BOLD & GOLD Internship
An Outdoor Leadership Development Program
YMCA of the North’s BOLD & GOLD program offers a paid internship program at our Camp Widjiwagan, Camp Menogyn, and Camp St. Croix locations, for young people ages 16-18-year-old. The Internship Program allows young leaders to develop their wilderness, leadership, interpersonal, and intercultural skills, by participating in a paid training program, followed by co-leading trips alongside camp staff.
What to Expect
Interns will participate in an initial training session to receive group management, experiential education, youth development and wilderness skills instruction. Following their training trip, Interns will co-guide a trip(s) alongside a Widjiwagan/Menogyn/Croix staff member. These co-lead trips will be geared towards the younger campers, and are often introductory experiences. Interns will have a chance to get to know and build friendships with other members of their cohort, and will also receive a $200 gear stipend from REI as a part of the experience.
While the internship is an incredible opportunity for leadership development and experience within our camp settings, we find that all our interns take what they learned in this program back to school and community settings, where they are (or become) leaders in other capacities.
“I was pretty nervous about doing the internship, because I’d never been away from home for that long and I knew it was going to be a very challenging experience, but it ended up being one of the most important times of my life. Yes, it was hard, but I learned so much about myself and the people and world around me, and I found an incredibly fun and accepting community. It’s a challenge, but it’s worth it.” - BOLD & GOLD Intern
Application Process 2025
Individuals interested in applying for this internship position will first need to complete a written, online application, which can be found here beginning December 16th, 2025. This written application will be open from December 16th to January 17th, 2025. We will not accept any applications past the January 17th deadline.
The second step after the written application, is a Zoom interview with the Summer Program Director at either Widjiwagan, Menogyn, or St. Croix. We will reach out after January 17th to schedule interviews for early February, with internship decisions by the end of February at the latest.
Applicants may apply to more than one site, and preference is given to applicants who can commit to the whole internship time block. While there isn’t an experience requirement, our most successful interns have shown enthusiasm for developing leadership skills, youth development work, and a passion for the outdoors.
Dates + Spaces
Menogyn hosts 6 interns each summer. The Internship runs from July 21 to August 15.
Intern training, which includes a training trip in the BWCA, runs from 7/21 - 7/25. Then interns will co-lead two or three trips that are some combination of 5-day BWCA Canoe Trips or 12-day BWCA Canoe Trips. Interns will be selected to lead these trips based on their interest, experience, co-leads, and the needs of camp.
Widjiwagan hosts 6 interns each summer. The Internship runs from July 14 to August 8.
Intern training, which includes a training trip in the BWCA, runs from 7/14 - 7/25. Then interns will co-lead one or two trips, either one 12-day Intro to Canoe Trip or two 5 day Pathfinder Canoe Trips. Both end on 8/8. Interns will be selected to lead either the Intro or Pathfinder Trips based on their interest, experience, co-leads, and the needs of camp. We aspire to build a progression within this program, and oftentimes the longer trip experiences may go to interns who have completed the program before. We feel that there are valuable learning opportunities to guiding both shorter trips and a longer trip.
Camp St. Croix hosts 4 interns each summer. The internship runs from TBD to TBD.
Apply
Check back here from 12/15/24-1/15/25 for the written application.