Above, Saucon Valley High School students Ethan Wildrick and Kylie Johnston plant a dogwood sapling in a residential yard in Fountain Hill on Saturday morning. The teens volunteered to help the Saucon Valley High School Environmental Club plant upwards of 440 saplings to offset the school’s paper usage. The effort was part of a movement called “Tree-Plenish.”
On a beautiful late April day, Saucon Valley student-volunteers fanned out to help make their corner of the planet greener by planting saplings area residents recently purchased.
And that was just a side benefit of their main goal: offseting their school’s paper usage by planting at least 440 trees via the “Tree-Plenish” program. It was a goal they surpassed.
The Saucon Valley Environmental Club sold several different types of sapling as part of the fundraiser, which it said would offset the use of an estimated 4.4 million sheets of paper.
Supporters were given the choice of picking up their trees at the high school Saturday or having students plant them in designated spots on their properties, as well as information about how to care for their saplings once they were in the ground.
Saucon Valley High School freshman Kylie Johnston plants a maple tree as part of the school’s Environmental Club’s Tree-Plenish project Saturday. Behind her is junior Ethan Wildrick, who planted a dogwood in the same Fountain Hill yard.
Saucon Valley High School junior Ethan Wildrick and freshman Kylie Johnston partnered to plant trees in yards throughout the area, and they made quick work of putting dogwood and maple saplings in the ground in a small yard in Fountain Hill.
Wildrick said he was motivated to help with the Tree-Plenish project because he is a youth minister in his church, and often volunteers when he is able to.
Fortunately for everyone involved with the effort, the weather Saturday was ideal for yard work, with sunny skies and mild temperatures bringing many people outside for the day.
“My husband and I were so impressed by this environmental project involving a very small group of students, we felt it deserved recognition,” said local resident Linda Lawrence in an email to Saucon Source. Lawrence thanked everyone involved with the Tree-Plenish initiative–including teacher and Saucon Valley High School Environmental Club advisor Amber Sams–for their “service to our community.”
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The Saucon Valley students who participated in the Tree-Plenish effort hand-wrote their names on markers for the saplings.