University of North Texas 
Ethan Phillips, a passionate environmental advocate, has dedicated his college years not only to his personal growth but also to the conservation of one of nature’s most crucial creatures — native bees.
than Phillips, a passionate environmental advocate, has dedicated his college years not only to his personal growth but also to the conservation of one of nature’s most crucial creatures — native bees.
He says he has been an “environmental buff” since he was a kid growing up in Frisco,
and as he got closer to high school graduation, a mentor shared with him that UNT
has a great environmental science program.
“After my Dad and I toured UNT, I didn’t really want to search for anything else,” Ethan says. “I felt like UNT is a good place for me to be and the rest is history.”
Ethan moved away from friends and family and started his college journey with high hopes and expectations for making new friends. But like many others in his class, that all changed when COVID stopped the world.
“COVID prevented me from making any solid friendships in my first year at UNT and limited my ability to create a normal social life because most, if not all, student activities had to be canceled,” Ethan recalls.
Living in a new place without a car or job, trying to learn new things every day in and outside of the virtual classroom and not having the social interaction he’d expected all presented Ethan with heavy challenges. He says he developed resilience through independence and learned to trust himself.
“From those experiences I was able to change myself, change my mindset,” he says. “It made me a better person for myself, for others and for the environment.”
He discovered that dedicating himself to environmental conservation locally and globally would bring him satisfaction.
“There is a lot of harm being done to the environment currently,” says Ethan, who is earning a bachelor’s degree in ecology for environmental science. “I wanted to find an avenue where I could appropriately answer that crisis. I decided to use my efforts to benefit restoration and conservation. I felt like I would be happy with myself, knowing that I am trying my best to work against something that is getting perpetually worse.”
Ethan started volunteering at the Pollinative Prairie at UNT’s Discovery Park campus and working with the We Mean Green Fund Committee in 2021 to further his contribution to conservation and increase his social network.
He volunteered to help a group of entomology professors install bee boxes on the Discovery Park campus. Ethan started doing his own research into the benefits they provide for native bees, and his findings inspired him to take the project further, literally.
In fall 2022, Ethan proposed his own campus-wide bee box project to the We Mean Green Fund Committee that sought to advance education about native bees and conservation to the broader campus. After a year of research into the benefits of his proposal, it was approved and the real work began.
Ethan found locations around campus approved by UNT Facilities and, within those, chose specific sites he determined to be suitable environments for the boxes. After installation, he planted North Texas native plants like agarita, bluebonnets and pink ladies.
As Ethan traversed the campus putting out bee boxes, he thought, “Of course they're going to come.” However, he learned that it would not be that easy and that often times, especially in science, failure is inevitable. Ethan says some of the boxes failed because the Texas summer heat killed pollinator plants nearby, and others failed because there simply were no bees in that area to colonize them.
“Throughout the journey of this project, I've restructured my thinking,” he says. “Instead of accepting failure, I ask myself, ‘How can I learn from this?’ and ‘How can I make it better?’”
The lessons paid off.
“I remember the first day of data collection, where I saw bees interacting with the bee box. I was so excited,” he says. “Finally after three years of trial and error, I finally get to see it in person, right in front of me. It was one of the best experiences of my life.”
Ethan plans to continue his research after graduation through a non-profit or governmental conservation and restoration organization, and he looks forward to his continued growth in his field helping all pollinators flourish for the betterment of our planet.
Ethans advice for the best way we can help? “Pollinators are extremely important to the environment. There are close to 4,000 species of bee in North America alone, including the most recognized Western Honeybee, and they all need our help. So rip out your Bermuda grass and plant native!”
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