Jenny Goodall’s passion for helping children is evident through the volunteering that she does at Tyler Arboretum, as well as outside of the arboretum.
New to the Volunteer Educator program at Tyler this year, she had previously been a regular volunteer at Tyler’s “Pumpkin Days,” beginning in 2016. Each year, she could be seen helping out at the moon bounce, at the pumpkin sale, or at the hayride. Missing that event for the past few years, when Jenny saw the email about volunteering as an educator on school field trips to Tyler, she thought that would be a fun thing to do.
It’s not just the fun of it that appeals to Jenny, though. As a chemical engineer working for about 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry, two years ago she decided to go part-time to participate in an AmeriCorps program called Reading Assist. Through that program, she helped young students with their reading. She had been troubled by the fact that so many children were suffering academically during and after the pandemic. She felt that teaching students to read was one way that she could help many of them get back on track. The ability to work with children in an outdoor setting in nature was what then drew Jenny to the opportunity to volunteer as an educator at Tyler.
A member of the Wilmington Trail Club for 20 years, Jenny couldn’t help but become knowledgeable and appreciative of nature. And it was through the trail club that she became familiar with Tyler, when they would do hikes at Tyler and Ridley Creek State Park. Originally from England, Jenny moved to Charlotte, NC, with her parents. After attending NC State, she and her husband moved up to Wilmington, DE. Thanks to her involvement in the trail club, her warmth and kindness are now a fixture at Tyler.
And it is important to Jenny to support Tyler’s mission of land preservation. One of the things that she noticed over the years is how the open and natural areas are changing, filling up with invasive plants, or becoming inaccessible because they have been developed or made into private land. It is meaningful to her, therefore, to expose the students on the field trips to the outdoors so that they can then value nature as they grow up.
Jenny Goodall
One of Jenny’s favorite moments as an educator at Tyler came on a recent MLK Day of Service opportunity when a group of 8th graders volunteered their time. After their service was complete, Jenny thanked them for volunteering and one of the students said, “Well, thank you for taking us all around. We actually learned something today!” Jenny had been helping out with a group of the 8th grade boys, and she found the fact that they learned something to be so rewarding because, well, they are 8th grade boys. Jenny had been impressed by their energy (singing Taylor Swift songs all morning while working), but also listening when spoken to and self-regulating their energy.
Now Jenny is looking forward to the Spring session of field trips. She loves Spring because everything in nature changes so quickly; there will be many things to look at and talk about with the students. Week by week, they will be able to notice what is budding and blooming – and she says it is amazing to watch those transformations in nature every year in real-time.
