Cole Geissler walks into the greenhouses, smiling through a yawn and apologizing for being late due to traffic.

Meghan Moriarty, greenhouse manager at the University of Connecticut Botanical Conservatory, waves his apology off, asks how he’s doing and begins to share the tasks for the day. When she asks if Cole is able to care for their orchid collection, he excitedly jumps in.

“Oh! I wanted to show you this,” he says as he pulls up a photo on his phone of an orchid he’s been growing at home…