Middle school students at St. Patrick Catholic School in Chesterton planted trees on school grounds on Tuesday morning while learning about trees and botany and about growing a green future.
The sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students planted 12 trees — including silver maples, tulips and redbuds — in a native tree arboretum, the result of a Jane Goodall Institute Roots and Shoots Program grant awarded to Lisa Hughes, a science teacher at the school.
“It started after I took a professional development course and applied for and obtained a grant that was available to those who took the class. As part of the grant, my seventh-grade students mapped our campus to find places in need,” Hughes said.
After the locations for trees were identified, and the money was obtained, Hughes worked with Dan Plath, a parent at the school who also works with NiSource in environmental safety and sustainability and is president of the Northwest Indiana Paddlers Association.
“He suggested that instead of fruit trees, as I was planning, that we plant hardwoods instead because they are more sustainable. He contacted NIPSCO, who also funded the project,” Hughes said.
Andrea Nichols, a utility arborist with Arbor Metrics Solutions Inc., worked with students to instruct them on how to properly plant the trees.
“You want to have a space around the tree for water and then a berm, and that’s the proper way to mulch a tree,” she said, as students shoveled soil onto the mound.
Principal Richard Rupcich said the arboretum is one part of a larger vision for the school.
“We have 83 acres that are untapped here and this is one opportunity to plant trees here. The students will also get to take home a Norway spruce to plant at their homes. We will also be constructing a greenhouse and planting a butterfly garden and have outdoor classrooms,” Rupcich said.
Jerrit Payton, an eighth-grader at the school who helped to plant the trees, said he enjoyed the day communing with nature, and his fellow classmates.
“I’m doing something fun with my friends who will all go different directions after school ends in three weeks, so it’s a good bonding exercise. And I think I’m going to plant my tree next to a field in my neighborhood. It’s nice knowing we’re doing something good for the future,” he said.
Heather Augustyn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.