Experience Learning

Updates: Hiring for 2025!

Hiring:

Do you believe in the power of wild places? Nestled in the heart of Appalachia, Experience Learning is a 400-acre high preserve located just below the base of the highest mountain in West Virginia – Spruce Knob. Here is where your adventure begins! 

Experience Learning is looking for outdoor professionals who have a passion for the outdoors, and who want to share their experiences and time with students in grades 5th-12th grade. Courses can include 1-2 day dorm based courses, 3-6 day residential summer camps, 1-2 day off-site courses in local communities (visiting WV public schools), 4-8 day field courses (Private schools from the Mid-Atlantic region) both in the nearby national forest, as well as variety of off-site courses in wild spaces throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.

2025 Openings:
We have several options for different seasons please look carefully

1. Resident Outdoor Field Instructor (7.5 month position) – March 26, 2025 – October 31, 2025 ($500 end of season bonus)
2. Spring Outdoor Field Instructor – March 26, 2025 – May 31, 2025 
3. Spring/Summer Outdoor Field Instructor – March 26, 2025 – August 26, 2025 (flexible end date)
4. Summer/Fall Outdoor Field Instructor – May 30, 2025 – October 31, 2025
5. Summer Camp Instructor – May 30, 2025 – August 15, 2025 (flexible end date)
6. Fall Outdoor Field Instructor – August 27, 2025 – October 31, 2025

Information for all Field Instructor Positions

As an Outdoor Field Instructor, you will lead students on Wilderness Learning courses (both field and residential based), helping people become confident, competent individuals with a clear vision of their responsibilities and potential for improving the human condition and the natural world.

Qualifications and Requirements:

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent life experience

• Wilderness First Aid/CPR – Required or ability to acquire before the position begins (WFA certification offered on-site March 28 – 30, 2025, WFR cert offered August 10-19, 2025)

• Valid Driver’s License

• Desire to live in a remote mountain setting with an outstanding community of outdoor professionals and to work hard to make a positive change in our world

• Facilitate discussions and initiatives around leadership, communication, environmental stewardship, teamwork, creative problem-solving, and other subjects. 

• Lead 1-8 day residential and field-based programs in challenging settings that include hiking, backpacking, camp craft, orienteering, caving, stream ecology, forest ecology, geology, rock climbing, canoeing, stewardship projects, outdoor cooking, and survival skills.

Benefits and Salary:

• Starting daily compensation rate: $65.00-$105 a day based on the merit-based scale
  - See the Merit Based Pay tab to see what pay range you might fall in

• Shared housing provided

• 1 day of health leave per month worked

• Access to pro deals

• Opportunities for organizational advancement

Additional Information About Experience Learning

Do you believe in the power of wild places? Nestled in the heart of Appalachia, Experience Learning is a 400-acre high preserve located just below the base of the highest mountain in West Virginia – Spruce Knob. Here is where your adventure begins! 

Experience Learning is looking for outdoor professionals who have a passion for the outdoors, and who want to share their experiences and time with students in grades 5th-12th grade. Courses can include 1-2 day dorm based courses, 3-6 day residential summer camps, 1-2 day off-site courses in local communities (visiting WV public schools), 4-8 day field courses (Private schools from the Mid-Atlantic region) both in the nearby national forest, as well as variety of off-site courses in wild spaces throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.