Fourth-grade students planted trees at S. Christa McAuliffe Elementary School on Thursday as part of the state’s 5 Million Trees Initiative.
The county received a grant through the Chesapeake Bay Trust, per a release, in order to plant almost 1,400 trees on school properties “in urban areas with low-income and high unemployment.” The 5 Million Trees Initiative aims to plant that number of trees in Maryland by the year 2031.
At McAuliffe, 85 trees will be added to the school property. Fifth-grade students will also plant trees at the Germantown school. Principal Wanda Coates said students will name the trees, and the school will have a “tree party” for all grades so students can celebrate their work.
“This is part of their legacy — we actually have many students who went to McAuliffe whose children go here now, and if they had been a part of something like this long ago, they could come back and say, ‘I planted that tree, I remember when I was in fourth grade and I planted that tree.'”
