Unearthing the Teacher Inside

Patrick Mulligan, Geographic Science Graduate, Works for Washington Park Arboretum

As is often the case with callings, I stumbled into mine – both of them.  It happened during a summer internship at an organic farm in Virginia that began as simply a way to complete a graduation requirement in Geography at JMU, but ended with a notion to save the world.  It was late in life to fall in love with plants, but that’s what happened.  Farming felt familiar to me and I quickly fell into rhythm with the natural world that surrounded me.  Working with plants, I would later realize, is a lot like working with kids.  Both can be extremely challenging, but if one remains receptive, knows a few tricks, and can exercise patience and flexibility, both can be extremely rewarding. 

While giving farm-tours and leading hikes for summer campers, I unearthed a teacher inside of me.  And though I probably would have been perfectly happy to remain up on that mountain, living simply (albeit hermit-like), growing food for others and myself, I knew I had more to offer the world.  I decided to dig a little deeper and scratch that teaching itch.   I left Piedmont VA for Tidewater VA, trading trails for traffic, plants for people.  [I must confess, the fact that my wife-to-be lived there certainly helped me make such a leap.]  I found work at the greenest place I could find, Norfolk Botanical Garden, and realized that I could pursue both callings, plants and teaching.  I thrived as a result.

My timing could not have been more perfect.  NBG was just breaking ground on a new children’s garden, World of Wonders: A Children’s Adventure Garden.  Inspired by the fact that Norfolk is one of NATO’s headquarters, WOW was designed with an international theme to showcase bioregions from around the world.  As an Environmental Geography major, a plant geek, and a natural teacher, I was an ideal fit to manage such a place, and I can’t tell you how rewarding it felt to have found my niche.  The experience taught me a valuable lesson – that one can only know a path by taking it. 

As happy as I was, I realized that there were gaps in my knowledge.  Always up for a good adventure, [a character trait that reunited me with my JMU mentor] I took a path to the Pacific Northwest to learn more about my newfound niche in environmental education...  

After a year slogging around the woods with middle-schoolers at Islandwood, and a year researching the finer points of pedagogy at the University of Washington, last spring I earned a Masters in Education.  And though I wish I could say that my timing was perfect, I’m happy to say that my farming knowledge came in handy again allowing me to get by as a gardener until landing my current job.  [Once again, it wouldn’t have been possible without my better half, a fellow JMU grad and brilliant graphic designer.]  Now, as the Education Supervisor at the Washington Park Arboretum – a branch of the University of Washington Botanic Garden, I’m back in my niche, a little older and little wiser.  From not knowing anything, to thinking I knew it all, to thinking I knew nothing, to understanding that I know enough to get started, my path continues.  I now take it without hesitation, excited to see what lay ahead.