Yestermorrow Internship Program
Applicant Information

Download the packet as a Word file here.

This information will provide you with details about the Yestermorrow Design/Build School and how the Internship Program operates. Please read through the information thoroughly before applying, and feel free to contact us with any questions you may have about the program.

Questions should be directed to Kate Stephenson, Director of Operations: kate@yestermorrow.org or at 802-496-5545.

In this document you will find information on:

. Yestermorrow Mission Statement and Overview
. Internship Program Overview
. Internship Program Session Schedule
. Work and the Work Schedule
. Classes, Costs, Safety, Activities and a Typical Weekly Schedule
. Community Life, Communication, Recreation, and Travel
. Our Expectations of Interns and What We Look for in an Applicant
. Directions for Applying

Yestermorrow Mission Statement and Overview
Yestermorrow Design/Build School inspires people to create a better, more sustainable world by providing hands-on education that integrates design and craft as a creative, interactive process. Located in the heart of the Green Mountains, Yestermorrow has been teaching professionals and homeowners since 1980.

Yestermorrow is the only school in the nation to offer a curriculum that integrates design education with hands-on building experience. Yestermorrow offers workshops and courses for novices and enthusiasts as well as a professional curriculum for students, architects and builders. Ranging from furniture making to home designing and building, Yestermorrow courses emphasize a holistic, informed, and ecologically sensitive approach to design and the use of materials.

More than 100 talented instructors arrive from across the country each year to share their knowledge and empower students of all ages to discover, shape and build their physical environment. By demystifying the complexities of the building process, faculty and staff guide each student to explore his or her individual voice, while offering valuable skills and techniques for understanding and building their designs within a larger context. The collective vision offered by the members of the Yestermorrow School supports collaborative participation and shared learning as essential components of an integrated curriculum.

The Campus

Yestermorrow is based on a 38-acre campus in Warren, Vermont on the site of the former Alpen Inn. In the early 1990s the property was purchased to provide a permanent home for the School, and the main building houses administrative offices, a large studio, library, woodshop, conference room, small studio, kitchen and dining area, and dormitory with 5 rooms. In addition, students, instructors, interns and staff have built three cabins, a treehouse, composting toilet, solar shower, earthen oven, tent platforms, an outdoor classroom area, and more. The property also includes the “Chalet”, a small house where the interns live together. For more campus details, visit the photo gallery on our website at: www.yestermorrow.org/campus.htm

Most out-of-town instructors stay on campus. Many other instructors live in the nearby community. When there are classes in session there are a variety of students staying on-campus in the dorm, cabins, and camping area.

Yestermorrow is located in a fairly rural area in the heart of the Mad River Valley of central Vermont. The area is known for its scenic landscape and multitude of recreational opportunities (skiing, hiking, kayaking, cycling, etc). The campus is halfway between the towns of Waitsfield and Warren (two small towns of approx. 2,000 residents each) on the Route 100 corridor. In nearby Waitsfield (3 mile drive/bike) there are a couple of grocery stores, hardware store, lumberyard, pharmacy, post office, and a variety of boutiques, restaurants, inns and ski shops.

The Yestermorrow Staff

Yestermorrow employs 6 office staff who run the daily operations of the School, which is governed by a Board of Directors which meets 4 times per year.

Internship Program Overview

The Internship program is divided roughly into three sessions. Five Design/Build interns are selected for each session, plus one Kitchen/Garden Intern who stays through the whole year.

The basic schedule is as follows (exact session dates may vary somewhat from year to year but the application deadlines stay the same):

Spring Session: January 1-May 15

Application Deadline: October 1

Applicant Notification Date: By October 31

Summer Session : May 15th – September 1

Application Deadline: March 1

Applicant Notification Date: By March 31

Fall Session : September 1-December 15

Application Deadline: June 1

Applicant Notification Date: By June 30

The Internship Program’s Mission & Objectives

The Internship Program is dedicated to provide a unique educational experience working and living as part of the Yestermorrow community. Program participants learn basic design/build skills as well as non-profit administrative skills by means of hands-on work experience, and at the same time are able to take a variety of courses offered by talented faculty from all over the country.

