Forty-six student volunteers assisted the non-profit organization Tree San Diego to plant 13 trees in the Westview plaza, May 20. 

After nearly nine months of extensive planning, which included meetings with arborists and district staff, PTSA member Meha Senthil and her team trees@WV finally saw their vision come to fruition: trees were coming to Westview.

“We approached [Tree San Diego] and said, ‘We have a shade desert,’ sent them pictures, and they sent the arborist and he told us what trees to put in,” Senthil said. “We’re not only putting in native trees, we’re putting in water-friendly trees, which may or may not be native.”

These trees include the Red Flowering Gum, Pink Trumpet, Saint Mary Magnolia, Drake Chinese Elm and the Bottle Tree. According to Tree San Diego’s arborist Kurt Peacock, these species were selected because they’re better suited for San Diego’s urban setting than native trees.

“There’s only 27 species of trees that are native to San Diego County, and a vast majority of them are native to the high mountains up near Palomar and Laguna,” Peacock said. “Often when they’re brought down here to the coastal environment, they don’t perform well. The truth about the native trees of San Diego County [is] several of them are thirsty, even though we live in a coastal sage desert.”

Eleven of the 13 trees planted were donated by Tree San Diego, the other two were from Girl Scout Troops 3163 and 4059 as a part of their end-of-the-year project. According to Senthil, the troops’ participation in the trees@WV program was made possible by PTSA’s Christi Papworth, who introduced the troops to her.

Senthil said that the trees@WV team worked with Papworth, school secretary Tara Appling, and other school committee members to plan a tree-planting ceremony to welcome the new trees to the campus.

This ceremony included activities such as bubble blowing, giant Jenga, giant Connect Four, corn hole tosses, and free Otter Pops, all of which were organized by Papworth. Students were also able to write notes to the trees on pieces of newsprint to be buried alongside the trees.

One key part of the tree-planting ceremony was writing a land acknowledgment recognizing the native Kumeyaay tribe, which was displayed via a poster with the tribe’s flag during the event. 

Appling was in charge of writing this land acknowledgment.

“I’m going to guess that some of our learners here have never even seen the Kumeyaay flag, so I think having that visual [will be] wonderful,” Appling said. “The background of [the poster is] Black Mountain, the canyon, and some art pieces that are cultural. Having the visual and the flag will cause some eyes to be drawn to it and read it and internalize it. [The land acknowledgment] is honoring those that came before us and greening the trail for those that come after that.”

The land acknowledgment reads as the following:

“At Westview High School, we acknowledge that the unceded territory of California is home to nearly 200 tribal nations including the Kumeyaay. We acknowledge that the land on which our campus resides is part of the legacy of the Kumeyaay. Today, the Kumeyaay people continue to maintain their political sovereignty and cultural traditions as vital members of the San Diego community. We acknowledge their tremendous contributions to our region and thank them for their stewardship.”

Led by volunteer Maya Morad (9), student and family volunteers arrived at Westview the day before tree-planting to draw chalk murals in the plaza to honor the incoming trees. Over 20 unique murals were drawn throughout the campus grounds to celebrate the new trees.

Senthil said she hopes the planting of these trees will not only uplift Westview’s campus but also help increase students’ knowledge of conservation.

“What we are taught leads us to understand, leads us to love, and therefore leads us to conservation,” Senthil said. “We all know [about] climate change, the forests, there’s so much that needs to change. But it has to come from the starting point of understanding and knowing and this all of this just sort of helps towards that.”