Meet six women in STEM at Summit Metro Parks

I love to describe my role as someone that connects people to nature. And I think many of us at Metro Parks feel like that’s our role. We just get to do it in different ways, including myself. As the executive director, I am also responsible for the care and keeping of the park district, including our employees and finances.

Absolutely not. I hated science and it didn’t like me either. My favorite subject was anything having to do with art. It was the thread that led me to explore all the many careers and majors that were somehow related to art.

Also, I’m neurodivergent, and that led me to have to try a lot harder, because that wasn’t something people understood in the 70s and 80s. I was often told that I just needed to “apply myself.” Well, I did well at applying myself to English or art and similar subjects, but science and math were not for me. I didn’t think that way; I wasn’t wired that way. So it was a bit of a struggle.

I majored in landscape architecture, and at that time it was sort of a little-known field. The classes were primarily male with maybe a handful of females. (Thankfully that’s changed, and there are now a lot of female landscape architects.)

Without a love for science or math, I didn’t intend to end up with a career that involved those two. But this major included art as the vehicle to tell the story of landscape architecture and the work that I did.

After graduating from The Ohio State University, I worked on the private side for quite a while. When I came to the Metro Parks, which is on the public side, it was a great change for me. I love working for the public.

The lion’s share of my career was spent as a landscape architect practitioner. I loved creating spaces where I could see how the public used them.

There’s been a lot of growth since I’ve been at the park district. I was able to have the role of chief of planning and development for a little while. And then when our former director announced that he was retiring, I threw my hat in the ring. I was the lucky one chosen for this role. This role is a dream for me.

In the director’s role, I have learned some other disciplines on the job that were not necessarily things that I learned in college. For example, when you are managing people – which is primarily what I do now – there is some social science and psychology that goes along with it.

I’ve learned ways to gain deeper understandings of not only conflict management but also finding out what drives a person. I like to learn what somebody is really good at and passionate about and ensure that they get to do some of that. That’s when a person can really shine.

Something I’ve been learning about quite a lot is the environmental changes that we are seeing. It was at least 10 years ago, when working with the conservation department, that I learned that southern species of plants were popping up in Ohio. As a landscape architect, seeing that these non-native plants were able to survive in our climate helped me zero in on bigger environmental changes.

Ever since then, my curiosity about environmental changes and the things that we are seeing has driven me to read up on the latest findings and look into what other states and organizations are experiencing and doing about it.

In my humble opinion, the best thing about working here is the people. They are passionate, respectful and kind. They are happy serving the public. And we all seem to have a passion for our mission.

If I were going to give advice to the girls coming up through the ranks, I would tell you what my dad told me: be thoughtful and careful about the work that you choose to do for the rest of your life, because you have to want to get up and go do it every day.

You spend a lot of time at work. So, my personal advice is to follow your passion. I was told along the way to not pick your hobby as your career, because then your hobby would become no fun. But I haven’t been able to prove that’s true.

In my role at Summit Metro Parks, I get to shape educational and recreational programming that helps connect people to nature.

Science was my favorite subject all the way through middle school. I had a teacher that really encouraged me, and I loved to do science fairs and even got to go to a girls’ science camp at Kent State University.

However, once I got to high school and in college, science was a lot more challenging. It felt a lot more like work than fun.

Working in a science-based field allows me to keep learning new things and to share those things with people I care about and with the public.

I took a non-traditional route to get to the role that I’m in now. In addition to loving science and the environment, I also cared a lot about people, culture and policy.

After spending a lot of time learning and traveling abroad, I ended up getting my undergraduate degree in international studies.

I thought I needed to cross the seas to make a difference. But along the way, I realized that there were smart, industrious, well-equipped women who are able to solve problems in every single space around the globe – and that they didn’t need me to be physically present in order to solve those problems. What we needed to do in order to be able to move forward was to support each other by sharing resources and knowledge.

So ultimately I decided that my skills were best needed back at home, and I decided to rededicate myself to local environmental work in parks and other nonprofits.

The social sciences, like psychology and sociology, make a big difference. It also helps to understand policy and culture in other places.

Communication and writing are really important in my current role, along with interpersonal skills, relationship building and teaching skills.

Through life and through others, I’ve learned a lot of different skills for communicating and teaching things to other people, and those interpretive skills really allowed me to be able to do the role that I have now.

