Tree Team Completes Third Successful Year
While summer for some youth might mean time at the pool, nine teens from Buena Vista spent the first month of their school break caring for their community. Hired as teen interns for the BV Cool Trees project, the youths channeled their energies into three weeks of service and learning this past June.
At the behest of the Buena Vista Tree Board, the youth completed street inventories of downtown trees and monitored the health of recently planted trees on the Southern Virginia University hillside. They planted new shade trees by Glen Maury playgrounds, tended the community tree nursery at Enderly Heights Elementary School, and created public education materials.
“This experience has been one of the most valuable and interesting things I’ve done,” said one intern. “I felt a part of the team and I felt heard. I truly feel connected with the environment and I know I can share my knowledge.”
Concluding its third year internship program is a component of BV Cool Trees, a grantfunded partnership between the city of Buena Vista and Boxerwood Education Association. The goal of the ongoing project is to increase the urban tree canopy in the city while also strengthening civic engagement and youth service-learning.
Led by Boxerwood educators Ginny Johnson and Catherine Epstein, the internship observes strict attendance and participation expectations. Since inception the program has created 30 internship positions for local youth, with 96% of interns successfully completing the 60-hour program and earning their $500 stipend.
TREE MAINTENANCE activities included replacing missing deer protection cages around BV Cool trees planted on the SVU campus in 2025. Pictured are (from left) Faith Ferguson, Idella Chittum, Julea Humphreys, Ronnie Garcia-Deacon and Kyle Pentecost.
INTERNS Faith Ferguson, Idella Chittum, and Eli Nelson put their new tree identification skills to work while assessing the health of downtown trees, a service requested by the BV Tree Board.
As a result of the program, more than one Buena Vista teen has expressed interest in pursuing a forestry-related career. Providing career connections and job readiness training is part of the internship design, said Johnson.
As in past years, the 2026 cohort met with a range of professionals, including SVU biology professor Sam Hirt, certified arborist and Boxerwood garden steward Karen Stanley, employees from the U.S. Forest Service, and Mountain Gateway’s head of forestry, Scott Reigel. The connections sparked new ideas among the interns. As one intern put it, “I now know that I would want to do something involving the environment because I want to be able to help out.”
Another element of the internship was communicating with others about the project. To that end, the interns created a series of flyers about environmental careers – arborist, forester, U.S. Forest Service ranger, and biologist – to be displayed at Parry Mc-Cluer High School this coming year. They also created a colorful, public-facing trifold explaining the importance of trees and highlighting the accomplishments of the BV Cool Trees endeavor.
The program culminated in a well-attended community presentation at the Ramsey Center on June 17, led by the interns themselves, all rising ninth- through 12th-graders.
“The prospect of public speaking was intimidating to some of the teens,” said Johnson, noting the interns practiced until the presentation was “smooth, professional, and clear.”
In one post-project survey, one intern remarked, “I have learned how to communicate my thoughts and how to do the most scariest thing (public speaking), all thanks to you guys.”
Reflecting on the success of the 2026 endeavor, Johnson said, “This was a wonderful cohort of interns, with 100% successful completion. We are so proud of everything they accomplished.”
As one intern put it succinctly: [participating in this internship] makes me realize that I have a voice in my community and that I can make a difference, even though I am quite young.”
One hundred percent of the funding for the first three years of the BV Cool Trees project came from a competitive grant awarded to Boxerwood from the Virginia Department of Forestry/ Urban Community Forestry Program and the U.S. Forest Service, with additional support from the federal IRA Act. The success of BV Cool Trees has now resulted in two more years of support from a new external funder, with details released later this fall.
To learn more about the Tree Team and BV Cool Trees, visit www.bvcooltrees.org.
AS A CAPSTONE. the interns hosted a public presentation at the Ramsey Center, sharing information about the project, the value of urban trees, and the benefits of the internship. All interns developed confident, public speaking skills as part of the program, including Eli Nelson, at podium.
TREVOR BATES, Eli Nelson and Liam Long prepare the ground for a new shade maple for the playground near the Glen Maury double-decker. According to Boxerwood leaders, developing workplace-ready skills such as teamwork, reliability, and accountability were as much as part of the program as tending trees.
BOXERWOOD garden steward Karen Stanley, a professional arborist, visited the program to introduce key tree care concepts and related careers. As a result of the program, several teens are considering post-secondary training in forestry vocations.
