To my friends,

After almost a decade at Tremont, my time to take the next leg of my career is here! I have accepted a new position at Ijams Nature Center in Knoxville as Education Director. However, it’s important that your questions and inquiries are not interrupted by this transition, and we continue the good work in connecting people with nature. I will be checking this email, however my last day at Tremont will be April 17th and can be reached at [email protected].

As I reflect on the hundreds of times I have hiked with teachers and students up the Spruce Flat Falls trail to get a glimpse of the falls, or crossed the bridge to Girl Scout Island to sit still, listen closely, and fall back in sync with nature’s rhythms, or helped sing the birthday song to an unsuspecting student, I am reminded of just how precious my time with all of you at Tremont has been. The people I have spun these memories and experiences with have been sacred to me and will continue to define my next steps. I am sad to leave my Tremont home, but thrilled that I will still be able to work with many of you in new and innovative ways in the community.

I would like to thank the Tremont and national park teams for the 10+ fantastic years I have been working at Tremont in one capacity or another. This place and its people have been foundational to my development and given me opportunities to grow and reflect on who I am and want to be, like no other experience in my life. It has been a personal and professional home as well as a training ground, a community of practice, and a place to grow my ideas. Tremont has helped me galvanize a stronger sense of self, richer sense of place, a deeper perspective on experiential education, and overall, a stronger capacity to lead others confidently and successfully. It has truly been a gift to live and work in such a biodiverse place alongside some of the best people I know.

As I take the high quality benchmarks we set at Tremont for programming and team collaboration to Ijams Nature Center, I want to thank YOU for all the work we have done together in the last decade to support schools, teachers, students and communities in their effort to connect more people to their place in this world. Because of the collaboration and dedication of Tremont’s educational partners, I have evolved and strengthened into the professional I am today. I will cherish the fond memories we have made together, but will take with me all of the lessons and experience to my next opportunity.

Due to the collaborative nature of our work, I will be leaving all of the programs and relationships I have curated over the years in incredible hands!

If you have any questions related to school partnerships, teacher development, citizen science 2.0 program, please contact:

If you have general questions about booking a school program or registering for a teacher workshop, you can contact:

I wish my Tremont Family all the best in the years ahead. It has been a pleasure being able to serve its mission, advocate for its partners, and innovate with an amazingly talented team to design and implement best practices that work to transform the lives of others. I will be just downstream of Tremont doing good work in outdoor education in our local community. I hope my new work in Knoxville, one of the park’s gateway communities, allows me the unique opportunity to continue to partner and help support the work Tremont does in new ways.

And please, if you have questions down the road, please reach out to me at Ijams Nature Center at [email protected].

Jennie McGuigan
Whole-heartedly,

Jennie McGuigan
Manager of School Partnerships and Teacher Development