Right now, I’ve been deep diving on native plants. Summit Metro Parks has been doing a whole Wild Back Yards initiative, and I have been reading some of the Doug Tallamy books to figure out how I can redesign my own landscape in my back yard to provide more habitat for wildlife.

The best thing about working at Summit Metro Parks is really the culture of learning and the fact that I get to improve my skills and learn new things every day while sharing my passions with others.

I would say don’t give up on science, even when it seems hard. That was my experience, that as you get to those upper-level science classes, it gets really challenging and it can be really hard when you feel like you don’t have support. But I would say to persevere because it is worth it in the long run.

And I would say to those mid-career looking for a change that it’s never too late. You can always change your mind, you can always upskill and learn more, and you can always make a pivot in your career.

On the other hand, if you’re in a position to encourage young girls or women in science – like my middle school teacher who encouraged me to do science fairs and go to science camp – please do so. You never know how much of a difference it makes.

You might be giving encouraging words to someone who is struggling to learn, and you can be the person who makes the difference between them persevering or giving up entirely.

As a park biologist with Summit Metro Parks, I study wildlife and work with volunteers.

I really enjoyed science in school, but I also enjoyed spending time outdoors after school.

I spent a lot of time hiking and exploring as a kid, and I got really interested in plants and animals.

For example, I liked watching animals to see what they were doing and how they were behaving. And that led me to figure out what that looked like for a job.

I got a degree in biology, which included a lot of science, ecology, biology, chemistry and physics. I found physics and chemistry less interesting and a lot more difficult. But I really wanted to be a wildlife biologist, so I was able to push through those subjects so that I could reach my goal.

For my job, I don’t just do science-type things. I work with a lot of volunteers, so I manage people.

I also do a lot of writing, which is kind of a big deal in the role. For example, I have to write reports on the survey work that we do.

In this tech age, having computer skills is important. There’s a big technological component that wasn’t there 20 years ago when I started. I’ve learned how to use geographic information systems (GIS) technology, and I have an app on my phone for everything from tracking coyotes to checking wildlife cameras.

Something I learned recently that I think is really interesting is that coyotes exist in downtown Akron. And that’s something that the conservation department is interested in learning more about.

We’ve studied coyotes in our natural areas and parks. But recently we put GPS collars on coyotes in downtown Akron, and it’s fascinating to discover the areas that they’re able to use and hunt.

There are many things that I like about working for Summit Metro Parks. The people and the park district are really great to work for. There are a lot of people who are passionate about their jobs.

I feel like I’m contributing to wildlife conservation, which was my goal. I have a job where I study wildlife and I’m out in nature every day. There’s always something new to learn and discover, and I find that very motivating.

If you’re interested in the sciences, I would encourage you to follow those passions. I didn’t realize when I was a kid that I was going to be a wildlife biologist when I grew up. But I kept exploring and I kept asking questions.

I also began volunteering in ways related to wildlife. This gave me opportunities to see what direction I wanted to go in the sciences and helped me get my job at Summit Metro Parks. Volunteering is something you can do at any age. If you realize that what you’re doing really lights a fire in you, then it’s something worth pursuing.

My role revolves around doing archaeological and historical research here at the parks.

Science was not my favorite subject in school. My favorite was history. I liked studying the human past and how we got to where we are today. I like the way those things all connect together.

I decided to go into a more science-based field to study the past because it was more hands-on and I could find interesting answers to interesting questions. These questions could stem from knowing somebody lived in a certain place and wanting to know what they did there, how they used their land and what activities went on. Archaeology is the best way to answer those questions.

Because I wanted to be an archaeologist to study the past, I went to the University of Akron to get my bachelor’s degree in anthropology. And then from there, I worked in different fields related to archaeology. Later on, I got my master’s degree in archaeology.

I’ve had a variety of roles in my career, some of which didn’t relate directly to archaeology. But the main thread of my career has been connecting people with local history here in Akron.

Besides the science directly related to archaeology, I use my skills in writing, photography and drawing.

I recently learned about a study done in 2024 that I thought was really interesting. Folks studying cave paintings in Indonesia – which are the oldest in the world – developed a new way to scan them using lasers. With this new method, they were able to date them as being way older than people originally thought – like 5,000 years older. So those cave paintings date to about 51,000 years old, which is really cool.

