Stacy Kinsell is the Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator for the Rare Plant Care and Conservation Program (Rare Care), but it hasn’t been a straightforward path to get there. Kinsell’s undergraduate work was in social work and urban studies. After school, she packed up for an adventure in a new city far away from her native Georgia and moved to Seattle. She quickly fell in love with the city, but not the career and after a few years of working in her new field, Kinsell was feeling burnt out. 

Rebecca Janssen is the Adult Environmental Education Coordinator. Specifically, she’s helping coordinate continuing education programs for Ecological Restoration professionals, public programs on topics like native plants and sustainable gardening practices, and helping UW Botanic Gardens better understand their audience and what people are getting out of the adult education programs.
Rebecca is a Seattle native. She has a BS in Interior Design from Oregon State University, and completed a Master’s degree in Museology at UW. 

AmeriCorps volunteer Gretchen Rude is the Education Outreach Specialist for UW Botanic Gardens. She will be pioneering a youth leadership program over the summer that will aim to bring a diverse group of students to the Washington Park Arboretum. The program will build leadership and team working skills, as well as provide experience working in outdoor education.
Gretchen moved up to Seattle from Portland where she graduated from the University of Oregon. 

 
Professor Emeritus Robert Gara spent nearly 40 years as Professor of Entomology at the UW’s College of Forest Resources (now the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences). He served as an advisor to graduate students on their horticulture projects at the Center for Urban Horticulture. Let’s learn a little more about his background…
Q: What are some of your hobbies or passions outside of work? 

Sage Stowell is a graduate student at UW in the Masters of Environmental Horticulture program. Much of her coursework takes place in UW Botanic Gardens facilities at the Center for Urban Horticulture, where she enjoys the beautiful space while learning. She grew up in the mountains outside of Nederland, Colorado, and completed a BA in Environmental Studies at the University of Montana. 

Myesa Legendre-Fixx spent the summer as an intern for the Rare Plant Care and Conservation Program (Rare Care). She completed her Bachelor of Science in Biology and Oceanography at UW June 2017.
Working as a Rare Care intern has been a thrilling summer! Over the summer, Ceci and I monitored 17 different plant populations, did 10 seed collections, worked with the US Bureau of Land Management doing rare plant and weed surveys and fire severity assessments of burned areas, improved the seed vault and started almost 500 seeds of Whited’s milk-vetch (Astragalus sinuatus) for an outplanting. 

Cecila Henderson spent the summer as an intern for the Rare Plant Care and Conservation Program (Rare Care). She completed her Bachelor of Science at the UW School of Environmental And Forest Sciences in June 2017.
This summer I was lucky enough to work with Wendy Gibble as an intern for Rare Care, and I can hardly express my gratitude for what has been an incredibly rewarding experience. 

Kyra Kaiser always dreaded public speaking growing up.  So you might not expect that she would end up as one of UW Botanic Gardens’ most enthusiastic tour guides at the Washington Park Arboretum, leading groups of visitors into the secret places of that 230 acre forested gem inside the City of Seattle.
Kaiser, a second year student at UW who intends to major in plant biology, leads free weekend walks at the Arboretum, a tour program with a broad focus that changes monthly according to the season and route taken. 

Tessarae Mercer is an Intern at the UW Farm this summer. The work fulfills part of her capstone (graduation requirement) for the Program on the Environment. She grew up in Vancouver, Washington before coming to Seattle to study at the University of Washington in fall of 2013. In her (limited) free time, she enjoys being out in nature, reading, and dance. 

Jessica Farmer is one of those fortunate individuals who, through a combination of foresight, focus and possibly a bit of luck, ended up in her dream job.
“Just outside my office door at the Center for Urban Horticulture is Yesler Swamp,” she enthuses, “a quiet, shady oasis that provides me with instant wonder and relaxation.”
Just about a perfect location for a person who has been passionate about plants and nature since high school.