In 2005 PTA parents at Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School in Burbank were concerned that the Kindergarden play area needed shade. After researching shade structures they realized that for less than 1/10 of the cost of one structure they could plant trees that would provide shade to students all over the school grounds. Two of the Emerson parents then went to a TreePeople Campus Forestry training where they joined with other school leaders across Los Angeles also learning how to green their campuses.
TreePeople provide a detailed how-to notebook, and Rachel Dawson, their Campus Forestry expert to train the parents and the Emerson Green Team was born. Lead by Derrick Kolus who coordinated all the planning with the city, the school district, and the school administration, and Karen Broderick who coordinated the parents, teachers and students to do the actual planting, the Green Team spent 7 months planning for the 2 days in April 2006 when they would plant 43 trees on the Emerson campus. With the hard work of a large, energetic group of parents and very helpful Burbank School District grounds staff all was made ready for the big planting days. Day one, all 520 students and their teachers participated in planting and naming their own class trees. On day 2 close to 200 community volunteers participated in planting the remaining trees. The entire Emerson community came together for this successful and meaningful event.
Andy Bishop headed the group that researched and decided which trees would go in each planting site and shepherded all the trees from the nursery into the ground. After the planting he took over the Leadership of Green Team as volunteers and students continued to water and care for the trees for several years until they were well established. Andy, who is still head of Emerson Green Team is interviewed for this video.
