Meet Rosie Lynch
She’s the Founder and Executive Director of Wild Child: Museum & Menagerie. She’s also a mother of two littles (2 under 2 isn’t for the faint of heart, y’all…), as well as a writer, a teacher, a non-profit professional, and an activist. She could easily get fired up about climate change & conservation, the fight for gender equality and better workplace protections for parents, seeing an end to settler colonialism & corporate exploitation, and so much more.
A little more about Rosie: She’s a lifelong lover of learning and libraries, as well as museums. You can catch her frequenting up to three different libraries in any given week with her 2 babies in tow (and you KNOW her pile of books is always much bigger than the kiddos…).
She’s always been drawn to old things. Oddities. Eccentric artwork and handicrafts. And animals of all kinds (especially mammals, because they’re usually the cutest and cuddliest– duh!) Rosie spent more than four months of her life over a couple of summers sleeping in a canvas tent when she was the Handicraft Director and Program Director at a summer camp for littles. She loves nature and has tried her hand at rescuing animals before, including a baby possum and a brood of ducklings.
She’s channeling these eclectic interests into the creation of Wild Child: Museum & Menagerie as a place to “watch, teach, and wow wild animals of the tiny human variety” and inspire people of all ages.
Rosie actually worked or interned at four museums over the years: one dedicated to preserving history from the Victorian era in her hometown of Jefferson Township, NJ; The Franklin Mineral Museum, also in northern NJ; the James & Gladys Kemp Lisanby Museum at James Madison University; and a museum of private artifacts from all over the world at the office of her employer & alma mater, Future Generations University. She even thought about pursuing a career in archaeology for a time, and spent a summer “digging” in the field at the Battle of Cedar Creek with the JMU Archaeology Lab.
Fun Fact!
She spent the second half of that same summer (2014) in India, traveling solo and studying a specific kind of yoga that can be pretty intense! With her background in anthropology – or the study of people & cultures – she wrote an “ethnographic” research thesis on the experience that was almost 100 pages long. (She got to spend time with the local monkeys and elephants while there, too!)
Wanting to better understand the global diversity of thinking, Rosie also took college classes on World Religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Ancient Hebrew/Old Testament teachings. She earned a Bachelor’s in Anthropology & Philosophy/Religion, and her Master’s in Applied Community Development. She then spent almost a decade working in higher education doing some teaching, research, and fundraising for community change projects around the world. She has published some work on teaching large classes and certain techniques to teach behavioral change in a classroom setting, but most of her experience is beyond the classroom’s walls, with a special interest in hands-on learning for social good.
Rosie loves to travel and support local whenever she can. She spent most of the last two years raising her two babies, both overseas in Central America (El Salvador, to be specific) and in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. She lives in New Market, VA with her family in a historic home they are slowly restoring.
In her free time (Ha!) she may be found hiking (or more likely, lounging) outdoors with her family, cooking up some experimental vegetarian dishes, and reading several (almost always nonfiction) books, simultaneously.
Her favorite animal is a pygmy marmoset, littlest of all the primates!
Rosie is currently working as a volunteer Executive Director during the start-up phase for our organization, but she won’t be running Wild Child alone! Once we open our doors, we’ll have a whole team of employees to handle the day-to-day operations. In addition, there may be opportunities for volunteers and partners to either help mind the children or bring special events to Wild Child, such as children’s education and parenting classes, mindfulness practices, health and fitness classes, craft sessions, and more.
We also have a volunteer Board of Directors:
Meet Connie Chapman
Connie is a caring mother of a young girl and boy devoted to raising her two littles to be natural-minded, including prioritizing healthy eating, home schooling, homemade clothes made of natural linens, and time spent learning in the garden. She took a leap of faith to move from her home of London, England to the United States for love, and owns her own creative studio. She lives in Strasburg, VA with her family.
Her favorite animal is the cow.
Meet Ian Hoke
Ian is a doting father of a little boy and girl n as well as a fun-loving educator with over a decade of experience: 7 years experience in the public school system and 10 years of experience in outdoor education and youth development. He’s also an accomplished jack of all trades, who can tackle any job from drywall to plumbing and woodworking, fly fishing, gardening and even some blacksmithing. He lives in New Market, VA with his family.
His favorite animal is the black bear.
Meet Shannon Donnelly
Shannon is a down-to-earth mother of two darling girls and a nonprofit development professional with over 5 years of experience in donor research, fundraising, and coordinating team needs. Shannon has a background in sociology and has already lived many lives as a business owner, stay-at-home mama, and now as a full-time-working & home-owning extraordinaire. She lives in Franklin, WV with her family.
Her favorite animal is the spider monkey.
Could you see yourself fitting into this story?
Wild Child: Museum & Menagerie is looking for at least one more volunteer Board Member to join our team before the end of 2024! Our first meeting is August 17th, so it would be great if you could indicate your interest before then. We would be particularly grateful for the help of people with experience in early childhood education, science (biology/zoology/psychology), marketing, bookkeeping, or business law. Please reach out at admin@wildchildmuseum.org if you or anyone you know is interested in learning more!
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