Trout biologist serves as role model for girls
Jill Wick has been with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish for seven years. She was the department’s aquatic habitat specialist for 3½ years before becoming the Gila trout biologist.
With the weather warming up, she said, she soon will be spending three weeks out of a month in the field. That’s just fine with Wick, who grew up camping, hiking, fishing and canoeing with her family in Wisconsin.
She said it was not until she took an elective class in pathology during her senior year at Washington High School in Two Rivers, Wisc., that she discovered a world that would allow her to pursue a career outdoors.
“I remember learning all about cellular biology and about diseases,” said Wick,
36. “I knew I did not want to be a pathologist, but I found the class really interesting.”
Her interests in science were honed by good zoology and botany teachers in a community college. After that, she earned a degree in wildlife biology at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, a school known for its courses in natural resources. Then she got a master’s degree in natural resources and environmental science at Alabama A&M University in Huntsville.
Now, Wick is one of 17 New Mexico women featured on a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) calendar distributed statewide to encourage middle and high school girls to pursue studies and careers in fields involving science, math and engineering.
“I think it is important, growing up in high school, that you know you can do this,” Wick said. “It’s great to be able to show young girls that there really are cool jobs out there that they are capable of doing.”
It’s good to know that you can have a job where your workplace is mountain trails and streams, and your clients are pretty fish with copper-colored heads and black spots.