Local School Spruces Its Anniversary With Tree Planting From $3,500 Grant
/Over 50 volunteers of students, faculty and sponsors planted 40 white spruce trees around their campus with a $3,500 grant in celebration of Kawartha Montessori School’s 40th anniversary on Saturday morning.
Kawartha Montessori School students Jenna Quinn (left), 14 and Esther van Oostveen (right), 6, digging up dirt to plant one of 40 white spruce trees. Photo by David Tuan Bui.
The trees run along both sides of the school and beside Highway 7. Added forestry for the school acts as a natural sound guard, decreases outside distractions for students and beautifies the campus among several other benefits according to Celia Johnstone, Tree Canada community advisor.
"It's a very exposed windy site," she said. "The schoolyard is very exposed so it provides good protection from the wind. There are also shade trees, provide the clean air as we breathe and mitigate the greenhouse effect."
"Having our school on this beautiful 10-acre property, we enrich our academic curriculum daily using the outdoors," said Carolyn Donaldson, Montessori principal. "From a very young age, having these students know that giving back to the environment is so important."
Students planted eight trees on Friday with a total of 48 planted. The ordeal was a positive experience for the school as it was the first community activity they could hold since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It's just so great to plant so many trees to help the environment and to impact future generations here,” said Jenna Quinn, 14, grade 8 Montessori student. "It's such a beautiful campus and it's great to have trees out here."
