Trees have been on Earth for more than 300 million years which means they know how to survive and even thrive on this planet. That also makes them excellent collaborators, storytellers, and teachers, especially at schools.
This school year, Casey Trees planted 443 trees at 21 schools across the Capital Region. As a former classroom teacher and now the youth programs forester, I work with every school to design plans that consider how each tree can provide shade for play areas, habitat for birds, food for gardens, erosion control, stormwater management, and much more. However, my primary focus is always on the relationships that students and teachers can build with these trees – and how those relationships can inspire our future choices and impact our environment.
That’s why we work hard to include students in the planting process: We engaged more than 800 students in lessons, tree planting, and tree care this school year.
Given young people’s growing anxiety about climate change, it’s especially important to show them that there are active ways to help their communities adapt. Very often, we connect our plantings to issues like heat exposure, air quality, and watersheds. While planting trees isn’t the only answer, trees are important living collaborators in building healthier communities. Students learn this first; then, we teach them how to swing a pick-axe.
A highlight this year was the diversity of our school planting projects as we focused even more on student involvement and outdoor educational use.
At Garfield Elementary in Ward 8, we expanded the edible garden and outdoor learning space in partnership with FarmFresh FoodPrints. At Center City Public Charter School’s new makerspace, we installed our first schoolyard garden which included native trees, understory plants, stump seating from the Urban Forestry Division’s Urban Wood Reuse program, and a winding woodland walking path.
Sarah Chung, the school’s manager of maker learning, said she plans to utilize the space to give students “a break from computers and screens” but also to supplement learning by observing and taking samples for science studies and eco-printing, solar printing, embossing ceramics, and for studying patterns and color in nature.
Students in Friendship Tech Prep’s Academy of Urban Ecology helped add fruit trees to their Ward 8 orchard and learned how to structurally prune the trees that we planted eight years ago.
At KIPP DC College Prep, high school biology students helped reinforce the DC Environmental Literacy Plan by incorporating green career skills while addressing issues like heat exposure in Brentwood. Together, KIPP students planted 20 trees on their campus.
the impact and benefits each tree brings to our environment.
“It meant a lot to me to plant my tree because I got to use what I learned in class in real life here at my school,” said Ryan, a 9th grader at KIPP.
“Coming back out here to see the growth in the trees in such a short time means a lot to me because it shows the impact of my work,” said another student, Azzaria.
At Lewisdale Elementary, we supported the Maryland Green Schools Program by installing a biodiverse triangle of trees that will one day grow into a shaded outdoor classroom featuring diverse seed structures, flowers, and leaves for study. Before the trees were even in the ground, kindergarten teachers used them for a nature walk with students. It was an extra special planting, because our beloved crew chief, Alex Palacios, went to Lewisdale as a kid and now got to give back to it.
“I wish we had this opportunity when I was a kid,” Alex said. “It would have opened my eyes to a lot of green things that I never thought about back then. But these students now have a way better understanding already.”
Kids will often shout, “This is the best day of my life!” while digging their shovels in the soil. It makes my green heart sing every time, because planting trees is the kind of action and memory that continues to resonate, a living reminder of this moment for years to come.
To plant trees at your DC or Fairfax school, please submit a school tree planting program application. Or if you’re interested in supporting more tree plantings at schools across the DMV, please consider donating to our work. We’re grateful that this year our partners at Forbright Bank were able to sponsor our school tree plantings at Garfield Elementary, Center City, and KIPP.
