting crops, and planting.
 

• Necessary skills and experience: Comfortable getting your boots and hands dirty, bending, lifting, and shoveling; have experience with plants and gardening, whether through classes or personal experience; have prior (preferably in a summer camp or school-based setting) experience working with children.

Arts and Crafts
Plan and teach a wide range of arts and crafts activities, including but not limited to candle making, Jewish crafts, puppet making, lanyards, and nature-based activities. Organize and clean all supplies and equipment daily; order supplies as necessary.
 

• Necessary skills and experience: Comfort with a wide range of art mediums; able to teach both single-day activities and longer, multi day projects for a wide range of ages; have prior experience teaching arts and crafts skills (preferably in a summer camp or school-based setting); have prior (preferably in a summer camp or school-based setting) experience working with children. 

Cooking
Plan and teach cooking activities in Urban Adamah’s industrial kitchen for children ranging in ages from 5-13, including: preparing challah for our weekly Shabbat end-of-camp service; teaching canning and pickling, making food from food produced on the farm; teaching basic kitchen and cooking skills to a wide range of ages. Organize and clean all supplies and equipment daily; order supplies as necessary.
 

• Necessary skills and experience: Attention to detail and safety awareness, with  excellent observation skills.  Some experience catering, working in an industrial kitchen, or taking cooking classes; have prior (preferably in a summer camp or school-based setting) experience working with children. A food handlers permit is a bonus.

Music
Lead and teach Jewish summer camp songs as well as American and Hebrew folk songs in camp-wide sing-a-longs; lead songs at opening circle every morning and songs and blessings at Shabbat services on Friday afternoons; develop fun, interactive song-based activities for small groups of children (e.g. musical games, songwriting workshop, etc)
 

• Necessary skills and experience: Play guitar proficiently, have a solid foundation of camp and folk songs appropriate for school-aged youth, feel comfortable singing in front of large groups of people, have prior song-leading experience (preferably in a summer camp or school-based setting); experience working with children.

All three non-farming specialists will also be expected to help around the farm between 3-5 hours per week. Some responsibilities include: cleaning animal enclosures; weekend animal and watering chores; weeding; maintaining farm spaces and cleaning sheds, pathways, and the compost pile.

Please view full internship description here.