Students plant pocket forest at East Bay school to help fight climate change
Schilling Elementary School in Newark is packed with young pioneers, willing to get their hands dirty. Schilling is the first school in its district to plant a pocket forest on its campus.
Armed with shovels, mountains of mulch, and gardening tools, students from all grades are turning their campus into a climate change-fighting superpower. On a 12,000-square-foot patch, they're planting drought-tolerant flowers, shrubs, and saplings. All the plantings are native species.
The goal is to create a pocket of hope known as a Miyawaki forest, an ultra-dense forest that can capture carbon, cool urban heat islands, and enhance biodiversity in damaged ecosystems. It's named after Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, who pioneered the technique.
"This is the best thing we can do with our time and our resources to cool the planet because all of these trees will grow extremely rapidly," noted Schilling's science teacher Neelam Patil, who introduced the idea to the school.
"Each plant hosts so much biodiversity, so many varieties of different birds and butterflies and insects, and it will just bring back a symphony of nature," Patil said.
"A lot of animals don't have homes because people have taken them away," said student Paola Sanchez.
"I just want to wake up one day, go to school and see like a little squirrel running somewhere," added student Andrew Gregoire.
"It's important so we can introduce more wildlife to our school," said student Caleya Muñoz.
Parents, teachers, and school officials are blooming with pride.
"I think this is just an amazing opportunity for our students not only to be outside and learn about the environment but to really build something for their community," said Schilling Principal Dr. Jessica Pollock. "To really build something for their school, and to drive what they might want to do in the future."
"The kids can do all kinds of discovery lessons that go along with the planting," added Newark Unified School District Superintendent Tracey Vackar. "They can watch them grow, they can measure them."
"It takes it beyond just the book. It takes it into the real world. It takes it into the real world and showing them life examples and they're putting it to work right now," said physical education teacher Sean Castle.
"This is set up for them to have a nature area in the future that they can just come to and have some quiet time if they need to," added Schilling parent Jennifer Setob.
Gregoire has planted several trees, including a maple he calls "Fred," and he feels that planting a mini forest is pretty cool for school.
"Nature, school, what do you think happens when you mix that? A beautiful school because nature is beautiful," he said.
The Miyawaki forest at Schilling will also serve as a new outdoor classroom.
"It's a STEM learning activity. It's aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards, and biodiversity is a major priority," added Patil.
The school raised the majority of the funding for the forest from the Philanthropic Ventures Foundation, which will also support an environmental science project on campus. Schilling also received donations from Newark's Mexico Tortilla Factory, Oakland's Bee Green Recycling and Supply, and Urban Forest Friends, an environmental conservation group serving Newark, Fremont and Union City. The school also received a Rotary Club grant, and its PTA also raised a significant amount of money.