Rotary Club of Shades Valley Internship

 

2012 Summer Intern Hunter McBrayer is a graduate of the University of Alabama and has been consulting on design and installation of sustainable landscapes using native plants. He plans to pursue graudate school.

 

 
 
 

2011 Summer Intern Cameron Strauss is a graduate of the University of Montevallo

and is currently working in horticulture in Alabama after a second internship in Oregon.

  
 
2010 Summer Intern Katie King is a graduate of Samford University and is currently a graduate student in public garden leadership at Cornell University.  
 
2009 Summer Intern Steve Kennedy is a graduate of Miles College and received a master's degree in plant science from Tennessee State University.
  
 

2008 Summer Intern Meghan McDonald is a graduate of Birmingham-Southern College and has completed her master's degree in literature at the University of Tennessee.

  

The Rotary Club of Shades Valley (RCSV) is funding a summer internship at Birmingham Botanical Gardens, a City of Birmingham facility, for the sixth consecutive year. The internship is an excellent opportunity for a full-time college student or recent graduate to learn skills in applied horticulture and to gain practical experience toward a career in public horticulture. The intern will be employed by Birmingham Botanical Society, Inc., dba Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens, an education-based non-profit organization that has partnered with the city for 50 years in the operation of Birmingham Botanical Gardens. The intern will work under the supervision of a number of Birmingham Botanical Gardens and Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens staff throughout the summer, but the principal contact will be the Director of Education with Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens.

The internship is open to a rising junior or senior attending a four-year college or university full-time or to a recent graduate (within the last 12 months) of a two or four-year college. Preference will be given to students majoring in horticulture, landscape design, landscape architecture, biology, botany, ecology, plant science and environmental science or a closely related discipline, as determined by the Director of Education. Past interns have continued their educations in graduate school studying literature, plant science and public garden leadership at the University of Tennessee, Tennessee State University and Cornell University, respectively, or they have investigated career options tempered by their internship experience.

The internship will begin in May (the start date will depend on the availability of the intern) and will last 10-12 weeks (depending on the availability of the intern) at 40 hours per week. Eight-hour days will be from 7 or 8 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, with a non-paid hour break for lunch. Pay is fifteen dollars ($15) per hour for a maximum of $7,200 paid to the intern. Tools and rain and safety gear will be provided. The intern will treated much like other employees, with the same expectations for proper dress, punctuality, work ethic and appropriate behavior, including safety awareness. The intern will participate in the annual staff summer “fun day.” The same paid summer holidays apply (Memorial Day and Independence Day). The intern will attend a RCSV meeting each month in May, June and July and will be required to present a verbal summary of the internship experience accompanying a 20-minute slide presentation at a RCSV weekly meeting during August.

Work and instruction will focus on disciplines central to botanical garden management and maintenance, including the principles of plant propagation, greenhouse and nursery production, planting, grounds maintenance, arboriculture, pest and weed management and the curatorial aspects of plant collections. Depending on the interests of the intern, work and instruction may include plant display design, library and archives, marketing, membership, fund raising, public relations, child and adult education, and visitor and volunteer programs. The intern will work in the various gardens at BBG: the Kaul Wildflower Garden, Hulsey Woods and Japanese Garden, Alabama Woodlands, Fern Glade, Iris and Lily Gardens, Rose Garden, Conservatory and greenhouses and in the administration building (Garden Center).
The intern also will be given time to attend relevant local meetings, events, lectures and field trips with staff. The intern also may work on an on-going project of his or her interest. The 2009 intern, for example, developed a brochure on medicinal plants in Birmingham Botanical Gardens. The 2010 intern wrote regular posts for the Birmingham Botanical Gardens website and the 2012 intern researched a rare endemic Alabama fern. Time will be provided each week by Birmingham Botanical Gardens and Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens staff to instruct the intern on a tutorial basis.

Candidates must provide a 1-2 page resume, a statement in approximately 200 words of professional objectives regarding the internship, a reference from his or her academic advisor, who is knowledgeable of the candidate’s scholastic standing toward graduation and are required to have proof of a valid driver’s license (exceptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis, for example, for disabled but otherwise qualified applicants). The internship is very competitive and candidates are encouraged to be thorough, detailed and grammatically accurate and concise with their applications. All materials must be received by 5 p.m., Friday, March 15, 2013. Materials may be submitted electronically or in hard copy. It is the candidate’s obligation to ensure the receipt of application materials at Birmingham Botanical Gardens by the deadline. A decision on the successful candidate will be made by 5 p.m., Monday, April 1, 2013 following a personal interview that will include representatives of Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens and RCSV.

The Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens encourages any candidate who meets the qualifications above to apply. It is the policy of Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens to make all employment decisions including but not limited to recruiting, hiring, training, assignment, promotion, compensation, discipline and termination without unlawful regard for age, race, creed, color, religion, sex, orientation, disability, national origin, veteran status or exercising a protected right. Please note, however, that preference will be given to candidates who currently are from or are studying in Alabama.

Please send application materials or requests for more information to:
Henry Hughes
Director of Education
Birmingham Botanical Gardens
2612 Lane Park Road
Birmingham, AL 25223
205.414.3951
hhughes@bbgardens.org