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Jackson was born in Shasta, California, but grew up in Ashland, an imaginative little town nestled in the Rogue Valley in southern Oregon. Home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland influenced Jackson’s deep love for theater, music, and the arts, leading to his degree in Film and Media from Yale University. Ashland also sparked Jackson’s passion for working with youth when he was still a youth himself. At 13, Jackson volunteered as a counselor for summer camps at his local science museum, and he has worked with youth ever since.
Before working at Friends, Jackson ran a volunteer organization called Yale Children’s Theater, worked as an Educational Therapist for youth with learning disabilities, and worked as Paraprofessional in a self-contained classroom in a public school. In his free time, he loves playing board games and tabletop RPGs, going for hikes, and spending time with his dog, Ollie. He is also somewhat of an amateur baker, so maybe one day you’ll see him on the Great British Bake Off (even though he’s not British).
His favorite part of working with youth is getting to work as a team to learn and grow together. He finds that youth have just as much to teach him as he does them, and he loves that as a mentor, he and his youth will get to make discoveries together and further strive to be the people they each aspire to be.