When Jessica Holden began classes at the University of Victoria, she tried to avoid the most common question new classmates tend to lob at each other: “So, where are you from?”
While she loved her childhood growing up in Gold Bridge—and still takes great pride in her hometown—its unique nature often prompted a barrage of questions from her fellow students.
“It would be a 40-question thing,” she remembered. “If I was short on time I’d say, “I’m from around Whistler.’”
People were intrigued by what it was like to grow up in such a remote area without all the easy- to-access comforts of urban life.
“The biggest question was, “Your nearest big grocery store is two hours away?’” she added. “We have a little one. It wasn’t that big of a deal.”
And, of course, there was the unique matter of having to travel to Lillooet for high school.
Holden actually moved back and forth to the larger hub with her mother and older brother so he could attend high school and still live with family. The transition to the bigger school was tough, but the education she got at Gold Bridge Community School (GBCS) actually put her ahead of the game.
She wound up skipping a year ahead in math when she arrived in Lillooet. But ultimately, she was pleased when she was able to return to GBCS for Grade 7. “I excelled in that environment,” she said. “You get to do your own learning directive. I got to do independent
research projects and learn what I wanted to.”
Not surprisingly, that turned out to be biology.
“I had this little grey stool with slats that made a grid. I would catch and sort bugs. I spent a lot of time collecting bugs and plants and sorting them,” she said.
She even finished Grade 12 half-a-year ahead of time and gave herself the chance to study plants in the area before pursuing post-secondary school.
Now 22 years old with a degree in wildlife biology, Holden is taking time to assess what area she’d like to focus on before considering a masters.
When we were trying to set up a chat on the phone, she had just landed a contract for “salamander work,” but she’s also studied owls, bats, snails and other wildlife with various contracts since graduating.
“I definitely feel like if I grew up in Vancouver where you never saw wildlife, it might have been harder, but I would’ve gravitated towards wild spaces,” she said.
Career aside, growing up in Gold Bridge also seeped into her leisure time. While she didn’t do much hiking as a kid, she spent plenty of time playing in the outdoors.
In particular, she remembers building epic igloos in the yard.
“My dad would take an excavator and pile all the snow in the yard. We would hollow out a massive pile of snow. I don’t bring it up with my parents because I don’t want to hear it was four-feet tall. It felt like 20 feet,” she laughed.
That translated to an interest in hiking as soon as she moved away.
“I want to come back and get into the South Chilcotins,” she said, days away from embarking on a multi-day hike on the Sunshine Coast Trail. “I lived right beside that the whole time.”
She might no longer live in Gold Bridge, but should the opportunity ever come for biology work in the area, she would jump on it.
“If there was an opportunity to do research or work there, I would set everything else to the side,” she said. “I’m at a point where there are so many things I’m working on, I’m not tied to one spot.”
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