Dorchester County Public High School Summer Internships

Shore Rivers High School Internship

Shore Rivers is hiring two high school interns from Dorchester County Public Schools to work with us in summer 2026. Current high school students (ages 16–18) attending one of Dorchester County Public Schools are eligible to apply.

Internship timeframe:
The internship lasts for four weeks within July. Start and end dates are flexible and will be determined when student interns are selected. Our goal is to allow students time for summer vacation, family, sports, and other commitments, while remaining engaged with this internship. Don't let this schedule stop you from applying if you anticipate conflicts. We can discuss possible work schedules during the interview.

Hours:

During the four-week internship, students will work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8:30am–4:30pm. After the summer internship, students will have the opportunity to be paid for up to an additional 20 hours during the rest of the summer or fall to plan and complete a "capstone" project in their community, e.g., litter clean up, tree planting, mural, etc.

Pay: $15/hour, approximately $1,125 for the summer and $300 for capstone project.

Location:

Interns will work at Shore Rivers' office in Easton, throughout Dorchester County, and on the Choptank River.

This is the second year of this internship, which was created to support high school students in discovering their interests and passions while also gaining work experience in environmental careers. If you are interested in this opportunity, even if you have never done anything like this before or are unsure about the experience, we encourage you to apply!

If you have questions or want to talk things through before applying, you can email Paige Dempsey, Shore Rivers' internship coordinator,  can also talk to your career coach at school.

The high school interns will be supervised by a staff mentor from Shore Rivers' Education Team, but will interact with our entire staff and college-aged summer interns. Summer interns will receive training in all internship activities and will be supervised by a staff member at all times.

Shore Rivers' high school summer interns will:

• Collect water quality samples by boat with our Choptank Riverkeeper
• Collect and process water bacteria samples for our Swimmable Shore Rivers program
• Visit tree and garden planting sites in our communities to water plants and monitor project success
• Support environmental education programs, including our partnership with a summer camp, which will include fishing and canoeing with middle school students
• Create community outreach materials, such as flyers for events, social media posts, or e-newsletter articles
• Plan and implement their own capstone project with the help of Shore Rivers staff. Examples of capstone projects include, but are not limited to, organizing community cleanups, creating an issue awareness or behavior change campaign, or community green space beautification such as murals or native plantings.
• Other possible activities include helping collect underwater grass seeds, visiting community partners who also work in the Choptank River watershed, removing invasive species, participating in litter clean ups, cleaning supplies, and more.

Shore Rivers' high school summer interns will be expected to:

• Communicate openly with staff mentor throughout the internship (about schedule, with any questions, etc.)
• Commit to learning and asking questions about environmental topics and issues, learning new skills, and trying new activities
• Be enthusiastic about meeting new people in our communities
• Work outside and in nature for part or all of the day, occasionally on boats and by the water
• Stay engaged and participate for the entire duration of the internship

We highly recommend you let your career coach or school counselor know you are applying for the internship — they can help you. Please take this as an opportunity to write in your own words. Applications may be put through an AI detector. To apply for this internship: