Cape Charles Summer Sailing Program
Staff Bio - Jody Ullmann

Jody Ullmann has always been more at home outdoors, than indoors. She grew up in Minnesota camping and canoeing on the lakes. Her dream was to be a National Park Service Ranger.  After completing her degrees in Biology and Theater, she launched her career at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.  This was just the start of many adventures working as an informal outdoor educator across the country.  In Hawaii, she took a sailing class and fell in love with sailing.  She joined the Wahine Sailors, a group of women who volunteered as extra crew for larger sailing vessels in Honolulu.  

After moving to Virginia, she worked with the Education Department of the Mariner’s Museum, The Botanical Gardens, and then the Virginia Living Museum, where she worked acquiring new objects and caring for the museum’s non-live collection.  After 15 years with VLM, Jody went to work for Lynnhaven River NOW as the Education Coordinator planning and delivering pre-K through college-age environmental programming. In 2017, she was named the Environmental Educator of the Year by the Virginia Garden Clubs and went on to develop national and international award-winning programs.  At the same time, she trained and became a Master Naturalist.  As part of this program, she and another Master Naturalist, designed and ran a Jr. Master Naturalist Program for 4 years.  In this program, she trained teen leaders in the skills of being both a naturalist and a teacher.  In turn, the teens worked with 8–12-year-olds, passing on their knowledge and skills during weekly meetings.

In the summer of 2022 and again in 2023, she teamed up with Captain Mac. Together, they designed and carried out week-long adventures aboard the Sea Weasel, exploring the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds with middle and high school teachers.  Jody just recently left LRNow to work as a contractor through her company Mud Puddle Science so that she can take all of her knowledge and skills and design adventures, like the sailing camp this summer.