Bemidji State was a natural for Jess Paulson, who grew up exploring the cedar wetlands around her Steamboat Lake home near Laporte.

As a teen, she spent summers teaching other kids how to camp, canoe and live in the wilderness through Laketrails Base Camp.

“(That) was an integral piece of my childhood and helped nurture my love for nature and teaching others about its wonders,” Paulson said.

The two-time Bemidji State graduate still loves teaching others about the natural world. She is the science advisor at Jane Goodall Environmental Sciences Academy in Maple Lake, a public charter school for grades 6-12 that focuses on project-based outdoor learning.

“My students are my favorite part of my job,” said Paulson, who has 21 students in grades six through 10 and serves on the school’s finance and personnel committees.

In 2009, she earned her bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from BSU, with an emphasis on outdoor education and a minor in space studies. She was a teaching assistant in geology and founding president of the Bemidji State Women’s Rugby Club, through which she met her husband, Tyler, a player on the men’s team.

Paulson spent a year studying environmental education at the University of Minnesota Duluth, working as a graduate assistant with the Great Lakes Worm Watch, and went on to earning a master’s in education online from BSU in 2013.

Her thesis involved development of an expansive invasive species curriculum, drawing on the connection between Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge and a nearby school.

“I evaluated students’ behavior, attitude and knowledge towards the environment before and after curriculum implementation,” Paulson said. “Being dubbed the ‘worm girl’ in some of my naturalist circles, I am always drawn to expand the invasive species learning of each place I have worked.”