Meet Jessica Wang

Jessica grew up and went to school in Alexandria, Virginia, but due to her husband’s military career moved to Norfolk not once, but twice. Jessica attended high school in Alexandria and attended Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA where she majored in International Relations and minored in Russian Language and Literature. She attended graduate school at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where she earned a Master’s degree in Russian and East European Studies.

Jessica has always loved gardening, but because her family moved frequently, she has been unable to establish a garden until they returned to Norfolk and bought a house. She believes being out in the garden saved her mental health during the pandemic. She learned about the Norfolk Master Gardener program when she started volunteering at Norfolk Botanical Garden. She was immediately interested and anxiously applied for the 2022 program. 

Jessica shared that the class logistics while under some restrictions due to COVID were handled excellently. She has two small children who became ill, and without the Zoom option, she may not have been able to complete the program. She believes the virtual option also was helpful to others in her class who may not have been able to participate fully without the use of Zoom.

Jessica participated in a number of projects to attain her fifty hours including Jam’n Jamz, Arbor Day, Butterfly House at Norfolk Botanical Garden, Lafayette Wetlands Partnership, Maritime Sand Dune Forest, East Ocean View Children’s Garden, and Ask a Master Gardener table at NBG. Her favorite activities were the Jam’n Jamz and Arbor Day tree adoption events because of the opportunity to speak to many community residents and help them choose a tree that would be suitable for their location. After raising butterflies at home with her sons, volunteering at the Butterfly House was also fun.

Now that Jessica has received her certification she wants to continue working with the Lafayette Wetlands Partnership because she has become interested in learning more about flood mitigation measures that can be developed and implemented using “green infrastructure” techniques. She would also like to spend more time at the East Ocean View Children’s Garden.

When Jessica isn’t doing Norfolk Master Gardener projects, she enjoys working in her own yard/garden with her two children, sewing, reading and wishing her family lived in the UK again. To satisfy her interest in the UK she likes to watch the Great British Bake Off and Escape to the Country.

When you see Jessica, be sure to introduce yourself and welcome her to the Norfolk Master Gardener Volunteers.