The Interns provide Yestermorrow with critical support in the day-to-day operations of the School while participating in hands-on learning opportunities both in and out of formal classes. The interns each contribute approximately 40-45 hours of manual labor per week in exchange for housing, meals, and one week of class per month (plus weekend workshops on a space available basis).

There is a $25 Application Fee to offset the cost of processing the applications.

Work and the Work Schedule

Daily Schedule

The Internship Program is based on a 40-45 hour work-week, often with longer hours when interns are participating in classes. Interns’ days start with chores at 8:00am, and a meeting with the staff at 8:30AM to discuss daily work projects and divide up daily tasks. Work ends at 5PM, sometimes later depending on workload and class schedules. Interns have an hour for lunch at noon. Interns have free time in the evenings and weekends (if they are not taking workshops or on weekend office duty).

General responsibilities of the interns include, but are not limited to:
•  Supporting the day-to-day operations and maintenance of the School.
• Providing administrative and project support to staff and instructors as needed.
•  Helping with campus construction and maintenance projects.
•  Assisting with planning and coordination of classes, lectures, and special events. 

The work at Yestermorrow varies according to the season, what classes are in session, and sometimes the work is project-based. Seasonal work includes things like mowing the grass pathways and setting up for lecture series nights (summer) and shoveling snow (winter). Building renovations tend to be ongoing and depend on the current capital improvement priorities of the Board. When classes are in session (about 90% of the time), a fair amount of the work at Yestermorrow revolves around class preparation—making sure the materials are ready, classrooms and woodshop are clean, tools are sharp, and the overall campus is clean and welcoming. There are also many daily and weekly chores that are part of the routine, such as cleaning the bathrooms, taking out the recycling, compiling student course evaluations, or watering the plants.

Occasionally, there are large long-term projects happening during a session that require lots of help from the Interns and may take weeks or months to complete (recent examples include sheetrocking the Main Studio, renovating the Chalet basement into living quarters, and building our new library space). The responsibilities of the interns change on a daily basis; there is always something new and unexpected that comes up- in one day an intern may be asked to do some daily chores, give a tour to a potential student, and install some trim on a new window. On the same day, another intern might end up going to town to take the recycling and put out catalogs at local businesses, then design a poster for an upcoming class, and make a run to the hardware store for plumbing supplies.

We rely on interns to identify projects that need attention, and take the initiative to solve problems without being directed to do so. Often, interns work together in pairs or individually without a lot of direct supervision, depending on the project at hand. At the morning meeting, everyone volunteers for whichever projects they want to work on. “Projects” can range from short-term things like building a custom door handle to finishing up a class project that the class didn’t quite complete. The internship is fairly unstructured to allow interns to pursue many of their own personal interests during the time that they’re at Yestermorrow, both through their choice of classes as well as the projects they choose to take on.

Interns acquire knowledge and practical skills through involvement with the daily operation of Yestermorrow. Instant gratification is not guaranteed, and everything always moves slower than you expect, so you must be realistic about the goals you set for yourself while working here. A willingness to take initiative is imperative – excitement about tackling and solving problems and a commitment to staying positive is a must! Our work can be extremely rewarding, as there are opportunities to learn new skills and interact closely with other interns, students, instructors and staff.

The majority of the work at Yestermorrow is manual labor of some sort, so be aware that you may spend days or weeks on tasks like roofing, gardening, sheetrocking, or plastering and painting. Be honest with yourself and with us about your ability, motivation, and desire to do manual labor and your interest in learning skills through experience.

