Lake City students grow environmental awareness

COEUR d’ALENE — Sbruce, Roberto and Jeff. 

Those are the new names several Lake City High School students chose for spruce tree saplings sold as an Earth Day celebration.

The idea for a sale to raise awareness came from junior class president Rowen Lair as a way for the Lake City student council to continue Earth Day festivities and environmental awareness throughout the week. 

“I went to a summer camp last year that was focused on environmental efforts and my dad’s in the Forest Service, but I’ve never seen a sapling before in this form,” Lair said.

Student council members hoped the creative tree-naming competition for the Coeur d’Alene Forest Nursery saplings fosters more attachment to local flora.

Students had the opportunity to learn from the Idaho Trails Association about environmental conservation Tuesday and Lair said a campus cleanup is planned after school today.

Through the lunch period, Lair secured items for the booth as the need arose and Anne Tenbrink and Savannah Lujan told other students about the longevity of the Engelman saplings and the importance of planting trees to better the environment.

“You know you want to, buy a tree,” Tenbrink said to a passerby inspecting the booth.

“They grow to 90 feet in 150 years, so we’ll be gone then,” Lujan said.

Nearby, Gracie Ford and Nicole Ahrenholz offered a recycling game at the ecological club table. Students had 10 seconds to sort through and identify which items were trash and which could be recycled. If they got everything right, they received a candy prize.

In between visitors to the station, Ahrenholz demonstrated her speed recycling skills.

She said the club activities have been a good way for students to be more than a club poster on the walls and present the students with projects and what's possible to achieve for change.

"We’ve done a lot of things for Lake City this year, we actually weren’t recycling. It’s a really cool collaboration between eco club and teachers and our special ed program," Ahrenholz said.

    Lake City High School juniors Anne Tenbrink and Savannah Lujan discuss the lifespan of the Engelman spruce saplings the student council is selling this week as a celebration of Earth Day.
 

    Rowen Lair fills out an order on the tree sale list as Nolan Jarvis and Ethan Stevens read about how to care for the Engelman spruce saplings. Lair is the junior class president and came up with the idea to sell saplings through student council to help improve the environment.
  

    At the Lake City High School ecological club table, Gracie Ford watches as Nicole Ahrenholz demonstrates the timed recycling game the group came up with. Students have to sort through and identify which items are trash and which are recycling items in 10 seconds. If they get everything right, they receive a candy prize.