Wolff’s background includes a degree from the University of Delaware College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, where she majored in entomology (now insect ecology and conservation) with a concentration in wildlife conservation. The college now offers a wildlife ecology and conservation major, but at the time, wildlife conservation fell under entomology. Initially, Wolff was unsure if studying insects was right for her. 

“I wanted to be like Jane Goodall,” said Wolff, who also minored in biology. “I cared about conservation and wanted to focus on wildlife.”

Wolff said a conversation with Professor Emeritus Roland Roth during her campus visit changed her opinion of the little things that run the world.

“I didn’t understand insects’ role in the ecosystem, and Dr. Roth helped me to start to understand that,” said Wolff, who also credits Professor Emeritus Dewey Caron for her appreciation of entomology.

Today, insects — specifically monarch butterflies — are a focal point of Wolff’s career. She designs pollinator gardens with her “Green Team” students and tracks milkweed and monarch observations with second graders. In January, Wolff was one of four educators nationwide to receive the prestigious Monarch Butterfly Scholarship Grant, presented by Natural Habitat Adventures in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund.

Monarchs are famous for their migration across North America, traveling up to 3,000 miles to Central Mexico. Their numbers have sharply declined since the 1990s. Monarchs are classified as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The species is protected in Canada and Mexico. In 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the monarch butterfly as threatened under the United States Endangered Species Act; the final decision remains outstanding. 

The grant included travel to the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a World Heritage Site in Mexico’s Central Highlands. In this protected sanctuary, the eastern population of monarchs spends the winter roosting in oyamel fir trees. The branches droop under their weight as butterflies cluster together for warmth. 

“I experienced what makes that location so perfect for overwintering,” Wolff said of the sanctuary. “The moisture, the temperature — all of that is vital to the monarchs’ survival.”

Wolff received the grant for her commitment to enhancing education on monarch butterflies and their migration. It all started with her second-grade class.

“I was interested in facilitating labs that looked at seasonal change over time and had students contribute to authentic research,” Wolff said. “Monarchs fit perfectly because the second-grade students also study the lifecycle and development of insects.”

Wolff uses free education resources from Journey North, one of the largest and longest-standing citizen science programs in North America. 

“We look for the emergence of milkweed in our school garden and greenhouse,” Wolff said. “Then we enter our observations into the Journey North database and the students see their observations pop up on the map, which is very exciting for them.”

Wolff’s students also decorate paper butterflies, which are mailed and distributed to schools near the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve as part of the Symbolic Migration program.

“The symbolic monarch migration creates connections between individuals living in different locations of the stages of the monarch’s life cycle,” Wolff said. “The activities bring to life cultural experiences, and how each person and each stage of their life cycle are important. Without having that connectivity, the monarchs that they love would not be able to survive.”

Wolff scoured scientific journals to better understand monarch biology and spoke with a monarch researcher in California ahead of her visit to the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.

“In all of my research, one of the things that stood out was the way biospheres are managed by ejidatarios,” Wolff said. “They're the ones who are the guides in the park. They’re the ones who decide what to do with their land as a community.” 

The majority of the land in and surrounding the reserve is owned by ejidos, a communal form of land ownership unique to Mexico. This community lives in the buffer zone around the reserve; the land is passed on from generation to generation. 

“I wanted to thank these families for caring, because if they didn’t care, then it would be a very different scene,” Wolff said. “The community continues to advocate for monarch conservation and ecotourism in the face of competing interests, including avocado growing and mining.”

Wolff’s second graders wrote thank-you letters to the ejidatarios. Middle school students who previously studied monarchs with Wolff helped translate the letters into Spanish.

Wolff brought the letters to Mexico, where she connected with Estela Romero, an environmental educator and writer for Journey North, who coordinates the Symbolic Migration program in Mexico. Romero delivered the thank-you letters to the Ejidatarios.

“They said that it meant a lot to know that people cared, and that they would keep the letters and pass them on to their kids like a family heirloom,” Wolff said. “I saw firsthand the impact community science projects can have on local communities.” 

Wolff’s UD experiences continue to inform her teaching. She quotes Roth’s wise words to her students and shares UD faculty member Doug Tallamy’s books in her classroom. As a UD student, Wolff studied with Tallamy, TA Baker Professor of Agriculture and Natural Resources, during a UD study abroad in Costa Rica. They looked at insects as an indicator of biodiversity. Today, Wolff continues this research alongside a small group of future ecologists.

“I believe in leaving the world better than we found it, making a difference within our local community, which can then expand outwards into the greater community, and leading by example,” Wolff said.