Amanda first became involved with the Wildlife Center of Virginia when she attended Bridgewater College – first as a volunteer, then as an animal care preceptorship student in 2000. After graduating with a degree in biology in 2001, Amanda joined the staff as the weekend receptionist and part-time rehabilitator. Over the years, Amanda has held several different positions at the Wildlife Center; currently she serves as the senior vice president for outreach and education. In this position, Amanda oversees the department responsible for public education, training, and community involvement. Amanda manages the Center’s ever-changing website; manages the “Critter Cam” and moderated discussion; organizes the annual Call of the Wild conference; co-produces Untamed: Life is Wild, the Center's television program; helps plan various events; and oversees the care and training of the Center's team of education ambassadors. She also serves as the program coordinator for the National Wildlife Rehabilitation Association's annual symposium. Amanda loves the dynamic nature of the ever-changing activities going on at a wildlife hospital and sharing the Wildlife Center’s mission and stories with others.
Meet the Staff
Outreach and Education
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Amanda Nicholson
Senior Vice President -
Alex Wehrung
Public Affairs ManagerAlex was inspired to pursue a career in the outdoors from a young age. After graduating from West Virginia University with a B.S. in parks, recreation, and tourism resources in 2012, he traveled the country exploring a number of different professions – from park ranger to zoo keeper -- and quickly understood the value of connecting others to nature through education. Alex discovered the Wildlife Center when he moved to Virginia in 2015, and began training as a volunteer outreach docent shortly afterwards. He joined the full-time staff as an outreach coordinator in 2016, graduating from Slippery Rock University with a M.Ed. in environmental education later that year. As a member of the outreach department Alex works to create meaningful and lasting relationships with the public in a variety of ways, such as communicating with news media representatives, creating website and social media content, and presenting educational programs.
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Connor Gillespie
Outreach CoordinatorConnor grew up in Southwest Florida, where he spent most of his childhood outdoors, exploring nature parks and preserves. From a young age, he knew he wanted to pursue a career working with wildlife. During college, he started volunteering at a local zoo and quickly moved into a zookeeper position in the carnivore department. Connor dedicated his time at the zoo to teaching the public about the animals he worked with and ways to support conservation efforts in the wild. After five years in the zoo field, Connor decided he wanted a more direct role in helping local, native wildlife. In September 2020, he joined the Wildlife Center as part of the front-desk team, where he helped the public resolve wildlife issues and coordinated the intake and release of the patients. After a year at the front desk, Connor transitioned to his current role as the Center’s outreach coordinator. He enjoys working with the Center’s team of animal ambassadors and presenting programs to share their stories and the stories of thousands of other animals that come through the Center’s doors. When not at work, Connor likes to spend his free time reading, swimming, and exploring hiking trails with his dog.
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Lauren Glaze
Outreach Communications CoordinatorLauren began her journey in environmentally focused work by conducting environmental science research at UNC Chapel Hill. She quickly realized the significance of the gap between the consensus among the scientific community and the general public regarding the importance of addressing the climate crisis and environmental destruction on multiple levels. She turned to video production and communications work as a way to bridge this gap and as a creative outlet to share stories that touch people’s hearts, encouraging them to make meaningful and lasting change. In her free time, she is an avid herbalist and gardener.
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Michael Adkins
Front-Desk SupervisorMichael is a native of Norfolk, Virginia, and has lived in Charlottesville since 2015. After spending most of the last decade travelling the country as a touring musician, Michael discovered his passion for animal welfare while working at a local domestic shelter. He is excited to continue learning about the natural history and behavior of wild animals through his experiences at the Wildlife Center and while exploring the beauty of central Virginia. He and his wife Madie enjoy hiking around the area with their two adopted dogs and frequenting Shenandoah National Park several times a year. Michael is a snake enthusiast and loves observing and identifying them for his friends and neighbors. He hopes to use his knowledge and appreciation of snakes to help educate his community about the important benefits they provide to our ecosystem.
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Grace Leytham
Front Desk CoordinatorGrace was born and raised in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she grew up camping and enjoying the outdoors with her parents, two siblings, and many dogs. Grace graduated with honors in 2020 from the University of Mary Washington where she studied Earth and Environmental Sciences with a minor in Business Administration. After graduation, Grace started volunteering at both The Wildlife Center of Virginia and Rockfish Wildlife Sanctuary (RWS) where she quickly fell in love with caring for injured and orphaned wildlife. She held a temporary role as a part-time wildlife rehabilitator at Rockfish, eventually transitioning into the front-desk coordinator role at the Wildlife Center of Virginia in 2023. Her favorite part about working in the field of wildlife rehabilitation is seeing patients grow bigger and stronger every day, eventually not wanting anything to do with the humans who are raising them. In her free time, Grace loves to go camping with her English Cocker Spaniel, Bug. She also enjoys birding, baking, reading, and puzzles.
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Paige Pettry
Front Desk CoordinatorPaige grew up in Staunton, Virginia, and from a young age brought injured wildlife to the Center with her family. Paige graduated from James Madison University in May 2023 with her B.S. in biology, where she earned “Best Thesis” across the university for her honors thesis, which focused on creating a species distribution map for an endemic species of salamander, the Shenandoah Mountain Salamander. After graduating, Paige completed a wildlife rehabilitation externship at the Center where her favorite tasks included helping raise White-tailed Deer fawns and other species of orphaned wildlife. She was then hired on to work at the front desk, where her tasks include arranging transport for the intake and release of patients, answering wildlife questions, and intaking new patients. When not at work, Paige likes to spend time outside birding and walking around the park, reading, and spending time with her cat Jody.
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Lilly Farmer
Front Desk CoordinatorLilly was born and raised in a small town in central Virginia. As a child, she would spend hours capturing and identifying insects in her backyard or checking out every animal-based book in her local library. While this passion had dwindled as life continued on, it was reignited in Lilly's senior year of high school when she completed a capstone project on the role emotions play in wildlife education. She learned about the important emotional connections that wildlife educators facilitate between their students and the environment and how these connections lead to environmentally friendly behaviors. During this project, Lilly completed a short internship at a Rockfish Wildlife Sanctuary, a wildlife rehabilitation facility in Nelson County. Lilly fell in love with the world of wildlife rehabilitation, medicine, and education, and eventually found her way to the front-desk coordinator position at the Wildlife Center of Virginia. In her free time, Lilly enjoys hiking, reading, upcycling, and playing with her two ferrets, Oliver and Frankie.
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