New ag agent changed career path from computers to horticulture
Sep. 3—As a student, Amanda Wilkins knew she wanted to pursue a career in computer engineering.
Wilkins, 31, attended the Highland School of Technology in Gastonia, where she grew up.
"I went through the computer engineering track ... with the idea of becoming a computer engineer."
When she left the school, she left with a certificate from Cisco Systems Inc., a technology conglomerate, and a leader in programs to keep computers safe. As she readied for more certification, her career path took an unexpected turn.
Wilkins, the new horticulture extension agent at the Lee County Extension Service, chuckled as she told the story.
"It funny," she said. "I was on track for getting more certification to work on computers. But I'm pretty tech savvy, but I realized, even with my pea brain, that I would be miserable if I worked on computers for the rest of my life."
As a Girl Scout, she and her troop helped care for the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens in Charlotte and Wilkins, who wanted to be outdoors, knew she had found her calling.
"I thought, 'Hey, people make money to do that. That's what I want to do," she said of working outdoors. "That's what I want to do. I want to do public horticulture. I want to work in a botanical garden."
Wilkins' parents were surprised to learn of their daughter's new plan.
"When I told my family I was going to study horticulture, they looked at me like I had three heads," Wilkins said. "They told me I wouldn't make any money doing that and where the heck is this coming from because neither of my parents has a green thumb."
Wilkins told them she wanted to work in horticulture because she wanted to be happy. A career tending to plants, botanical gardens and arboretum would be challenging.
In 2013, she graduated from N.C. State with degrees in horticulture, plant biology and agroecology and went to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts where she spent eight months working at The Polly Hill Arboretum.
"That's when I realized I wanted to be a garden curator," Wilkins said.
Curators oversee all facilities and operation at botanical gardens or arboretum.
From there, Wilkins went to Mobile, Alabama, where she lived with her grandparents. She worked as a curator in the Mobile Botanical Garden.
"That's when I found out I was going to Scotland to do my master's (degree) in biodiversity and taxonomy of plants," Wilkins said.
She spent about 18 months in Edinburgh, living in an apartment was built hundreds of years earlier while working in the local botanical garden.
It was an experience she said she won't forget. From one window, Wilkins could look out over the Firth of Forth, an estuary while another gave her a view of the Kingdom of Fife, known as the home of golf and home to St. Andrews Links.
"It was absolutely freaking amazing," Wilkins said.
She returned to North Carolina and took a job as a curator in Wake County, but tired of a long commute and quit.
Then, she saw an ad for posted for a horticulture agent at Lee County Extension Service and was quickly hired. She began her new job about a month ago.
Wilkins estimated she has traveled 600 miles in Lee County since taking the job. She's taken note of land that is being cleared for subdivisions and businesses. It is a concern, she said, because it also threatens a rural, farming lifestyle.
"We're here to support farmers and the rural way of life and to preserve the land,
Wilkins said. "I feel like Lee County has a unique opportunity to be a leader in agricultural conservation."
