Applications are welcomed and encouraged from all qualified individuals regardless of background and identity. A one-page cover letter is required for consideration for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume in a single pdf file. The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position and outline skills and experiences that directly relate to it. 

This is a student summer internship position with the Campus Farm at Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum. The Campus Farm is a student-driven, multi-stakeholder, living-learning lab for sustainable food systems work on campus. The farm is dedicated to the ecological production of food, on-farm carbon neutrality, and food access centered around food grown by students for students. Produce grown on the farm goes to dining halls on campus, UM Farm Stand, Maize and Blue Cupboard food pantry, and other food access programs in the community. The Campus Farm summer internship takes place Monday, May 5 to Friday, August 22, 2025.  In order to fully participate in team collaboration and project work, selected candidates are expected to complete all dates of the internship. Occasional evening and weekend work may be required.

Learning Objectives

The MBGNA summer internship provides university-level students with opportunities to:

• Participate in experiential learning in a nature-based organization
• Directly contribute to strategic operations of a mission-driven organization
• Help unify and catalyze access across lands, waters, and dynamic systems

Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum is a transformative force for social and ecological resilience through the waters and lands we steward. We turn this commitment into action by:

• Positioning humans as active participants within the natural world and compelling the university community and our publics to negotiate the full complexity that entails.
• Advancing partnerships, programs, and all that we steward to catalyze access and impact in a radically changing world.
• Emerging as University of Michigan's premier partner for research, teaching, and public impact in sustainability, climate-forward practices, and biocultural diversity.
• Promoting healthier communities, cultures, and ecosystems through active care and cultivation of the gardens, fields, natural habitats, and dynamic systems that sustain our world.

For more information about MBGNA and the summer internship program, please visit: https://mbgna.umich.edu/summer-internships 

For questions about the internship application, please contact:
MBGNAinternships@umich.edu 

This internship position is part of the UM Campus Farm at MBGNA. As part of the Campus Farm team, this position will regularly interact with UM students and staff, community partners, and other MBGNA departments during the course of a workday.  

This internship position will support the goals of the UM Campus Farm through the following: 

• Organic transplant seeding, watering and care
• Crop planting, weeding, irrigation, pest and disease management
• Organic and ecological soil management
• Small farm-equipment and hand tool use and operation
• Harvest, post-harvest handling, food safety, sales and distribution
• Internships will follow a scaffolded structure for increasing  knowledge, skills and management over the course of the summer allowing increased agency over farm management towards the end of the internship.

• Applicants must have one year of experience enrolled in a college or university by the internship start date. Recent college graduates who earned a degree in December 2024 or are planning to earn a degree by May 2025 are eligible to apply. 
• This position may require a valid driver's license and a motor vehicle record check in order to operate MBGNA vehicles.
• Applicants should enjoy physical and at times strenuous work, being outdoors, and reaping the physical and metaphorical fruits (and vegetables) of their labor. 
• Ability and willingness to work in an inclusive and team-oriented way with diverse audiences, partner organizations, and programs involved with the Campus Farm.
• Must have a flexible schedule with occasional weekend and evening availability.
• Potential for continuation part time into fall term exists as do opportunities for possible advancement into student management team roles.

40 hours per week / 5 days per week
Includes occasional evening and weekend work
 

MBGNA comprises 841 total acres, spanning across four sites, including the gardens, arboretum, a bog, and natural areas. This internship takes place mainly at the UM Campus Farm at Matthaei Botanical Gardens, 1800 N. Dixboro Rd, Ann Arbor, MI 48105. 

Positions that are eligible for hybrid or mobile/remote work mode are at the discretion of the hiring department. Work agreements are reviewed annually at a minimum and are subject to change at any time, and for any reason, throughout the course of employment. Learn more about the work modes.

Compensation: $15.00/hour

The MBGNA internship application will be open Wednesday, January 15 - Sunday, March 2, 2025.  Applications will be reviewed after the internship application closes.  Selected candidates will be contacted for interviews beginning Monday, March 10, 2025.  Final candidates will be notified by March 31, 2025. 

The University of Michigan is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.