Jean and her favorite (nonhuman) coworker

Jean Aycock, Conservation Biologist/Outreach Educator

Jean’s love of helping people learn led her to a career in informal education. She educates students and adults throughout southeast Mississippi to learn about nature while having fun!

Read on and get to know Jean better.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU WORKED FOR THE MUSEUM?

It’ll be two years in February!

WHAT’S YOUR WORKDAY LIKE?

It’s always different! I do outreach education for the museum in the Southeastern Region of Mississippi, which means that any given day I might be headed to a school anywhere from the Coast all the way up to Noxubee County! A day usually starts by getting one of my educational animals ready to go. I work with a baby alligator, a box turtle, and a corn snake. Most schools request the baby alligator – he’s very popular!

I enjoy school visits immensely! The students are always so excited to have someone new in their classroom, and when that new person brings exciting things like furs and skulls and a live animal? It’s just the best!

ANY FUNNY WORK STORIES?

Being an outreach educator comes with some unique situations. Once, I was giving a program on snakes. The audience was a large group of families, so there were children of all ages and adults. As I was showing a beautiful six-foot snake, the snake decided she was tired of being held and made a dive for my shirt sleeve. Two seconds later, there was three feet of snake in my shirt, and I was left trying to figure out how to gracefully remove a large, determined snake from my clothing. Thankfully, the snake decided on her own that my shirt wasn’t actually a comfortable hiding spot, and removed herself.

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND & EDUCATION

I grew up in Southeast Missouri, and went to Mississippi State to get my Bachelor’s degree in Forestry and Wildlife Management. Then, I headed over to the University of Arkansas at Monticello for my Master’s degree, where I got to research shorebird migration within the Mississippi flyway, which meant a lot of time knee-deep in the mud where those birds find their food.

After grad school, it was off to Kansas! I spent five years as the education director for the Kansas Wetlands Education Center. It was a great opportunity. I worked with over 30 species of educational and exhibit animals, including a live massasauga rattlesnake in my office. Don’t fret, his enclosure had a lock! It was an amazing location to work. The Education Center sits on the edge of Cheyenne Bottoms, the largest interior wetland in the United States with over 60 square miles of marsh!

Kansas was very far from both my family and my husband’s, so we were excited to return to Mississippi in 2018! It’s been wonderful to be back in the South, and we’re so glad to get to raise our family here.

When it comes to hobbies, I love making things. I'm an avid knitter and weaver, really anything with yarn and fiber! I own two alpacas, and make yarn from their fiber. Baking is another specialty - there's always a new recipe to try!

Cheyenne Bottoms in Kansas - not a view most people expect to find in that state!

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS CAREER?

I’ve always loved sharing information and helping people learn, but knew that I didn’t have the patience to be a classroom teacher. Informal education is the best of both worlds. I get to help students and adults learn about nature while we have fun! There’s nothing like getting to introduce a person to a snake or alligator for the first time.

HOW DOES YOUR JOB CONTRIBUTE TO CONSERVATION?

Helping the public understand more about wildlife and our amazing Mississippi ecosystems is the first step to making sure that folks will want to protect our natural resources! I educate about the interactions between humans and nature, both positive and negative. Students especially are amazed at the connections between our actions and their effects on the environment.

ANY ADVICE FOR A STUDENT INTERESTED IN A BIOLOGY OR MUSEUM CAREER?

If you have a subject you’re passionate about, whether it’s nature in general or something specific like salamanders or bats or deer or wildflowers, museums are really amazing places to nurture that passion. Volunteer! Go hang out and get to know the staff! You’ll learn a lot, and get a better idea of just what you might want to do with your career in the long run.

Jean with her husband, Matt, and their daughter, Miriam