Meet Jennifer Keirle
Jennifer was born and grew up right here in Norfolk. She graduated from Booker T. Washington High School and received her Bachelor of Science in Human Servces from Old Dominion University.
Jennifer was employed for ten years with ForKids, a non-profit that provides housing and support to homeless families. For six of those years, she was a Children’s Case Manager and provided after school tutoring and enrichment for children living in the program. For two years, she worked in an outreach program that helped identify homeless families in the school system. For her two final years with ForKids, she was the Senior Manager in Chesapeake overseeing all the housing programs in that region.
Jennifer comes from a family of gardening people. Her mother and aunt went to school for horticulture and at one time many of her family members worked at Norfolk Botanical Garden. Her aunt worked in the Administration Building and her mother was a tour guide. In addition, her great uncle owned the café, which was originally called the “Tea House,” and her grandmother managed it. Jennifer considered going to school for horticulture in order to gain more skills and knowledge about horticulture while also serving her community. She would also like to gain more experience in hopes of transitioning to another career in environmental education.
Jennifer enjoyed the classes. What she loved most was that regardless of the topic, it came back to the central idea of having positive impacts on the natural world around us. She felt that the students were actively learning from experts, with the intention of sharing that information with the public.
Although Jennifer floated to different MG projects, most of her hours were in community outreach. She worked at the Plant Sale and Weyanoke Bird and Wildflower Sanctuary. She would like to check out all the projects in the future, but she holds a soft spot for Weyanoke Bird and Wildflower Sanctuary. She enjoys anything dealing with children in gardening.
Jennifer loves to create – painting and crafting in particular. Although her family doesn’t go very often, they are big Disney fans and love to vacation there when they have the opportunity.
Jennifer and her husband, Adrian, will be celebrating their 18th anniversary in June. They have two boys, Mark and Noah. They have just adopted two kitty sisters, Olive and Pepper.
When you see Jennifer, be sure to introduce yourself and welcome her to the Norfolk Extension Master Gardeners.