Classes

For each month of their internship, interns participate in one week of classes. They are also welcome to participate in weekend workshops on a space available basis (in an average session, most interns take 4-6 weekend workshops). Scheduling of classes is flexible and depends on each intern’s goals. At the beginning of the internship session, the Yestermorrow staff will meet with each intern to choose their courses and discuss what kinds of skills they hope to learn during the session. Depending on when their preferred classes are being offered, an intern may take a couple of classes in one month, but then none the next. Interns can take 2-week classes as well, but they count for 2 months work. The staff will make a strong effort to accommodate each intern’s top class picks, but we cannot guarantee that space will be available. Occasionally we have to draw straws if more interns want to take a particular class than there are spaces. Luckily, there are many classes to choose from so we rarely have conflicts.

Safety and Health Concerns at Yestermorrow

As with a construction site or any woodshop, accidents can happen when using power tools, hand tools, climbing ladders, and moving materials. As a result safety is a top concern of ours. All interns receive a shop orientation during their first week at the School, before they are allowed to use any of our shop tools. Some Intern work involves a moderate amount of lifting, carrying, bending, and/or shoveling. Interns need to be aware of the physical limits of their own bodies and know to stop work that is too difficult or dangerous before an injury occurs. Your safety is a priority for us. All interns must submit proof of medical insurance before arrival at Yestermorrow. As part of the acceptance process, accepted applicants must also fill out a medical information form and sign a release form, releasing Yestermorrow from any responsibility of injury to an Intern while at Yestermorrow.

$25 Application Fee and Other Expenses

There is a one-time application fee of $25 to apply for Yestermorrow’s Internship Program.

Housing is provided along with all meals. Aside from the necessary costs such as travel to/from Yestermorrow and health insurance, expenses vary depending on interests and personal choices. Though many interns manage to live quite frugally, it is helpful to have some degree of savings in hand prior to arrival. Some interns manage to locate part-time work on evenings or weekends.

Typical Internship Program Work Week

The following is a typical weekly schedule for an Intern participating in the summer session. Please note, however, that work assignments vary dramatically, depending on current projects, weather, and any number of other issues, so this is only an example of how one specific Intern’s workweek might look:

Weekend Duty

All interns share the responsibility of “office duty” on the weekends. This means each weekend there is one intern in the office from 8:30-5 on Saturday and Sunday to answer phones, student questions, and work on specific office projects like typing up course evaluation responses, sending out catalogs and postcards, photocopying, etc. The weekends are split evenly between the 5 interns, so in the course of a typical internship session each intern will work 4-5 weekend shifts. Comp time is given for all weekend shifts worked- i.e. you can take two days off some other time in the week instead.

Community Life, Communication, Recreation, Travel

Yestermorrow is a close-knit community. The setting is quite rural, and Interns have limited access to travel except on weekends. Community living at Yestermorrow is an intense experience – Interns live in double-occupancy rooms, share meals together, work together, and often spend free time together. Being a part of our community requires tolerance, patience, respect, and openness to new ideas and perspectives. Acceptance to this program entails a commitment to collective responsibility – going the extra mile to get things done. There are a number of recreational possibilities at Yestermorrow: skiing, sledding and snowshoeing in winter, hiking and mountain biking trails, dirt roads for running, and a fabulous swimming hole across the road in the summer. The views of the countryside and surrounding farms inspire painting, drawing, writing, or other forms of artistic expression.

Communication

Interns have access to a phone in the Chalet which requires a calling card to make long distance calls. Computer access with a DSL connection as well as wireless internet is available in the main school building at 4 public computer stations. All interns have a mailbox in the main office where they can receive mail and packages.

Travel

The workday sometimes exceeds the 8:00-5 schedule because of projects or deadlines. Extra overtime hours can be accumulated toward comp time, but Interns are not compensated financially for overtime work.

Personal transportation is recommended, due to our rural location, but not required. When it is not being used by classes, the Interns have the use of a vehicle (15-passenger van) for local errands, groceries, etc. We also have a number of bikes available for interns to use for on-campus and off-campus trips.

