“I’ve learned that I don’t need to have the biggest voice or be in the top leadership role to make a difference. Anyone can be a leader, it’s all about how you show up and how you radiate outwards to support other people.”
—Jess Ruhlin, Deering High School, 2009
Much of Jess Ruhlin’s identity in high school was as an athlete and leader. She captained the basketball team to two state championships and after four years of varsity field hockey she was named MVP for the Southwestern Maine Activities Association and nominated for Miss Maine Field Hockey. College recruiters were offering sports scholarships, but as much as she loved athletics, she wanted something different out of her experience at Stonehill College in Easton, MA.
“I went to school with a whole new identity. I was no longer Jess, student athlete, but Jess, college student trying to figure out life,” she said. “At first, I was really gung-ho about studying science but found out pretty quickly that it wasn’t really for me. I began taking art and graphic design. There was a graphic design teacher who pointed out that I had some skill and it really lifted me up. I ended up graduating with a degree in graphic design and a minor in business.”
She moved into Boston and worked as an admin for an engineering company until landing a spot on the marketing team at a 100-person architectural firm. She worked her way up over five years and was leading the team as creative brand manager when she felt the pull back home to Maine.
“Growing up I was often the only girl doing something–at basketball camp, playing baseball or camping. I was in spaces that were predominantly boys and wondered where all the girls were. I dreamt of starting a program for girls that fostered a connection to nature and adventure so I took an Americorps position with a land trust in midcoast Maine, leading outdoor adventures.”
After a year of working with students in a rural school, pulling them out of gym class to teach mountain biking, snowshoeing and nature exploration skills, she joined Hearty Roots, an outdoor based community wellness program in Bristol, Maine, founded in 2017 by a woman who had the same vision of connecting girls with nature and adventure.
Jess looks back on Deering athletics with great fondness and gratitude. “I was not the top scorer and didn’t often get the spotlight or a lot of accolades but my coach taught me that leadership is how you show up everyday, how you play everyday, how you support your team members everyday. I learned how to lead a team of very different people toward one goal together. It’s been an undercurrent for a lot of my life’s work.”
These days, Jess is ramping up for summer programming at Hearty Roots’ new 100-acre campus for mindful adventure in Bremen, Maine and is building a timber frame home with her husband Erik and their baby Torren in Woolwich.
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