““If you can’t excite people about wildlife, how can you convince them to love, cherish, and protect our wildlife and the environment they live in?””
About Me
Hello there! My name is Jacqueline Nelson and I am finishing up my study of Natural Resource Conservation and Recreation Management and Public Relations at Virginia Tech. My life revolves around wildlife and working toward educating the public on the beautiful creatures that live all around us. Sharing my passion and work with people is how I connect them to the unseen world around them. I believe that if someone makes an emotional connection with an animal, it changes their mindsets about the issues that effect that animal. Therefore, I work hard toward building those bridges between people and wildlife to build a better understanding between the two.
I am currently on exchange at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, but this is not my first time overseas. Previously, I studied in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland with the Communication Department at VT. Obviously, I travel quite a bit and everywhere I go, I try to document through photos and videos which are posted on this site.
When I'm not traveling, I work with/for animals as my job. This summer before I left for New Zealand, I worked for the Wildlife Center of Virginia as a Front Desk Coordinator. This was the second time I have had the pleasure of working for the Wildlife Center as I was an education outreach extern in the summer of 2014. However, my most recent internship was at Audubon Sharon in the summer of 2016 where I headed and wrote curriculum for 8 weeks of summer camp as well as working in the wildlife rehabilitation center at every opportunity. Back in the summer of 2015, I was an education intern at Mill Mountain Zoo in Roanoke. After I graduate, I hope to obtain a job in conservation outreach with a government organization or work in television production focused on environmental education. I would also be interested in wildlife rehabilitation or pursuing wildlife health in the future.
Beyond these pursuits, I produce videos for various organizations as well as for myself. Whether it be a public service announcement, promotional video, or a news segment, I am consistently working on video projects all around Virginia Tech’s campus. My love for video production stemmed from my involvement in the Television and Film Society in high school were I served as Field Producer for the news show my senior year. I was lucky enough to be have even worked on a episode of our news show that won a Telly Award. More recently, I have produced videos for Humans of Virginia Tech and a collection of education videos for Mill Mountain Zoo.