Join our team!
Summary
Are you a team-player, builder, explorer, listener, or maker? Tinkering School is looking for Collaborators (After School and Summer Camp Counselors) to join our team! Our Collaborators can curate and shape an environment that tilts us all towards engagement, but follows a child’s lead as they explore that environment.
We are looking for candidates with experience in open-ended learning environments and the challenges they present. Kids across ages hang out all day and during every activity. Ideally you can hold space for a 7-year-old’s unbelievably fascinating tangential story and talk to an eleven-year-old with the adult tone they crave and deserve. We can teach you how to use tools and you can learn to build along side the kids, but it is essential that you firmly believe children are already whole people with important things to say. Are you ready to admit you don't know what to do, then ask questions and do what a 8 year old suggests? Does the mystery of a project soon-to-be designed by kids excite you!?
We are as eager to talk to bombastic college students as we are to talk to educators with 35 years of experience. We are as eager to talk to master storytellers that can handle a crowd as we are to talk to quiet listeners that will take the time to hear the tiniest voice of the shyest camper. We seek to create a well-rounded group full of Collaborators that children of all inclinations can relate to, build relationships with, and trust. What really matters is a focus on the kids.
Open Positions
Summer Camp Program Manager (Part Time)
Learn more about the position here.
Summer Collaborators (Seasonal)
Learn more about the position here.
Who We Are Looking For
Candidates will say "That's me!" to any combination of the following skills:
- A six to ten-year-old kid expert. Dreamers playing at the edge of possibility.
- An eleven to sixteen-year-old kid expert. Our oldest bunch this year, with a lot to share and a deep urge to be heard and seen.
- A tool master who can handle a drill press and is comfortable guiding a six-year-old through the use of our chop saw.
- A big games ring-leader, with ideas about games that can engage a wide range of kids side by side on a giant open field. Nothing builds bonds quite as fast as big games played with great sportsmanship.
- A storyteller. Starting the day, over lunch, end of day. Stories bring us together. Stories help kids focus long enough to eat their lunch. Stories teach and set examples. Stories make us a tribe.
- A provocations crafter. The good projects tell us what they look like at the end, But the very best projects simply get us excited to start.
- A listener. Some kids are shy and don’t usually get a lot of attention. You know how to find those kids, figure out what makes them tick, and can get them engaged.
Work Hours and Dates:
2025 Summer Camp Dates: Coming Soon!
Training/setup: tba
Camp: Mid June - Mid August
Hours: Mon-Fri: 8:45a - 5:15p
———
Tinkering School is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions based on merit. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex (including gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender, pregnancy, and breastfeeding), sexual orientation (including heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality), national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, marital status, age, medical condition, genetic characteristics or information, military and veteran status, and physical or mental disability, or any other consideration made unlawful by federal, state or local laws.