HONOLULU – Kupu, Hawai‘i’s leading conservation and youth education organization, has announced two new AmeriCorps conservation internship positions in American Samoa.

In partnership with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Marine Sanctuary in American Samoa (NMSAS), Kupu is offering an opportunity for two student interns to work on a 10-month climate change adaptation project at NMSAS, starting this spring.

“We’re excited to offer our first conservation internship in American Samoa,” said John Leong, Kupu CEO.

“Kupu programs provide hands-on job training, cultural understanding and environmental education to empower youth and young adults. Our aim is to instill a desire for service, while developing the skills and capacity of our future leaders to create resilient and sustainable communities.”

Located in Pago Pago, the NOAA National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa is made up of small, dependent communities with limited resources, economic diversity, and 13,581 square miles of tropical marine coral ecosystems that make it exceptionally vulnerable to environmental changes. As a result of extreme climates in American Samoa over the past several decades, NMSAS has prioritized climate change as an emerging and real threat to new sites and communities within the area.

Selected Kupu interns will be required to work up to 19 hours per week for 10 months, starting as early as March, through the end of the year.

Under the guidance of a NMSAS research coordinator/mentor, Kupu interns will work toward raising awareness, increasing understanding and improving community resilience to climate change within the sanctuary’s management area of Aunu‘u Village. By engaging with Aunu‘u Village leaders and schools, interns will be in charge of developing and implementing a climate change adaptation plan, as well as providing an evaluation report at the end of their internship.

Candidates must be high school graduates or college undergraduate students, fluent in Samoan and English, with good writing and communications skills, some community work experience, and a background or interest in geography, earth science and outreach.

Selected Kupu interns are required to secure their own accommodations during their internship, for which they will receive a bi-weekly living allowance, in addition to nearly $3,000 in scholarship money upon completion of the program. For more information and to apply for the position, visit www.kupuhawaii.org/programs/#internship-openings.

The American Samoa internship positions in will remain open until filled.

For additional Kupu summer and year-round program opportunities throughout the state of Hawai‘i, visit www.kupuhawaii.org/programs/.

The deadline to apply for Kupu’s Conservation Leadership Development summer internships is Feb. 28, 2017, while priority placement for the year-round program will be given to those who apply by July 1, 2017.

About KUPU

Founded in 2007, Kupu is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, provides service-learning programs in industries like conservation, renewable energy, agriculture, and sustainability.

Through these initiatives, Kupu aims to teach youth vital work skills as well as leadership, responsibility and learning to serve the community, incorporating vocational training, educational degree achievement and service learning.

Kupu provides hundreds of paid internships, engages up to 17,000 volunteers, and provides more than $16 million benefit to Hawai‘i through its programs annually. This includes over 230,000 service hours and close to a half million dollars in college and continued education funds to Hawai‘i’s youth.

For more information, visit www.kupuhawaii.org.