Beachwood High School Earns 2024-2025 Tree Campus Recognition from Arbor Day Foundation

BEACHWOOD, OH – The Arbor Day Foundation named Beachwood High School a 2024-2025 Tree Campus K-12 for its dedication to enhancing community well-being through tree education, hands-on experiences, and community engagement. 

To earn Tree Campus recognition from the Arbor Day Foundation, schools must uphold four core standards, including maintain a tree campus team, create an education plan that connects students to trees and their benefits, offer a hands-on experience that engages students in trees and the community, and hold an Arbor Day celebration. 

At Beachwood High School, students planted four trees that are native to Ohio — Hornbeam, Yellowwood, Tupelo, and River Birch—completing the final step toward earning the prestigious Tree Campus K-12 designation from the Arbor Day Foundation. Led by Environmental Sciences teacher Marquiza Russell, and supported by the City of Beachwood and the PTO, the event also showcased student research in tree identification, soil chemistry, and carbon sequestration. 

To learn more about the process Ms. Russell and her students went through to earn the Tree Campus K-12 recognition, please watch the following video.

“The young people of today are the environmental stewards of tomorrow. By nurturing an appreciation for trees in its students, schools like Beachwood High School are helping shape a better future for all of us,” said Michelle Saulnier, Vice President of Programs at the Arbor Day Foundation.  

Trees on school grounds can lower the energy cost of school facilities by providing shade cover, reducing extreme heat, improving air quality and boosting physical health benefits for students and staff. In addition, trees improve students' mental and cognitive health

The Arbor Day Foundation is a global nonprofit with a mission to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees. Its network of more than a million supporters and partners has helped the organization plant more than 500 million trees in forests and communities across more than 60 countries since 1972. The Tree Campus program recognizes schools, universities, and healthcare facilities that utilize trees to improve their communities.