Valley Oaks Center for Enriched Studies

Funded by a California ReLeaf grant, TreePeople led the volunteer planting of 195 shade trees across five San Fernando Valley schools: San Fernando High School, Valley Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, Patrick Henry Middle School, Mulholland Middle School, and Northridge Middle School. These projects focused on adding much-needed shade to the most-used spaces on campus, where students, parents, and faculty socialize, play, and learn.

In tandem with volunteer planting days, TreePeople’s Generation Earth team was active in the school classrooms, engaging students in lessons about the environmental benefits of the new campus trees and using the project as a teaching opportunity for students. Throughout the grant, over 20 classes participated in these lessons. The project also included the formation of “Green Teams” at each school to ensure ongoing tree care and maintenance.

This project ultimately improved air quality, reduced extreme heat and provided educational and recreational opportunities for the school communities.

At Valley Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, the greening initiative brought together students, teachers, parents, local residents, and volunteer supervisors to plant 21 trees. Species selected were low-water use and climate resilient, including Coast Live Oak, Australian Willow and Tipu trees.