Overview
Wolf Ridge offers work experience combined with regular evaluation and graduate level coursework in collaboration with Antioch University New England—designed to help you grow as an experiential educator and naturalist. This is a 10-month program that culminates in a graduate-level Certificate in Environmental Education and Sustainability, with 12 transferable graduate credits. Graduate naturalists teach an average of 6 half-day classes a week, attend graduate seminars, live and learn in our sustainable staff housing, and explore our 2,000 acre campus while learning how to be better educators, live in community, and co-teach with the natural world.
You will teach from a diverse array of content and participate in training for key competencies. Teaching includes exploring our 2,000 acre campus with students during 3-hour long classes, giving evening program presentations to 200+ students, doing virtual field trips, and acting as a liaison to visiting schools. You will work daily with participants of all ages, social backgrounds, physical and mental abilities, and personal interests. You will learn how to foster nature connection through outdoor, hands-on, experiential learning in all weather conditions.
Everything you do here is connected to a credit, whether you’re teaching, attending a seminar, or walking through the woods looking at plants. Seminars and course work may include bird banding, plant ID hikes, tapping maple trees, discussing and practicing place-based education, lynx tracking in the national forest, and exploring local food systems. You will explore both theory and practice combining a rich understanding of the psychological needs of students and theoretical aspects of pedagogy with real-life experience. The entire program is interdisciplinary and will put you in direct contact with professionals in education, wildlife management, storytelling, business administration, organic farming, live animal care, and more.
The program runs from late August 2025 to early June 2026. Your total out-of-pocket cost for the graduate naturalist tuition is $3,000. Naturalists receive a private dormitory room in our sustainable staff housing, meals when schools are in residence, all necessary materials for teaching and learning, and scholarships from Wolf Ridge and Antioch. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis December-February for the fall cohort.
Other Benefits:
– Scholarships through Wolf Ridge and Antioch University New England to reduce the cost of tuition ($4,290 value).
– Teaching Assistantship covers part of tuition ($6,720 value) as well as housing and most meals.
– Private room in sustainable staff housing with kitchen, laundry, and shared living spaces.
– Meals in the dining hall when schools are on campus and food staples provided for the house.
– Access to recreational equipment like canoes, camping gear, snowshoes, and cross country skis.
– 2-week winter break and 5 flex days off.
– Professional purchase discounts.
Qualifications:
- Able to commit to August 24th 2025 - June 5th, 2026
- B.A. or B.S. degree (required to receive graduate credit)
- Ability to live on-site in shared staff housing (private room)
- Current CPR and First Aid certification
- Enthusiasm for working with Children
- Growth mindset and adaptability
- Community oriented
Required Skills:
Must be able to travel under their power, for hours at a time, through the terrain of the entire Wolf Ridge property, including on and off trail.
Most teaching time is spent outdoors in all conditions possible in northeastern MN, at all times of the year (below freezing temperatures, snow/ice, rain, heat, humidity, bugs).
Frequent traversing of 3+ miles on uneven terrain and up/down hills.
Frequent communication over email, phone, and in-person.
Facilitation of indoor rock climbing and outdoor high ropes.
About Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center
Wolf Ridge ELC is an accredited K-12 school that specializes in residential school trips with a focus on hands-on experiential learning. We welcome over 12,000 students, teachers, and chaperones annually to our 2,000 acre campus overlooking Lake Superior for multi-day immersive outdoor experiences. Our mission is to develop a citizenry that has the knowledge, skills, motivation, and commitment to work together for a quality environment. We achieve this by: fostering awareness, curiosity, and sensitivity to the natural world; providing lifelong learning experiences in nature; developing social understanding, respect, and cooperation; modeling values, behaviors, and technologies which lead to a sustainable lifestyle; and promoting the concepts of conservation and stewardship.
