Jessica Church Oral History Interview

Jessica Church discusses her childhood in Des Moines, Iowa, where she spent much of her time outside playing in her yard, biking, and camping. She was close with her family, and her grandmother lived across the street from her when she was growing up. She enjoyed elementary and high school, especially opportunities for more advanced classes as well as a variety of extracurriculars. After graduation, she attended the University of Iowa for three years. Around this time, her grandmother moved to Colorado, and Church was exposed to more mountains and rock climbing. After changing her major four times, she decided that she wanted to work in outdoor recreation, and her university did not have a major for that. She also worked in the outdoor recreation program during the school year and at a YMCA camp during the summers, as a cabin leader for two years and then as a director.

Church goes on to talk about her transfer to Oregon State University after her three years at Iowa, moving in with her sister and her sister’s husband. While she was at OSU as a student, she was involved in the Adventure Leadership Institute. After she graduated from OSU’s College of Forestry, she received a year-long internship at Stanford University’s outdoor program. After this, she worked for a season at Adventure Treks, leading groups of high school students on month-long outdoor adventures in Washington and Oregon. She then accepted a position at Chico State University’s outdoor program. In 2017, Church moved back to Corvallis after accepting an ALI instructor position, which she still holds, teaching classes in mountaineering, rock climbing, Wilderness First Responder training, and canyoneering.

As the session nears its end, Church further discusses her reasons for transferring to OSU, how the ALI has evolved over time, her experiences in mountaineering, what it’s like to hold an instructor position at OSU, and what living in Corvallis has been like.