Who, What, Why: Jude Thachet

Since she was a child, Jude Thachet has always enjoyed gardens and now, as the school outreach coordinator at the Morris Arboretum & Gardensof the University of Pennsylvania, she works in one.

“I’ve always gotten my hands dirty,” says Thachet, wearing a linen dress that leaves her botanic tattoos visible, nasturtiums behind her right forearm and a fern frond spanning the left bicep. “I go out with my cup of coffee in the morning and check in to see what’s coming up and I get a lot of joy out of watching things come and go and show up in new places.”

The School Outreach Program, which is donor-funded through 2025, connects Philadelphia school children with the Arboretum and includes several touch points: a third grade environmental science program, which teaches students about the water cycle; a leadership development program, which trains youth to become counselors-in-training at the Arboretum’s summer camp; a partnership with Lankenau High School, the magnet school for environmental science; an outdoor career symposium for high school students; and internships for high school students, which run during the school year and during the summer.  

Many of the school programs are designed to expose students to outdoor careers, Thachet says, noting that the symposium tree-pruning demonstration is always very popular. Staff lead hands-on workshops to teach students about topics including wetlands, native plants, plant acquisition, and propagation.  

Arboretums and gardens need people with expertise, says Thachet, who hopes the school outreach program will become permanent. “What our programs are trying to do are to educate people about what those careers look like, what kinds of skills and training you need for those careers, and to introduce students to a network of professionals. So, we get the benefit of creating that pathway and being connected to our community and the young people get exposure to experience-based careers.”

“I think it’s important for the youth to be exposed to what’s out there,” Thachet says, “and learn about their own interests, their own self-discovery: What do I like? What don’t I like?” As part of their post-internship debrief, Thachet asks students what they’ve learned about themselves and about work culture. Many, she says, are surprised to learn about the etiquette of reporting to a boss. “You don’t know what you don’t know,” Thachet says. “That never ends.”