Brandon Hoak Wins Kroon Cup for Building Community

The regalia gown Brandon Hoak ’26 MEM wore to commencement was not standard issue. He had set out to sew one himself, but when it became clear he wasn’t going to finish in time, classmate and class speaker Caroline Solomon ’26 MEM jumped in, sewing most of it for him. It was, in miniature, a portrait of the community Hoak has spent two years building at YSE: something made carefully, by hand, together.

From transforming the neglected garden between Kroon and Sage Halls into a gathering place for students to building a free library in the Sage Lounge to leading a Writing SIG where he cooked for attendees, much of Hoak’s time at YSE has been about bringing people together. 

News

Class of 2026: Meeting Environmental Challenges with ‘Openness and Willingness to Listen’

Students, staff, and faculty recognized his efforts by awarding him this year’s Kroon Cup, which is presented annually to individuals and groups that embody stewardship and implement projects that engage and inspire the YSE community. 

“It means more than I can articulate,” Hoak said of the award. “Winning the Kroon Cup has meant that to tend to the Earth kindly is inextricably linked to tending one’s personal community. When I garden, clean the kitchen, cook shared meals, and teach ecological writing, I am benefiting the Earth, non-humans, and humans all at the same time.”

Those who nominated Hoak described someone who shows up consistently for the people around him.

‘Brandon led the revival of the garden next to Kroon, which has become the place where I’ve gotten to know YSE students beyond being classmates. He cooks meals, draws on readings that represent diverse voices, and has gotten many of us back to reflection and writing outside of academic pressure. He shows up excited to see everyone. Brandon has sacrificed so much of his time to building community intentionally and thoroughly,’ one nominator wrote.

Under Hoak’s stewardship, the garden became a sort of third space for the YSE community. “Brandon’s enthusiasm and passion for the Kroon Garden are infectious. His warm and generous spirit has brought together many students over the past two years to gather, connect, and care for a space that many walk by every day without paying attention to,” another nominator wrote.

He sourced materials communally and organized weekly gardening hours open to beginners and experienced growers alike. 

Hoak said the logic was simple: gardens and kitchens are among the oldest gathering places in human history.

“All I had to do was care for those spaces, and the community would be joyous,” he said.

Newsletter

Subscribe to “YSE 3”

Biweekly, we highlight three news and research stories about the work we’re doing at Yale School of the Environment.

Beyond the garden and the SIG, Hoak is the founder of Busy Bee Ecological Designs, a sustainable landscaping and native gardening practice built on the idea that outdoor spaces can be made more beautiful while restoring habitat for local pollinators and wildlife. At YSE, he has focused on Ecosystem Conservation and People, Equity, & the Environment — values evident in everything he has built for this community.

The commencement gown, he said, was itself a reflection of that philosophy. Made from linen, with a stole sewn from scraps of fabric and a cap built around a pizza box — “because it’s New Haven” — and topped with a book of his essays, the gown became, in his words, “an artistic intervention that raises questions about sustainability, local commerce, reuse, crafting, and community.”

Hoak plans to return to his gardening business, continue design workshops, give talks for Pollinator Pathway as part of Busy Bee, and work on his self-publishing venture, Sycamore Press. A teaching role this fall is also a possibility.

“This world is so stunning, and all I want to do is make a livelihood by gardening, teaching, writing, and community building,” he said. “Like a plant freshly germinating, I know there’s lots to come — I just don’t know what it will all look like yet, but it will always be good for the Earth.”

Hoak was among several graduates honored with awards at commencement ceremonies on May 18. Nat Burr ’26 MF and Marina McGonigle ’26 MF received the Learning Community Leadership Award. Karly Beaumont ’26 MEM received the Geballe Community Builder Award, Chadwick Pingel ’27 MEM received the YSE Award for Excellence as a Teaching Fellow, and Yuqiu (Iris) Li ’26 MESc received the Strachan Donnelley award.