Evaluation procedures

In an effort to facilitate program development, we ask Interns to tell us their expectations for our program at the beginning of each session, and then ask them to evaluate their experience at the end. The staff also meets with each intern individually once a month to “check in” and address any concerns and receive feedback.

Our Expectations of Interns & What We Look for in an Applicant

Our Expectations

We ask that Interns be interested in the philosophy of Yestermorrow and willing to learn, through experience and hard work, the processes involved in maintaining a healthy community and school operation. This requires flexibility, creativity, patience, curiosity, and responsibility toward our community on the part of the Intern.

All Internship participants are expected to commit to the full internship session and are expected to put in a full eight-hour day, every workday, no matter the desirability of the assigned work or group activity. Some jobs are easier,some more difficult, some exciting, some dull…but all the tasks play an important part in the operation of Yestermorrow, andall tasks need to be completed efficiently and correctly to ensure the success of our courses and program. As stated earlier, Yestermorrow is a close-knit community. We expect Interns to actively participate in our community in apositive, productive manner – everyone must pull his or her own weight in order to make Yestermorrow an enjoyable place tolive and work. Most of all, we want to have fun!

What We Look for in an Applicant

We try to create a diverse and dynamic group of people with many skills, interests and varying backgrounds, so that each individual can offer a new or different perspective to the group. While we appreciate knowledge or skill in a particular area, everyone participates in different areas of the work of the School. Therefore acceptance to our program does not depend solely upon experience, but rather on a combination of the various qualities we feel an applicant can contribute to our community.

Qualifications for the position include:
•  A passion for design and construction.
•  An interest or background in architecture, carpentry, woodworking, planning, design, engineering, or environmental studies is helpful.
•  Ability to have fun and remain flexible while maintaining organization and attention to detail.
•  Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
•  Learning objectives that coincide with the school's mission.

We work hard here at Yestermorrow, but we also like to have fun. We look for adventurous people who can balance work and play, are very flexible and have positive attitudes about life and work, and can enjoy life in a rural setting. Please let us know why you think you would be a good addition to our community.

Directions for Applying

If, after a thorough review of this information, you are interested in applying to the Yestermorrow Internship Program, please fill out an application and return it to us by e-mail. Simply download the form from our website, open the application using Microsoft Word, answer the questions within the application, attach the completed application to a new e-mail, and send it back, along with an attached resume. Applications will also be accepted via US mail.

We STRONGLY encourage all applicants to visit the School if possible when applying . We want you to have a good understanding of the School and the living situation and it is much easier for us to get to know you in person rather than on paper and over the phone. We welcome applicants who want to come and do work-trade in exchange for tuition reduction on a class. It’s a great way to get a taste of what the internship is like for a couple of days, and also helps us get to know you and your interests.

We receive applications from many qualified people, so please be aware that acceptance to the program is highly competitive. We ask that you take the time to think about your responses to our questions, and provide sincere and candid answers that will enable us to understand why you are interested in the Internship Program and what qualities you feel you can contribute to our community here at Yestermorrow. It is essential that you have read the applicant information carefully so as to develop a clear expectation of what this experience entails. Working at Yestermorrow is a rewarding experience that can provide knowledge that will be useful for a lifetime, and a tremendous satisfaction comes from acquiring new skills andworking with others to achieve common goals, while strengthening our connection with the environment and another culture.

Upon receipt of your application and $25 application fee, we will review your application, and contact you with any additional questions. If you are accepted to the Yestermorrow Internship Program, we will send you a packet of information containing a Confirmation and Release form, and Intern Handbook. If we are not able to accept you, we will notify you via email.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Director of Operations Kate Stephenson at kate@yestermorrow.org or 802-496-5545.

Mailing Address:

189 VT Route 100

Warren , VT 05674

Website: www.yestermorrow.org