The school participated in Habitat Restoration Day, a voluntary outing hosted by the California Native Plant Society and San Fernando Audubon Society on April 18. Students, faculty and parents joined Friends of LA River for its Earth Month Celebration, and lent a helping hand to environmental restoration activities.
Upper School Visual Arts Teacher and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coordinator Reb Limerick said they thought it would be an engaging experience for students because it involved multiple opportunities to interact.
“It seemed exciting because it wasn’t just a river cleanup, but was also a bigger fair where there were plentiful resources and activities,” Limerick said. “For example, volunteers were able to practice habitat restoration by pulling invasive species, picking up trash or even just going on a birdwalk and learning more about birds. I thought it would be a fun and local way to get the school community more involved, so I helped organize and motivate students to join.”
Abby Herrera ’28 said that despite the laborious nature of volunteering as a weeder, she felt accomplished for contributing services, and it also instilled a sense of gratitude.
“I initially decided to participate because I needed hours for community service,” Herrera said. “As I helped out, though, I learned how hard and long it takes to weed plants. Despite it being tiring, it was also surprisingly fulfilling to see my progress with every bush I cleared. Afterward, I gained a lot of respect for people who deal with this for a living.”
Sebastian Wilde ’27 said the experience left him feeling grateful for the effort he made to beautify a place he felt close to.
“It was fulfilling to see such a visible difference by the end of the volunteering session, especially knowing this is a place I pass regularly,” Wilde said. “The connection to the [clean-up] site really helped the work feel purposeful rather than just a task. While the physical exhaustion was challenging, when I saw how much trash I collected and how much cleaner everything had become, I came to appreciate the effort I’d put in.”
While the event was successful, Limerick said they aspire to make it a yearly occurrence at the school to advocate for environmental awareness.
“The event was a success in terms of getting people out there, but knowing how well it went this year, it’s something that I want to try to make happen again next year and promote earlier,” Limerick said. “I want it to become an annual tradition where our school shows up to participate in this big habitat restoration and represent the school because emphasizing environmental activism should have a bigger presence at our school.”
Limerick said the volunteering experience helped foster the inclusivity of environmentalism as it encouraged people of all ages to fight for a common cause.
“Environmentalism isn’t just a young person’s cause or an old person’s cause,” Limerick said. “It’s something that impacts everyone of all ages. Having adults and students come together to participate in this event drove that point home, and there was a sense of [togetherness] because we all live on this planet.”
