CANOPY BLOG

Miguel Berumen: An Experience I’ll Always Remember

By Canopy Team on August 15, 2016

Miguel Berumen Jr to the far left with family and Education Manager Natalia Schoorl

Miguel Berumen is a Canopy volunteer and former Teen Urban Forester (TUF). We caught up with him over the summer and asked him to reflect on his time with Canopy.

How I Became a Part of Canopy

I first started volunteering at Canopy as part of my community service project at Eastside College Prep. I chose to volunteer at Canopy because my dad is a certified arborist at a tree service company, S.P. McClenahan, and I thought it would be interesting and fun to do tree work like him (although on a smaller scale).

After volunteering for about a year, I applied for the Teen Urban Forester (TUF) summer/academic year position and was hired because I’d been a part of Canopy for a while and already knew the basics of tree care.

What I did as a Volunteer/Intern

As a volunteer I mulched, watered, and planted small trees. I also installed stakes to keep the trees upright and provide them with some protection.

As an intern, I started to lead volunteer events. During tree plantings, I would lead or co-lead groups of community members, teaching them proper tree-planting technique. A perk of being an intern was that we were trained and qualified to prune the trees that we were planting or planted in the past.

Continuing a Family Legacy

While volunteering at Canopy was part of my high school project, I almost always brought my dad and brother to help on Saturdays. Sometimes I even brought my cousins if they were available. After I graduated high school, my brother, Dylan, took over as the regular teen volunteer from my family (the Berumen family), and then as a TUF intern like I did!

What I Learned

I learned a lot from volunteering and interning at Canopy. I learned basic tree care, such as pruning and the proper way to plant trees. I learned to work in a non-academic team with my fellow volunteers and interns. I also developed my leadership and communication skills from leading tree plantings and other volunteer events.

Overall, I had lots of fun with my friends and family learning about tree care together. Interning and volunteering at Canopy gave me the skills and knowledge that would help me land my university job and first summer internship at a tech company.

12 things you didn’t know about Miguel:

1. Born and raised in Redwood City, I love the Bay Area more than anywhere else.
2. Attended Eastside College Prep for high school, which is where I became a part of Canopy through weekend volunteering days.
3. First in my family to attend a 4-year university, and have become a leader for my brother and cousins to follow.
4. Passionate for technology, specifically computer science and engineering.
5. Currently attending UC Santa Cruz, double majoring in Technology and Information Management and Computer Science, and will graduate Spring 2018.
6. Interned at Cisco as a Network Engineer in Summer 2016, and hope to have a career at that company after graduation
7. I am a die-hard 49ers, Warriors, Giants and Sharks fan.
8. My hobbies are video games, academic advising, programming for fun, crossfit exercise (P90X and Insanity), and watching sports.
9. My favorite locations, besides home, are the Disney theme parks, Lake Tahoe, and of course Santa Cruz.
10. My favorite foods are pesto pasta, cheesecake, blueberries, and orange chicken.
11. I love to keep up with domestic and world current events.
12. My parents are the best that I could ask for – they have done so much and sacrificed so much to make sure that my brother and I have the best possible opportunities for success, and for that I will always be grateful to them and love them.