Internships with STENAPA

STENAPA offers three to four internships at a time, in particular a National Park intern, Botanical Garden intern and Marine Park intern. An internship with STENAPA offers the opportunity to gain experience of working for a national park, experience of coordinating and leading volunteers and research or special projects to complete.

Interns generally have relevant experience in their field of work, and the internships usually last for 6 months.
The internships will primarily be assisting with the routine work of the national parks including leading the volunteer groups whilst working either on trail maintenance, gardening or maintenance of the marine park. Interns may also be asked to assist with staffing the office from time to time and any other activities which contribute to the development and upkeep of the parks. Interns are normally expected to complete 3 to 4 personal projects during their stay which will be developed to suit each intern's skills and expertise.
Interns work normal working hours (8 hours daily Monday-Friday). The intern work agreement with STENAPA includes the right to stay in the house at the Garden, use of a truck during out of office hours, use the internet during late afternoons in the office, and a small stipend each month for their role with coordination of the volunteer group. All interns must have a driving license.

National Park Intern

The national park intern is responsible for the maintenance of trails in the Quill national park. There is a network of 7 trails some of which are maintained more regularly than others due to visitor demand. The national park intern will be assisting the national parks ranger in leading groups of volunteers on trail maintenance 2-4 days per week. During afternoons or days without assistance from volunteers the intern usually prepares interpretation boards, signage or works on assigned personal projects. The national parks intern may also be asked to staff the office and assists with the junior ranger program and educational visits to the garden.
The majority of work for this position involves lots of physical activity in the hot sun. Applicants will therefore need to be physically fit. Preference is given to applicants with experience in trail maintenance and team leadership. Additional skills like carpentry, chain saw operation and/ or small engine maintenance would be an advantage.

Botanical Garden Intern

The botanical garden intern is responsible for assisting the gardener with maintenance and development of the botanical gardens. Interns contribute towards making the mission of the Miriam C Schmidt Garden possible.
The intern is responsible for assisting the gardener with the coordination of maintenance for phase I of the garden as well as activities, planning and application for the next phase. A team of 2-8 volunteers from working abroad usually assists the intern each weekday morning with projects in the gardens. Besides the gardens, the intern may be asked to staff the office from time to time, and assist in the junior ranger program and educational visits to the garden in addition to assigned personal projects.
The majority of work for this position involves lots of physical activity in the garden in the hot sun. Applicants will therefore need to be physically fit. Gardening experience is required and experience of leading a team of adults is preferred. Knowledge of tropical plants would be useful but is not essential. Additional skills like carpentry, plumbing, electrics and/or small engine maintenance would be an advantage.

Marine Park Intern

The marine park intern assists the manager and rangers in day to day marine park duties which include maintaining/installing dive/yacht moorings, visiting live-aboard supervision, helping on research projects, giving educational talks in schools, assisting on snorkel club and the junior ranger program, assisting with the national park office administration, and collection of marine park fees.
The marine park intern may also be asked to assist with the sea turtle conservation program, during nesting season this may include assisting with morning and nighttime beach patrols.
The marine park intern must be qualified to PADI rescue level to assure competence in diving.
During Turtle nesting season from April to November when Leatherback, Hawksbill and Green turtles nest on Statia’s Zeelandia beach, botanical garden and national park interns may also be asked to assist on nighttime patrols.