Emily Jackson Receives National Award
We are thrilled to share that Emily Jackson, Lead Naturalist at Reflection Riding, has been named the 2025 recipient of the Garden Club of America’s Elizabeth Abernathy Hull Award. This prestigious national award recognizes individuals who are making a meaningful impact on the environmental education of youth, and Emily’s work exemplifies that spirit in every way.
Emily is surprised with the Hull Award!
We are deeply grateful to the Garden Club of Lookout Mountain for reaching out earlier this year and encouraging us to nominate someone from our team. Their invitation provided us the opportunity to celebrate someone whose work has quietly and powerfully transformed how young people engage with nature on our campus.
Emily leads our Native Landscape Management Apprenticeship, a program that gives high school students from The Howard School real-world conservation experience and a pathway into environmental careers. Under her mentorship, students remove invasive species, restore habitats, and learn the science behind native plant systems. Her bilingual background allows her to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for Spanish-speaking apprentices, ensuring that the future of conservation is accessible to more young people.
Emily also plays a vital role in our Native Plant Nursery, where she helps propagate and care for the very plants that support restoration efforts across our region. Through her leadership, our nursery serves not only as a hub for biodiversity, but as an active learning space where visitors and volunteers can understand the importance of native plant species in an ecosystem.
What makes Emily's approach unique is her deep commitment to mentorship. Whether she's guiding a student through their first plant ID or working side-by-side with them in the soil, she models the kind of care, curiosity, and professionalism that will shape a new generation of environmental stewards. Her work is hands-on, student-centered, and built on relationships—with both the land and with the people caring for it.
We are proud to have Emily on our team and proud to see her recognized at the national level. Our thanks again to the Lookout Mountain Garden Club for cultivating this connection and for recognizing the power of place-based, youth-driven conservation work. We look forward to building on this relationship in the years to come.
