Educator Spotlight: Jennifer Wiggen

Jennifer Wiggen, the Director of Education and Engagement at the Bald Head Island Conservancy, recently completed her NC Environmental Education Certification. In her role at the conservancy, Jennifer creates opportunities for people to have meaningful nature-based experiences on Bald Head Island. These experiences can include taking the Turtle Walk program to observe a nesting sea turtle, exploring oyster reefs on a guided kayak or creating art with nature during a summer camp.

Jennifer’s work has a significant impact on students in the area. “We bring over a thousand 6th grade students from Title 1 schools in Brunswick County every year for a free outdoor field trip where they learn about the ecosystems found on Barrier Islands. I love the outdoors - my family and I call them nature adventures – and I want to share it with others because I believe if we can connect people to the natural world, the more we all will feel connected and can become better environmental stewards.”

In her personal time Jennifer is a NC Certified Watercraft Instructor and Outdoor Instructor for the Girls Scouts. She spends a lot of time volunteering with the girls so they will have the opportunity to experience being on the water and enjoying the outdoors. She also volunteers to monitor sea turtle nests in the summer with the Oak Island Sea Turtle Program. “When I’m not outside, you can probably find me spending time with family, at CrossFit or reading.”

When asked about her favorite part of the program, Jennifer says she enjoyed all the classes she took, all the new things she learned and exploring different education centers and outdoor spaces. “It made me feel like a kid again to go discover different museums, nature centers and do different outdoor excursions and learn from other educators. I just really enjoyed the opportunity to prioritize learning again. This was especially true after taking the classes because you just look at things differently and see all the things you can incorporate and do to make your programming and space better and more accessible.”

As far as an experience that stood out to her, Jennifer says it was the opportunity to include her family in her certification journey. “I really got to spend some amazing quality time with my family visiting some truly beautiful places in North Carolina. I visited Grandfather Mountain with my husband and daughter and saw the synchronous fireflies, I kayaked out to the Three Sisters Swamp with them and saw the fifth oldest tree species in the world, I took my Mom and went on a waterfowl birding tour with the NC Maritime Museum to the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge to see the Tundra Swan, my sister and I took all our kids to Sylvan Heights Bird Park which was amazing. The experiences that stand out to me are the ones that brought me closer to the people I love while appreciating nature and what NC has to offer.”

For her community partnership project, she created the “Bald Head Island Youth Sustainability Symposium” which brought together high school students from different parts of the state. The BHIC Youth Sustainability Symposium focused on engaging youth in thought-provoking, real-world conversations which promote the conservation and preservation of coastal resources for future generations in response to climate and other anthropogenic change in a manner that effectively balances environmental, economic, and social factors. Overall, it created an opportunity for students to come together and talk to each other from different backgrounds. This event will continue and will happen again this spring.”

Jennifer says the program changed her approach to teaching. “Participating in the EE certification really changed how I viewed what I means to be accessible. I now look at my programs entirely differently than I did before in terms of thinking about how they can be experienced by a variety of people with different needs. I'm so thankful for information that programs like groups like Birdability and Universal Design for Learning taught me.

The program also changed the way Jennifer views environmental issues. “I think that the certification really engrained in me how multi-faceted environmental issues are and that there isn't ever an absolute "right" answer when thinking about people and the environment. We all come with our own lived experiences which will shape how we approach environmental issues, and I think that keeping that in mind is the key to having meaningful dialogue about the environmental issues that we face today.”