'A lot more complicated than I thought': Chicago students plant for the future of Brighton Park and their community
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's not your typical afterschool program.
Some local students are coming together to plant trees in Brighton Park. The purpose is to improve the neighborhood and learn a valuable set of skills for the future.
CBS 2's Shardaa Gray talked to the students about their efforts.
"It was actually a lot more complicated than I thought, but it was a lot more fun than I thought as well."
Lena Wu is talking about her tree planting club beautifying her school and neighborhood. She's a sophomore at Thomas Kelly College Preparatory.
"I really didn't know much about the environment. So I thought that this club would be a good opportunity for me to learn more about the environment, get to know other people and work with my friends and peers," Wu said.
They're focusing their efforts by planting trees in historically under-resourced neighborhoods, like Brighton Park.
"We live in a city where there is just concrete and a lack of greenery. We don't have as much oxygen circulating around the city and I think we really need to bring that positive change that we need," said Rachel Tweddle, a Thomas Kelly College Prep sophomore.
The Chicago-based conservation organization Openlands works with Kelly High School and neighborhoods to keep and expand tree canopy in the city. Twenty trees were planted a week ago, four on campus and 16 in the neighborhood.
"All of the trees that were planted are native to Illinois, large at maturity shade trees. So basically the native pieces, they evolved here over time. So they're really well adapted to the climate," said Openlands Community Arborist Tom Ebeling
Tweddle said planting trees not only cleans the air, but she got to know more about the people in the neighborhood.
"As we were gathering volunteers, we had people speaking Spanish, Chinese, Mandarin. We had a lot of different dialogs as well. And since our group is very diverse itself, we were also able to meet those language barriers and overcome them," she said.
Students will see the effect of their hard work when the trees bloom next year.
