The Garden Club of the Eastern Shore Success Story of Julia Jester

This story came about as a result of an email from Posey Boicourt to the Spy. It said: “Over twenty years ago, my Garden Club of the Eastern Shore – which has a primary interest in environmental issues – started a merit-based scholarship for a graduating senior in our county. The current scholarship committee wants to encourage high school students to apply and, in so thinking, told me the inspiring story of Julia Jester, who won the award in 2015.  I wonder if you might consider interviewing her.” 

Her request piqued our curiosity, so we contacted Jester and, in hearing her story, understood why she had been selected.

It was 2015, and Jester was in her senior year at St. Michaels. She had recently won the Hannah Prize, an award given to a student for developing a creative solution to an environmental issue. She was chosen unanimously by the panel for having set up a monarch butterfly garden of native plants at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. Although her main interest had always been the local environment, when she applied for the Garden Club of the Eastern Shore (GCES) Scholarship, she had expanded her focus to include shark research and environmental science.

It was a perfect fit. The scholarship is designed for applicants with outstanding academic accomplishments who are considering careers in botany, horticulture, agriculture, landscape architecture or design, environmental science, or other related fields. 

Virginia Blatchley, the scholarship committee co-chair, remembers being impressed by Jester’s determination and strength of character. Besides, she’d already shown success with her butterfly garden environmental program. This group’s vote also was unanimous.

“That was a huge accomplishment for me,” said Jester. “I’m the first person in my family to go to college. And I was able to get enough scholarships to fund my entire first year. I don’t know how it would have happened otherwise.”

College also allowed Jester to explore and refine her interests. She switched majors to focus on environmental sociology. “The baseline was still there, but I was more interested in the people side of environmental science,” she said, “rather than the actual scientific research part of it. For instance, how environmental issues impact the daily lives of individuals and how people’s lives also impact the environment.”

After graduating, Jester went on to receive a Master’s degree in environmental sociology. A doctorate was her next step until a family crisis put her career on hold. Jester moved back to Easton.

Confronted by new responsibilities, she veered towards a new direction: employment at Mid-Shore Pro Bono as a housing case manager. What happened next was unexpected–she did not predict how much she would love her job. But she did, and that changed her future plans. A couple of weeks ago, Jester was accepted to law school at the University of Baltimore, where she will focus on environmental law relating to housing.

“I’ve taken a lot of different paths that I wasn’t anticipating,” she said. “But I feel like the environmental thing has grounded me in everything I’ve done. It’s been my one constant — my interest in the environment. The particulars of that have changed from shark research to housing stability, but it’s all been there the whole time.”

Behind all of the changes in her life and career tracks, there has been one continuous presence–grandmother, Lori Sutphin, who Jester calls my “best friend.” “She’s a lot of the reason I’m into the environment. In fact, the Hannah Prize was a partnership project. My grandmother was really interested in monarch butterflies and their migration, and I created the garden for her. She’s been a huge part of all this; she’s always been my number one.  I’ve had a lot of great things come my way, but I wouldn’t have any of it without her.”

Encouragement has also come from a surprising source–the connections Jester made through GCES. “When I was in school and feeling overwhelmed by everything,” she said, “it was nice to hear from somebody from home just to catch up—people who have been a great resource for me and have similar passions as I do. Since I graduated, I’ve been invited back to their annual luncheons, where I provide them with an update so that they know how their scholarship money was spent.”

AS GCES starts the 2023 scholarship award process, they look forward to meeting the new batch of applicants.  “Everyone we’ve had through the years has been equally dynamic, intellectually curious in their own way. St. Peter and Paul has sent us some outstanding candidates. We had a girl who was president of her 4-H club and interested in pursuing environmental farming. We’ve also seen several qualified people from Easton High School. Every couple of years, we divide up the names of the people who run, and then we call them and find out what they’ve been up to. It’s interesting because they pursued their dreams, even when sometimes their dreams change.”

Because of what she’s gone through, Blatchley feels that Jester is a perfect spokesperson to go into classrooms and talk about what it means to be interested in the environment, the pleasure she got out of it, and the various avenues that you can take in terms of career decisions. 

As a representative, what message does Jester want to convey? “I think anybody with any remote interest in the environment should apply. I don’t think you have to have solid plans to be a biologist and research something very specific. Because I’ve changed my mind 100 times, and it’s all still there. Environmental law or lobbyists, all those social features are just as important as the scientific aspects. Especially in high school, without knowing their options, as an 18-year-old, it can feel like, Oh, I’m not going to be a biologist, so I shouldn’t apply for the scholarship. And that’s not what it’s about. Go and apply.”

The $5,000 scholarship was started in 2000 and is open to all graduating seniors attending high school or being home-schooled in Talbot County. All applications must be submitted to the student’s guidance office by April 1, 2023.

Val Cavalheri is a writer and photographer. She has written for various publications, including The Washington Post.  Previously she served as the editor of several magazines, including Bliss and Virginia Woman. Although her camera is never far from her reach, Val retired her photography studio when she moved from Northern Virginia to the Eastern Shore a few years ago.. She and her husband, Wayne Gaiteri, have two children and one grandchild.