BOXERWOOD RISING:

Meet Ellie Bunten, Walkabout Outfitter Manager

Throughout our 25th year, we’ll be sharing stories of young people whose Boxerwood experiences shaped their passions and vocations. Have a young friend to recommend? Contact Catherine Epstein: catherine@boxerwood.org

Ellie Bunten was not a summer camp kid. As she describes it, the camps she tried “had too much structure for a kid like me.” By that, she means they were lacking the freedom she was accustomed to outdoors. “My dad was a fly fishing guide,” she explained. “Every vacation or school break, we were camping, traveling, fishing, boating, that kind of deal. I would have to first attribute my love of the outdoors to my parents.” 

While Ellie felt comfortable adventuring outside from a young age, she said, “my passion for the outdoors, especially educationally, came from Boxerwood.” She even remembers the exact lesson that ignited this passion. “It was the watershed activity,” she recalled, the hands-on interactive with Boxerwood’s giant topographical map that has by now energized thousands of 4th graders. Discovering how healthy water depends on healthy land provided a whole new perspective on the riverways she’d explored since childhood. “We learned about how the pollution from our Woods Creek goes to the Maury River, which goes to the James, and then so on to the Chesapeake and the ocean,” she explained. “That seriously resonated with me…I always loved the water…fly fishing, boating, kayaking…[but] that specific program got me really interested in environmental education.”

It also prompted Ellie to action on the homefront. “My dad used to use fertilizer,” she said, “and after I learned that that fertilizer was going straight into Woods Creek – that’s where we lived – I was like ‘Absolutely not.’” Ellie can’t be sure whether her father followed her request, “but he definitely was happy that that was something I was interested in.”

Beyond inspiring her passion for environmental education, Ellie loved that Boxerwood gave her what she always craved outdoors: freedom. “Boxerwood really gave me the chance to explore nature on my own,” she said. “I always thought that was really special.” She went on, “I think Boxerwood can be very hands-on, but also hands-off, and let the children discover things. I think that’s really great.” Ellie also remembers connecting with animals in a new way: “seeing the turtles and the frogs, I always loved that. And everyone at Boxerwood was so good about asking us to be quiet and listen to the wildlife…that always really resonated with me.”

She’s followed this passion ever since, majoring in environmental studies at Roanoke College. There, she had the opportunity to continue following her adventurous spirit. During a lab with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, “we’d go out to Catawba where McAfee’s Knob is, and we would track the phenology of the trees and see how global warming might be impacting their life cycles,” she said. “I got to do some trail maintenance with them also, and that was really fun.” Ellie even studied abroad in India through a conservation and culture program – including a trip to the Corbett Tiger Reserve. “We saw wild tigers. I got to ride elephants. We went to an all-organic, woman-run farm…And then I went backpacking in the Himalayas. It was amazing. Definitely once-in-a-lifetime experience.” Ellie is also quick to point out where all of these experiences originated: “that was entirely specific to my environmental studies degree.” 

Through those college years, Ellie maintained a strong connection to Boxerwood, interning as a camp counselor and volunteering for a summer water monitoring project in partnership with the James River Association. 

Having returned to Rockbridge as an adult, Ellie still finds ways to stay connected, most recently as a Boxerwood class chaperone with her mother, Waddell Elementary School teacher Jennie Bunten. “It’s just been really special being an adult…and seeing how Boxerwood resonates with today’s generations too. It’s really cool to be a part of that, and see things clicking with kids that used to click with me when I was a kid.” 

Continuing her passion for the outdoors, Ellie now serves as store manager for the Lexington branch of Walkabout Outfitter, a position she’s held for the last three and a half years. There, she does “a little bit of everything,” including ordering products, ensuring the store’s inventory is full, tracking sales metrics, and managing hiring. She is also Walkabout’s lead visual merchandiser, guiding designs for window displays for all six of Virginia’s storefronts. She describes her work as “awesome. I love our community, whether they’re local or visiting.” Given her adventurous spirit, it’s no surprise that she especially loves giving recommendations for outings, including hiking, boating, and fishing. She even helped to outfit a local resident preparing to summit Aconcagua, a mountain in the Argentinian Andes that is also the tallest peak in the western hemisphere. 

Ellie herself continues to find freedom outside. “My favorite thing to do is fly fish in our national forests,” she said. “There aren’t always trails, so you kind of just have to find your way. That’s my favorite type of outdoor activity, just being explorative.”

Thinking back to her childhood, Ellie loved Boxerwood for the same reason. “I would describe Boxerwood as a little sanctuary right outside of town,” she said. “You can go there and just explore on your own. You don’t have to be there because you’re part of a program or because you’re doing something specific. You can just go there and enjoy Boxerwood. I think that’s truly special.”