Santa Monica High School’s future is looking bright. And green.
While the City expands its sustainability efforts, schools are getting the green thumb, too. In a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday, September 18, Samohi students and faculty members broke ground on the high school’s student-run tree and plant learning nursery, dubbed Branching Out.
Tucked behind the Samohi football field is the nursery’s colorful square of shrubbery. Colorful flowers in bloom, young trees stretching towards the sky, and beds of many plants fill the lot while busy students sprint back and forth to care for them.
This nursery will soon plant 89 trees at the school, part of Samohi’s 25-year Campus Plan. Trees will range from purely cosmetic (such as Sycamore) to those with function (Lemon, guava and fig trees were mentioned).
Branching Out will also be home to a greenhouse filled with fruits and vegetables that students will cultivate and possibly serve at lunch. The greenhouse will be a free learning center of sorts, receiving lessons from the City on composting, ocean-friendly gardens and general sustainable practices.
“[The nursery] was invented for many reasons,” said Caroline Coster, the school district’s sustainability coordinator. “Aside from what students can learn through gardening, it gives them a connection with the campus; a stronger school spirit, a motivational, environmental engagement tool, and community engagement.”
Engaged is the right word for this community.
Surrounding the greenhouse was stacks of fertilizer as tall as the greenhouse itself, with many tree beds and shovels punctuated around the nursery. Many of these items were donated from local nurseries, Tree People, the City and involved residents.
Samohi seniors Molly McGee, Ava Tung and Gabriel Ramirez spearheaded many aspects of Branched Out, including its creation, ribbon-cutting event and the (overwhelming) community outreach.
“Community feedback has been insane,” McGee, one of the leaders of the Samohi Gardening Club said. “When we first started, this was just a dirt patch.”
“Not a lot of people knew about it and it was kind of slow to start,” Tung added, “but now that people are aware, the community wants to help.”
“People wanted to be involved in something like this, and we just had to help motivate them. We all want to work together and make this work,” Ramirez said.
When asked what it meant to literally plant the seeds of Samohi’s future, the trio smiled and nervously laughed, thinking out loud about how generations to come can be impacted by their actions today.
“Most of these trees will go to the new building and give a lot of people shade, at least,” McGee says with a laugh, “but we’ll be planting flowers for people’s prom someday, too. Fresh food for students ... it's exciting to think about that for future Samohi.”
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