A Natural Leader
An unexpected path leads to true purpose and a dream career
When Meghan Yovankin ’08 entered Ocean County College, she planned to study chemistry in preparation for a career in medicine. These days, in her role as a superintendent for the New Jersey State Park Service, her future looks a lot more – green.
Yovankin, who hails from Mystic Island in Little Egg Harbor, graduated in the top ten percent of her class at Pinelands Regional High School. That achievement opened the door to a valuable opportunity: the NJ STARS program.
“If that wasn’t available to me, I probably would never have been able to go to college,” Yovankin said.
Established in 2004, the New Jersey Student Tuition Assistance Reward Scholarship (NJ STARS) program provides New Jersey’s highest achieving students with free tuition at their county college. The program covered five semesters at Ocean County College for Meghan, a crucial stepping stone in her journey.
It was at OCC that Meghan found her true calling. Specifically, it was during Professor Duane Grembowicz’s Ecology class, where she had the opportunity to explore Brendan T. Byrne State Forest and Double Trouble State Park for the first time. She ended up taking multiple classes with Professor Grembowicz and discovered a strong connection with the outdoors.
“Those are some of my most memorable times at OCC,” she said. “I quickly learned that I was not interested in sitting in a lab all day.”
After graduating from OCC, and with the continued support of NJ STARS, she went on to Stockton University, where she studied wildlife management, ornithology, botany and forestry. She earned her B.S. in biology from Stockton while working part time in a seasonal job for the state parks.
“Don’t put limits on what you think you want to do.” – Meghan Yovankin, superintendent at New Jersey State Park Service
To gain additional experience, she took a position with the New Jersey Department of Transportation as an environmental specialist, where she worked for nine years on site remediation, acquiring multiple certifications and gaining valuable experience in the environmental field. Her patience and perseverance paid off when an opportunity arose at the NJDEP. She assumed her new post in 2021.
As a superintendent, Yovankin manages multiple sites, including Brendan T. Byrne, Double Trouble, Whitesbog Historic Village, Rancocas State Park and Mt. Laurel State Park. Her responsibilities include a challenging blend of preservation, education, and maintenance.
“We deal with nature, but also with the public,” she explained. “It’s an odd dichotomy of being out in the woods and preserving nature, but also making it friendly for the public to come out and learn and enjoy, and helping to preserve it for future generations.”
Meghan is currently on a six-month transfer to Bass River State Forest, where she is responsible for a variety of historical and forested sites. “Our main goal is to make sure these areas are maintained, so that people can enjoy them and continue to enjoy themselves in nature.
Although these days her job requires a lot more paperwork – overseeing planning, funding, and other administrative duties – Yovankin says it’s all for a good cause. “I’ve definitely gotten a little more tied to a desk,” she admits. “But it’s necessary to make sure that everything’s in place, to get the rest of the work done. It’s essential to ensure that these areas remain available for the public to enjoy.”
Meghan is determined to raise awareness about the many hidden gems located throughout the state, and to help more people experience the wonders of nature in the Garden State.
“People should get outdoors to explore what’s out there,” she says. “We have tons of historic and natural sites with interpretive centers. You can explore it any way you want: go out on a hike and read about it yourself, or we have podiums so you can read about certain things. We’re working on putting QR codes out so you can read a little spiel about the site and what’s in front of you, or you can go out with a leader to hear it verbally. It’s all out there to be experienced, and I really hope that people take advantage of it.”
Yovankin credits OCC for allowing her to explore and find her passion. To current students, she advises, “Don’t put limits on what you think you want to do. When you’re going into college, you don’t have to have things figured out. It’s okay to change your mind. OCC was that place for me. It was the place where I got to take the chemistry course, take the ecology course, and find out what I really liked. It’s a great opportunity to get out there and figure out what you’re interested in.”