McHenry High School students and volunteers distributed 277 tree saplings this spring through the first Tree-Plenish campaign led by the school’s Environmental Club and Gardening Club.
The 277 trees represent saplings purchased through Tree-Plenish plus those donated through Friends of the Fox. Saplings were handed out – and planted by students in many cases – on April 30.
Teams of volunteers went out to deliver the trees, and in many cases, plant them. Volunteers included student members from various clubs as well as community members.
“I’m very happy with how it all turned out,” said Kaley Freund, science instructor and advisor for the Environmental Club.
The project is a joint effort between the high school’s Environmental Club and Gardening Club to replace the paper used by the school in a given year. Saplings were sold for $5 each.
The three types of trees sold are Eastern Redbud, Northern Red Oak and Bald Cypress.
The goal was to plant 345 saplings to offset paper usage at school. School officials estimate that paper use is 20,469,972 pages printed or copied since July 20, 2017, which is the equivalent of 1,555 trees.