Great setting, inspirational leadership, insights into a possible career, and $10.31 an hour. What more could a teenager want from a summer job? All they have to do is live in North Carolina and want to spend a chunk of the summer in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The park currently is recruiting high school students from North Carolina for its summer internship program, which runs from June 22 through July 31. The internship program is made possible through a 3-year, $1 million Science Education grant from Toyota to Friends of the Smokies, a non-profit organization that supports conservation, education, and other park priorities.

The summer internships are just one of the programs made possible through the grant. The goal of the grant is to provide students with science-related experiences that may encourage careers in the sciences. The internships are paid, part-time positions that will in most cases be working directly under the supervision of park staff, scientists or graduate students from universities, including Warren Wilson College and the University of Tennessee.

Since 2003, 70 students from Swain, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, and other North Carolina counties have held internships, previously supported by a grant provided by Burroughs Wellcome Fund.

Interns will work 3-4 days per week, depending on which projects they are assigned to work. All positions pay $10.31 per hour. The students will work on park research projects and education programs that include:

* high elevation bird migration

* inventories of beetles, waterbears and other groups for the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory

* monitoring salamander populations and effects of ozone on native plants

* assisting NPS staff with conducting children’s Junior Ranger programs for the visiting public.

The internship positions will be based out of the Oconaluftee Visitor Center area of the Park (Swain County) and at the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Haywood County. Interns will need to provide their own transportation to the Park.

Benefits include experience with research methods, working with and learning from professional scientists, recommendations/referrals for future employment opportunities, and being part of exciting scientific discoveries.

Interested students must be 16 years of age or older by June 22, 2009, and be currently enrolled in an accredited high school or have acceptance to enter college as a freshman in fall 2009.

To apply, students are required to send a resume that includes a phone number of one reference, as well as a cover letter explaining why this job would be good for them and why they would be good for the job.

All applications must be postmarked by March 21, 2009, and sent to: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, P.O. Box 357, Lake Junaluska, N.C. 28745.

For more information, check out this site or call the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center at (828) 926-6251.