The best thing about working at Summit Metro Parks is being part of a great team in the conservation department and doing cutting-edge, groundbreaking research in our community.

If you are interested in a career in archaeology, keep in mind that most of the career paths here in the United States are in cultural resource management, such as environmental permitting. So look for a university program that’s going to teach you the right field skills and laboratory skills to do that job.

Also, digging is a little tiny portion of what we do. The majority of it is a lot of report writing and reading past literature. Work on strengthening your writing and reading comprehension skills.

Remember that archaeology is the study of the human past. People have been everywhere, so you can do some fascinating research right here in your hometown.

My role as a naturalist is to do a lot of research and programming so I can make science and different aspects of nature more accessible and easier to learn for the regular person.

Science was absolutely not my favorite subject in school. My favorite subject was probably history, until I got to high school and my preference shifted more towards English.

I decided that I was really interested in biology around my second year in college.

The turning point was sitting in a conservation biology class and learning about things going on with the environment that I had never heard of before, like ocean acidification and biomagnification. It was learning about these things that are terrible for the environment that spurred me to care. I wanted to try my best to talk to other people and make them care, too.

In general, I took a crazy route to get here. My degree is actually in neuroscience and writing; my minor is in biology. Right after my junior year of college, I worked at a marina. I realized I wanted to work outside and didn’t want to work in a hospital. But at that point, it was too late for me to change my majors.

After I graduated college, I took a job as a seasonal naturalist for another park district. That’s when I realized that this is what I wanted to do. When that season was over, I briefly became a substitute teacher. Then I became a seasonal naturalist with Summit Metro Parks, went back to substitute teaching for a few months and finally got a year-round position as an interpretive naturalist at Metro Parks.

We use quite a few other disciplines as naturalists. Primarily we use a lot of writing skills, including professional writing, interpretive writing and creative writing. Having a background in that has definitely helped.

Communication in general and public speaking are also important. As naturalists, we engage with the public, present information to them and answer their questions.

There is a bird in Ohio during the winter called the white-throated sparrow. This sparrow operates as though it has four different sexes instead of two, because they have two different color morphs. Some have white stripes on their head while others have tan stripes.

The color morphs greatly influence their personalities. Both tan- and white-striped males prefer the aggressive, white-striped females, while both the tan- and white-striped females prefer the laid back, tan-striped males.

One of the reasons I find it so interesting is because you would never know just by looking at them how complex this common little bird is.

The best thing about working for Summit Metro Parks is that I get to learn something new every day. It is such a joy to be able to come to work excited because of something that we’re doing.

If you are passionate and if you have a strong heart it will happen. You’ll be able to enter a similar field, but it will take time. It took plenty of time for me. It’s taken plenty of time for a lot of the people here. But it will happen because the people in this field will recognize your passion, and they will know that your heart’s in it.

As a park biologist, most of my work involves surveying, researching and protecting our natural resources. I work mostly with wildlife like reptiles and amphibians.

Yes, but I also really enjoyed art classes.

I really like creative problem solving, and I’ve always liked critters and the outdoors. I ended up in a science-based field because I really wanted to study wildlife and biology.

I went to college and studied for my undergraduate degree in biology. I also worked multiple internships and seasonal positions, including some at Summit Metro Parks and Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Although I’m a biologist, I rely heavily on my other skills like communication, data management, and creativity.

Lately I’ve been learning about the small invertebrates and crustaceans that live in our vernal pools, like fairy shrimp and clam shrimp.

Fairy shrimp are little freshwater shrimp that live in temporary bodies of water. They’re really cute and they swim upside down. In the spring, we have volunteers that go out and collect some of them to help with research.

The best thing about working at Summit Metro Parks is getting to explore all of our parks and areas. I especially enjoy seeing critters and plants that most people don’t get to see and experience.

I think women can bring a unique skill set to the world of conservation that’s very needed. Our field gets stronger and better when we have a wide variety of voices and people in it.

Women in science often have strengths and skills that are really undervalued in our field; but always remember that you are an asset, and you are very valuable and important. For example, women tend to have good communication skills and can connect with a variety of people. This is important in our field and often undervalued.

Another example of undervalued differences is physical abilities. I’m smaller than a lot of my coworkers, which sometimes feels like a disadvantage. But, I can crawl into tiny spaces and reach things that they can’t.