Vista High School

In partnership with Lynwood Unified School District (LUSD), and with funding awarded by California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE’s) Green Schoolyards grant, TreePeople is continuing its extensive work in the Lynwood community through school greening projects at three LUSD campuses. TreePeople has partnered with SALT Landscape Architects to design and construct new green spaces aimed at combating extreme heat and air pollution, enhancing campus ecology, and supporting the physical and mental well-being of Lynwood’s school communities.

TreePeople’s holistic approach to greening prioritizes the voices most affected by this work: the school community. TreePeople facilitated bilingual listening sessions and workshops for parents, students, and faculty to better understand what the school community envisioned.

This school greening project also includes environmental education, providing lessons and activities to the school communities emphasizing hands-on-learning, outdoor activities, and real-world applications. While each school is being designed and “greened,” students, teachers, and parents will learn the importance and benefits of having a green school and how to steward it.

The greening initiative at Vista High School will establish green space on a hot asphalt campus located along to the 710 freeway and squeezed between a storage facility and a loading dock. The initiative plans on removing more than 10,000 square feet of hardscape and planting 600 native plants and more than 20 trees. Plans focus on designing shaded lunch areas, outdoor learning and gathering spaces, a quiet reading garden, and community container gardens. The project will create more green, calming spaces on campus to enhance the campus ecology, facilitate environmental education, and benefit the mental and physical well-being of the school community.