BOXERWOOD RISING: Meet Zola Brookman, Tree Team Intern

In 2024, when Zola Brookman first joined the Tree Team internship – a Boxerwood-led initiative for Buena Vista high schoolers – she doubted she’d enjoy it. “I thought we were gonna get really dirty and really sweaty and muddy, and that wasn’t my thing,” she said. “At the beginning, you would not catch me outside, I did not like bugs, and I could not care less about plastic,” Zola explained. While that first summer was more fun than she expected – “It was so much more amazing than I ever thought it could have been,” she remembers – her stance toward the natural world did not change. During the interns’ final public presentation that June Zola specifically announced that she had no interest in a career related to the environment. 

After another summer with the Tree Team, however, Zola underwent a transformation. “I completely changed my mind,” she explained. “I can so see myself doing something with environmental science, or trees, or just being in nature.” 

Zola identified the first spark for this change in her experience transforming the Enderly Heights school garden into Buena Vista’s new tree nursery. “Obviously we got a little dirty and a little sweaty…but it was really beneficial in the end.” She continued, “Everything was clean and we had the trees in. It was just such a big accomplishment, and I realized what I was truly doing.” 

A Tree Team visit with rangers from the U.S. Forest Service also opened her eyes to entire careers she hadn’t known existed. “I didn’t know those were jobs,” she explained. “And now that I know, I think maybe I should go for one of them. They’re so cool.” The rangers also helped the interns understand entirely new forms of environmental stewardship, including prescribed fires. “I didn’t understand why we were having controlled fires,” Zola explained. “Why would we want to kill trees? We like them. But then I realized that it’s necessary – we need it.” 

During last year’s internship, Zola found particular gratification in learning how to identify native  trees. “The only tree I knew was a pine tree, and then the rest of the trees I just thought were ‘regular trees,’” she explained. “But now I can say, ‘Hey, that’s a dogwood. That’s a red maple.’” She went on, “I used to think trees were such pests because of the leaves they left, and I’d have to get rid of them, and I didn’t like doing that. But those leaves, you can use them for compost, which goes back into the dirt, and you can have more trees, more plants, and better soil, which is great.”

These Tree Team experiences not only made Zola want to return to the internship for three years running – they’ve also shaped how she lives every day. “I’ve realized that our environment is…I’m not going to say endangered, but we’re ruining it, and global warming is real,” she said. Even as a 16-year-old, this hasn’t stopped Zola from making significant changes in her life and her home. “I made an EcoBrick – that’s what I’ve been doing with the little trash I have. I have one in my bedroom and one in the kitchen, and I make my family use it too,” she explained. “So I’m still throwing plastic away, but I’m condensing it, which makes me feel a little bit better.” 

In addition, Zola says, “I don’t take long showers anymore, because I’m clean, and I don’t need to sit in there and waste more water.” She’s also convinced her parents to stop using disposable plastic bags and replace them with reusable ones. “My family has used a lot of plastic bags because we go to Food Lion, and we go to Walmart, and I’ve been very concerned…So now we bring our reusable bags, and it is a pain to get them out there, but you know what? It’s worth it.” Zola continued, “I try to do anything that I know that I can help. I know we don’t have recycling in BV, but if we did, I would so do it…maybe I should go talk to the mayor.”

Zola’s newfound environmental commitment is perhaps clearest in her career aspirations. After declaring less than two years ago that she had no professional interest in the environment, the PMHS junior now says, “I really like the idea of being a water conservationist…I want our oceans to be cleaner. Just the thought of an animal eating plastic or dying because of plastic makes me want to cry. And I wish I could do something about it, and I can.” She paused, then continued, “Which I love, that I can. Even if I could just teach others about it, I would be very happy.”

Clearly, participating in the Tree Team has been life-changing for Zola, yet the connection with Boxerwood runs deeper than the last two summers. Like most kids in Rockbridge, Zola has grown up with Boxerwood. As she puts it,  “I have done a lot with Boxerwood over the years. My youngest memory was my mom would take us there and we would play in the little [mud] kitchen. And Boxerwood came to Enderly for my elementary years, and we planted trees in pots and we put them in our nursery. Once we did the Tree Team, I found out they’re still doing it, which is amazing.”

Looking toward summer 2026, Zola once again plans to connect with the Tree Team. This year, though, she’ll be forfeiting her $500 stipend since she will be away during the internship’s first week. Under these circumstances, most students would understandably bow out. But Zola decided she still wanted to participate – on an entirely volunteer basis. “I’ve just gotten so much value out of it,” she explained. “For the love of trees, and for the nature.” 

As for Boxerwood itself, the original spark for these transformations, Zola described it as “an amazing, wonderful place where there are so many opportunities to learn and to grow your love for nature…If anybody can experience it, they are so lucky.” She paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts. “I don’t know how to describe it. There’s just too much. I would have to show them. Which I gladly would do.”