Meet Tesha, An Arboretum Student Worker

Tesha has worked with the Arboretum since she arrived at the UA in Fall 2024. She is among the most wonderful "Arboretum People". She is pursuing double degrees: a B.S. degree in Geography, College of Geography, Development and Environment and a B.A. degree in Anthropology, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. She anticipates graduating in the Class of 2026. Tesha is an exceptional non-traditional undergraduate student who came to the Arboretum, highly recommended by our friends at B&B Cactus Nursery where she previously worked for several years. She has an exceptional knowledge of plants including their identification, natural history and ethnobotany. That experience and skillset couples her long term interests in and knowledge of water conservation, ecological restoration, and the relationship between peoples and their lands. She hopes to use her combination of degrees to support the people of southern Arizona in reconnecting sustainably with the desert as a home and a place to be cherished and protected. Since she began work with the Arboretum, she has researched and written dozens of species description reports now populating the species pages on our website. She has also created a tour especially for students that features lessons about impressive campus trees and meditative exercises associated with the species or specimen. The self-guided tour includes 5 stops at trees in the historic core of campus. It is called "Medi-TREE-tion" :) Find it here. When she's not studying, botanizing or educating the Arboretum community, she works at a local tea house where she serves not only tea but also human connection, ritual and more than just a little peace. We are so thankful for the complementarity of Tesha's unique combination of skills that match so well the muti-faceted opportunities of the Campus Arboretum. 

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