“Our youths are the roots of our future and the leaf canopy to our human existence.
They must thrive, and we must empower them too.”
Students across LA are leading the charge in their communities like never before! Just last month, TreePeople’s Youth Leadership Program accomplished some magnificent numbers:
- 130 Youth Directly Engaged In Events
- 40+ Native Plants Cared For at Coldwater Canyon Park
- 120 Trees Cared For around LA
- 600+ square feet of California Poppy Seeds Planted
From Youth Leadership Summits to Park Tree Care events, students are getting involved every day to create a greener, healthier future for all Angelenos.
Youth Leadership Summit
We started the month strong with our popular Youth Leadership Summit which included 41 participating students representing ten different schools spanning across LA. Together the youth leaders sampled activities from our TreePeople Project Toolkits, such as creating an infographic around environmental issues, and toured our facility. They also got their hands dirty while conducting a soil texture exercise.
Roughly 75% of the students that attended the summit have already reached out with excitement and are working to organizing a project on campus!
You can just hear their excitement in the reviews they left us:
[blockquote source=]I loved learning ways to make LA more full of nature and beauty.[/blockquote]
[blockquote source=]I really enjoyed the tour of TreePeople’s park. It’s nice to see plants that are from California being taken care of.[/blockquote]
LAUSD’s Beyond the Bell Tree Care Event
Our next event in Magnificent March had our participants from the Youth Leadership Program team up with LAUSD’s Beyond the Bell/ Educare Branch to organize a tree care event! This event was part of the larger LAUSD Take Action Leadership Campaign that brings together the common desire to give students a chance to build on leadership skills, celebrate the arts, serve their communities and empowers students to mentor their peers.
TreePeople supported one of the four simultaneous events that took place in four different regions of LA that day. Despite a chilly and rainy morning, 64 students from seven different schools in the North East Valley gathered at Ritchie Valens Park in Pacoima, eager to care for trees in their community park.
This wonderful group of students cared for 52 trees, mulched a large bare sun-exposed area and spread California Poppy seeds just before the rain! This was a special event for some of our volunteers because they had a history tied to the trees of the park:
[blockquote source=]I had my 8th Birthday party at this park, it was fun and I sat under that tree over there. When I walk by the park now, I will say…that’s my tree. I feel good to be doing this.[/blockquote]
In all, over 300 students participated in the Take Action Campaign this year! Make sure to check out all the action under the #studentsserveLA2018 tag and take a look at the wonderful work our volunteers did.
Westridge School for Girls Beautify Coldwater Canyon Park
To round out the month, our Youth Leadership Program hosted a three-day workshop for 25 students from the Westridge School for Girls of Pasadena.
Mornings of the workshop were spent learning about the facts and proper techniques for native plants and tree care, the movement of water in the city and the importance of waste reduction and recycling in LA.
The afternoons of the workshop were filled with hands-on care here in our park! We cared for over 40 native, climate-ready plants, 34 trees and mulched approximately 250 feet of trail leading from yurt village to the hilltop parking lot. On top of all this, these amazing students took it upon themselves to add even more vibrancy to our gorgeous park and spread just over 600 square feet of California Poppy seeds near water catchment areas.
The school had such a great time that one of the teachers wrote an article in the Pasadena paper to highlight of all the amazing work we did together. The students also shared their excitement around the event:
[blockquote source=]My favorite part was going outdoors and actually helping nature and contributing back to the community and the world.[/blockquote]
[blockquote source=]The most valuable part of the workshop for me was working outdoors because I got to see the effects of what a few hours of tree care can do for trees.[/blockquote]
What’s Next?
The excitement doesn’t stop, however! We have more magnificent things happening, including expanding other youth leadership with other support networks and organizations, such as developing a Summer Tree Care Expansion Program with The Institute for Educational Advancement.