In the April meeting, ABAS members elected four people to the ABAS Board. First, we would like to thank our retiring Board members. Amy Hodson served six years as our first Communications Chair for quite some time. She reinvigorated our social media presence and early in her watch a new website was created. She was the editor of the newsletter and the monthly emails. She led field trips, photo hikes, and gave a program on her Indiana big year.
Adam Barnes also completed six years on the Board. He also took on a position that hadn’t been filled in the recent past – Volunteer Chair. He communicated to our volunteer list, ran training sessions, and coordinated volunteer help for field trips and other events. Adam will be off the Board, but continuing as our Volunteer Chair. Anyone interested in volunteering can sign up here.
Reelected to new terms on the Board are Chuck Anderson, our current President, Laurie Voss, our Recording Secretary, and Jessica Helmbold, our Education Chair. We welcome their past and future contributions to ABAS. Their efforts make the organization what it is today.
Meet Jenna McElroy
Joining the Board for the first time is Jenna McElroy. She will be taking over as Communications Chair.
Jenna grew up in Greenwood, Indiana and attended Center Grove High School where she was both a show choir geek and a science nerd. Her parents, Susan and Stephen Nawrocki, were nature lovers. They instilled that passion in Jenna and her sister, Heather, from a very young age. When Jenna was in middle school their family got into birding. Her dad’s childhood passion for birds was reignited in 2004 and he made it their new family hobby. Every family trip became a birding adventure. Bedtime stories now involved reading bird guides, and Harry Potter, of course! Instead of listening to music in the car, they would listen to bird song CDs – and Jenna loved it. After Stephen was introduced to the ABAS Birdathon through the University of Indianapolis team, Team Nawrocki was born, participating in their first family Birdathon in 2006 with a total of 85 species.
Jenna married her high school sweetheart, Jared McElroy, who also went on a few of the Nawrocki Family Birdathons when they were first dating. They met in choir and have been together since 2008. What really caught his attention, is when Jenna took her binoculars and bird guides to Show Choir Nationals at Universal Studios in Florida. That is actually the trip that Jenna identifies as her “spark” for birding. It was her first trip without her parents and she was able to identify a new life list species all by herself – Whooping Cranes flying over the hotel. Jared followed their mutual choir passion all the way to a career. He is now a choir teacher at North Central High School and Jenna loves still being able to be a part of the show choir world with him. They recently bought a house close to the school, just north of Broad Ripple Park, and have fallen in love with the area. They like walking on the Monon, visiting local parks, taking long drives around Geist, and frequenting their favorite local restaurants. The house came with a chicken coop and they weren’t planning to get chickens right away, but then they were stuck at home for the pandemic and thought why not! Now they have 6 hens, Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup, Bunny, Squirrel, and the Professor that Jenna raised from chicks, and no mulch left in their flower beds. Jenna also started a garden in 2020. Her new hobby has become growing fruits and veggies, mostly for the chickens. Jared also had a pandemic project, renovating a 1974 Dodge Tioga camper, the interior, engine, all of it. They love taking it on camping trips to Indiana state parks, as long as there aren’t too many hills.
Even though Jenna has loved nature and birding for a long time, she never imagined she’d be doing it for a career. She got her undergraduate degree from the University of Indianapolis in Biology with a Chemistry minor. She loved science, but had no idea what kind of career she was going to pursue, even after earning her master’s degree in Environmental Science from the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs. She tried doing field research on plants, birds, bats, etc., working for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), working in a lab, volunteering in hospitals, being a worship music leader, and teaching anatomy – so many great experiences! Then in 2015, Jenna applied to be a part-time naturalist at the Eagle Creek Park Ornithology Center and got the job. Thinking it would only be for a little while… little did she know that it would not only be the greatest job ever, but that it would also lead her on the path to find her true passion – bird training and caring for ambassador animals. Jenna is now the Assistant Manager of the Ornithology Center and a Certified Professional Bird Trainer through the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators after a written exam that she passed in the fall of 2021. She trains and cares for the eight raptor ambassadors at the Ornithology Center and has completely restructured their animal care and education program, focusing now on contemporary, welfare-based training. She recently hand-raised a Barn Owl named Obi, whose “gotcha day” is coming up on May the Fourth – get it?
Please join us in welcoming Jenna to the Board of ABAS and wishing her well as Communications Chair.
Upper Left – Baby birders at Iowa State Park in 2006
Upper Center – Stephen with Jenna as camera stand at Goose Pond during 2021 Birdathon
Upper Right – First Team Nawrocki Birdathon in 2006
Middle Left – Susan, Heather, and Jenna at Eagle Creek Park Ornithology Center Owl Fest in 2021
Middle Center – Jenna and Jared at Center Grove show choir competition in 2022
Middle Right – Nawrocki wives and husbands in the Smokies for Christmas 2021 (Left to right – Luke, Heather, Stephen, Susan, Jenna, Jared)
Middle Right – Jenna and Bunny in 2021
Lower Left – Jenna in the Garden in 2022
Middle Center – Jenna and Freyja at the Ornithology Center in 2022
Lower Center – Jenna at Goose Pond during Birdathon 2021
Lower Right – Jenna and baby Obi in 2021
Photos courtesy of the Nawrocki/McElroy clan