Trees for Survival 2023

Miss Scott’s Year 9 whānau class and students from the Student Volunteer Army went to plant trees at Ramarama recently. The aim of the exercise was to do something positive for the environment by helping to stop erosion. Research has shown that the cutting down of so many trees has created a decrease in air quality worldwide. This has led to over 3.2 million people dying annually due to air pollution. The students started off the day waiting for everyone to arrive before leaving for the thirty-minute drive to Ararimu. Then, after a small briefing of the packed day, three vans full of students and teachers set off for a day of tree planting. Everyone was so excited to go tree planting because they got to do something positive for the environment and see what it felt like living in the countryside. At first, it was a bit tricky learning how to plant a tree but Sue, our amazing instructor, helped us out with learning how to plant our trees properly on the big stoop. In the end, we got the hang of it and we ended up planting over 600 trees! “The hardest part of the day was probably standing for so long,” noted some of our Year 9 students. 

An entire day in the sun with fresh air and mud could have been difficult for most, but this act of environmental healing helped the students to understand the importance of slowing down erosion. Also, with the planting of these trees the native birds that have left due to no trees for homes will now return. Miss Scott who was one of the teachers in charge was pleased with how the students worked during the day and remarked, “It was fun to see my students get together and work so well. They did a marvellous job planting so many trees.” From planting 600 trees this year, the students hope to return and plant even more trees next year. They found that it was a fun day and were happy they could do their part to help the environment.

DARREN PATI, EUROPA HAUITI AND ANAHERA-JAYDE

NEWS MEDIA TEAM