A dream career for most students comes with a pre-existing title – doctor, graphic designer, chief executive officer, historian, professor, and the list goes on and on. However, every once in a while a student will come along who strives for more, even if they don’t initially realize it. Jesse Pope ’02 is one of those students. Pope, who is the newly appointed Executive Director of Grandfather Mountain, did not set out to achieve this position. As all students do, he merely started with a passion. Those who have met Pope know that he is overflowing with passion tempered by quiet determination, fierce loyalty, a kind spirit and a keen eye. Instead of rushing through his career in pursuit of a catchy, pre-determined job title, he took the scenic route and allowed his passion to develop and, alongside it, an opportunity to create a position tailored to his goals. Having grown up on a 40-acre farm in rural Virginia, Pope always had a love of the outdoors. Though it’s hard to picture now, as a child he couldn’t wait to get off the farm and try something new. “I was a three-sport athlete in high school,” said Pope, “and my plan was to teach and coach, so I began studying science education at Lees-McRae. My freshman year I took a field biology course with Dr. Stewart Skeate and changed my path to wildlife biology. The course was amazing, especially seeing that you could get paid to implement science in the outdoors. I knew it was perfect for me. So if anybody gets credit for the path that I’ve been down, it’s Dr. Skeate.”
During his time at Lees-McRae, Pope not only gained direction for his future career but also met his wife and fellow classmate, Michelle. After graduation, in the summer of 2002, Pope started his career at Grandfather Mountain working with several of his Lees-McRae classmates as backcountry rangers responsible for maintaining and patrolling hiking trails on the mountain. As luck, or perhaps fate, would have it, an animal keeper position became available at the end of the summer and Pope was chosen. Over the course of the next two years, Pope began to notice that more and more teachers were inquiring about educational programming, but at that time there was not an area of Grandfather dedicated to developing and marketing programs of this nature. Zookeepers were presenting, but since their skills focused more on animal care, they often lacked the training necessary to make the experience engaging and memorable for the visiting students. Pope began having discussions with teachers about their aspirations for educational programming at Grandfather Mountain. Through his contacts, more than 100 teachers agreed that they would bring their classes to the mountain if dedicated programming were available. “I also began to realize that we needed a better plan for resource management,” said Pope. “We did not have staff focused on keeping track of species, endangered species, or managing resources. There were people who were dabbling in those tasks, but it was no one’s dedicated job.” In 2004, Pope developed a proposal, which was approved by the senior leadership, for a naturalist program at Grandfather. “In my career, I am most proud of the naturalist program,” said Pope. “In just a few years, we went from 2,000 visiting students to 17,000, which is a huge amount considering we are only able to offer programming for about four months out of the year because of the unpredictable weather on the mountain.”
Jesse conducts a crayfish workshop during Naturalist Weekend on the Watauga River. Photo courtesy of Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation.
14 | The Pinnacles
In 2009, after several years at the helm of this wildly successful educational program, Pope was promoted to Director of Education and Natural Resources. Through this position, Pope had oversight over two distinct areas: naturalists, which now offered formal programs, and interpretation, which was an informal program that transitioned former backcountry rangers into trail educators prepared to assist patrons.