Exploring My Roots with Casey Trees

Contributing writer — Reed Young, Tree Planting High School Intern

Every February, my school suspends classes and every student goes into the world and completes a two-week internship. My goal for my internships has been to develop a better understanding of my city. For the past couple years, I have worked in the D.C. public schools, but this year I decided to take a different path by working at Casey Trees. 

I've grown up in Washington, D.C., and one great thing about being raised here is that the city presents so much. In D.C., you can find places that make you feel like you're in a big city, and you can find other places that make you feel like you're in a small town. D.C. also offers opportunities to enjoy nature in Rock Creek Park, on the shores of the Potomac River, and in smaller recreational parks located throughout the city. I'm fortunate to have had Casey Trees give me the chance to take time to explore my roots and the significance of my city. 

Reed Young at Casey Trees headquarters.

The people that I worked with at Casey Trees are all quality people — the kind of people I would pick to be in a super hero movie to save our city's trees. Every day, I go out with the Tree Planting Crew and do something exciting that requires hard work but in the end is rewarding. In the past two weeks, I've pruned lots of American Elms, assisted planting Trees for Georgetown, selected trees at a nursery to be placed in the city, and attended multiple classes, including one called Stand Up for Trees. These experiences have taken me all across the city to various communities. 

Working at Casey Trees, I've also learned how a good non-profit is run. I am interested in potentially working in the non-profit field, so it has been a valuable experience to be around Casey Trees and see how the organization works. Although there are many different departments at Casey Trees, everyone who works there finds time to come together. This week on Valentine's Day, the staff held a Chili Cook-Off and celebrated everyone's hard work (the vegetarian chili was really good!). This experience and a handful of others has shown me the importance of building community within an organization so that everyone is recognized and has fun doing such great work. 

Overall, I have had a great experience at Casey Trees as a part of a team that's improving life in our city.

High School Summer Crew Season Begins Today

Contributing Writer: Priscilla Bocskor, Education Coordinator

Today is the start of our 2011 High School Summer Crew! This is the 10th year of Casey Trees High School Summer Crew where 10 local students age 16 and older work for eight weeks over the summer. Our crew members were selected from many highly qualified students who applied, interviewed and attended our Field Try Out. We were fortunate to have over 100 applicants for the positions and we are really excited about this year's group.

Summer Crew, Class of 2011

The main duty of the summer crew students will be to water, weed and mulch trees Casey Trees has planted in the past three years. Newly planted trees in the stressed urban environment need extra care to become established. These trees need 1.5 inches of rain a week or 25 gallons of water to develop healthy root systems.

Six of the Summer Crew Students will be traveling around D.C. performing maintenance in trucks while four of the students, along with two Casey Trees staffers, will make up the Casey Trees Water-By-Cycle team. The Water-By-Cycle team will bike around D.C. in order to reach their designated maintenance sites.

In addition to this work, the Summer Crew students will have a chance to participate in four Career Development Days. These Career Development Days are rewards for meeting their tree touch goals (every time the students visit a tree to water, weed, or mulch counts as one tree touch). Students will have to work closely and effectively together to reach these goals. The Development Days include planting elm trees at Dangerfield Island, learning to climb trees at the National Arboretum and doing a tree identification scavenger hunt at the National Zoo.

Watering trees next to the Casey Trees office.

The 10 Summer Crew students will each be writing a blog post about their experiences so check back to read all about it. We will also have posts from Casey Trees staff about Summer Crew and Water By-Cycle. Keep a look out - you might just see the Summer Crew hard at work in your neck of the woods this summer!

View more photos of the Summer Crew's first day on Flickr.

SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITY

I loved camp growing up. Unfortunately, mine didn't include matching waders like these two girls are enjoying.

Casey Trees is proud to offer scholarships to two high school students to attend the Natural Resources Career Conference presented by the Maryland Association of Forest Conservancy District Boards.

Applicants must be DC residents and entering at least the 9th grade. The 2009 session will take place from July 19-25, 2009 in Garrett County, MD.

I cannot promise that waders will be provided but I certainly hope so.

If you are interested in applying, know a student who might be interested, etc. contact Christina Escobar, Education Coordinator, at 202-349-1896 or cescobar@caseytrees.org.