First Tree Planted to Honor 2020 Graduates

Adrian Huq never got the opportunity to hug their friends or say goodbye to their teachers upon graduating this past June. It took a few days for it to hit that they would never be returning to school after students were forced to make a hasty departure from the campus when the public health situation worsened in the Spring.

As Huq took classes from home, a willow tree bent over in their yard. Huq came up with an idea to honor the graduating class of 2020 with a gift that would grow for years to come: trees.

“Trees are really fitting for this because it will grow along with your graduate,” said Huq. ​“It’s nice to symbolize growth, change and healing, which I think are really important messages right now, especially now with the resilience of the class of 2020 and their families and their schools and their educators, it is especially fitting to have a sign of hope.”

They reached out to a coordinator at the Urban Resources Initiative, where they have been working since late January. Soon, the graduation trees became a reality: the Urban Resources Initiative (URI) and the Yale School of the Environment (YSE), a non-profit university partnership, are now planting free Graduation Trees to honor New Haven’s 2020 graduates. Anyone can ask for one by reaching out to the URI team.

Huq joined four members of the Urban Resource Initiative’s planting crew in the parking lot of their high school on Thursday morning to witness the planting of the first ​“Graduation Tree” in celebration of the Metropolitan Business Academy’s class of 2020.

Ten other local schools have signed up to receive one of these free trees so far — two colleges, five high schools, and four middle schools. Twelve families have requested trees to honor their graduates. More have expressed interest, and the crew will be planting the trees through the Fall season.

Thursday was the last day of the summer planting season. The three URI crew members, Tyrese Yates, Steve Outlaw and Jose Dishmey Jr. started digging a hole for the graduation tree well before 8am. Their thick jeans were already dusted with soil. Together, the trio heaved the young Hawthrone into a shallow crater. They released the roots from a tightly-bound burlap sack and loaded a heap of soil around the base of the tree. 

“Trees don’t like to be planted too deep, or else their trunk wood will rot,” explained Caroline Scanlan, an arborist and the URI planting team manager. Dishmey Jr. demonstrated how he measured the ideal soil level by finding the ​“root flare”, the sweet spot where the tree trunk becomes the tree roots.

Yates, Outlaw and Dishmey Jr. joined the URI ​“Greenskills” team as part of a social enterprise program, EMERGE Connecticut, that helps formerly incarcerated people find work experience and job opportunities after being released from prison. Yates described the tree-planting team as a ​“family” and like ​“therapy”. He said the work helps him overcome his PTSD. This is his fifth season planting trees for the city.

The team dug a trench around the tree, creating a low berm that would retain water and help the tree absorb it into the roots. Finally, they watered the tree with four buckets of water and spread a thick blanket of mulch, providing nutrients for the tree to grow.

In the winter, the tree will sprout small red berries, like holly. In the spring, delicate white flowers will bloom. Scanlan said she deliberately chose a tree that would bloom to give the school a glimpse of beauty after a long winter. 

Some of Huq’s classmates took up jobs to support their families after the pandemic hit; others are essential service workers. In the absence of a proper graduation ceremony, Huq hopes this tree will honor the resilience of their peers.

This is the second tree that URI has planted in honor of a graduate, although it is the first at a school. URI has already planted an autumn cherry tree for a middle school graduate in front of their grandmother’s house on East Grand Avenue.

Scanlan’s voice grew quiet when she talked about a Kousa dogwood tree that they planted on New Haven Academy’s campus a few weeks ago for a student, Benjamin Brown, who passed away last Spring. He would have graduated this June.

“Trees can carry all kinds of different symbolism for different families. Trees can honor a loved one who’s passed. We also plant trees for newborns — to honor the beginning of a life. Or in this case, the trees celebrate a special occasion, a life cycle event.” said Scanlan.

Changing The World, 1 Tree At A Time

When Huq speaks, they always sound like they are smiling. 

Huq commanded the attention of hundreds and filled the Green in September last year when they emceed for the youth climate strike.

The co-founder of the New Haven Climate Movement’s youth team, Huq got involved in junior year of high school when they were selling and teaching their peers about energy efficient products.

It was 2019, and Swedish high schooler Greta Thunberg had lit a spark in youth-led climate movements worldwide. That September, in cities from Kiev to Kabul, kids were marching for climate action. Because of Huq and the youth team’s activism, New Haven became one of them.

“Deforestation has a huge impact on the climate crisis,” said Huq, who noted that New Haven cuts down hundreds of trees each year. Even though trees are not a complete solution to the crisis, Huq said tree-planting is part of the fix. ​“I hope that we can at least replenish our trees here in New Haven and help to balance carbon emissions.”

URI plants over 500 trees in New Haven each year on a request basis. Local individuals, businesses and cultural institutions can request for them to plant a free tree at a location of their choosing. The City reimburses URI $450 per tree. Grants and individual donations also support the planting program.

One of URI’s key missions is to reverse the inequality within New Haven neighborhoods where some enjoy well-kept, lush urban environments while others have sidewalks and homes barren of any tree cover, said Scanlan.

Huq noted the stark contrast they see between the amount of tree canopy downtown, along the verdant Hillhouse Avenue and in the Yale campus, compared to the lack of greenery in predominantly black and brown neighbourhoods, like the Hill and Dixwell.

“When you look at the map and the numbers, certain neighborhoods in New Haven have less trees and less street cover than others,” said Scanlan. ​“Typically, those overlay onto neighborhoods that have been systemically disinvested in, whether it’s through redlining or you know, just neighborhoods that don’t get as much financial investment.”

Scanlan said tree cover provides shade for homes, parks and sidewalks, creates a sense of place, and is a ​“cornerstone” of so many neighborhoods.

“We want to make sure the environmental benefits are distributed equitably across the city. Tree planting is one small way we can do that,” she said.

Over the next three years, the Metropolitan Business Academy will take up the responsibility of watering the tree. 70 percent of the tree’s nascent root system was removed when it was transported from the nursery to URI’s storage yard behind East Rock.

In time, the roots will spread out beneath the soil, reaching to absorb deep groundwater, until the tree is no longer dependent on watering. The hawthorn tree will grow to about 25 feet.

“The class of 2020 went to school between 2016 and 2020 which have been some of the most politically unstable years,” said Huq, who also pointed to the tumult of the pandemic and the uncertainty of starting college during the pandemic. ​“This tree can represent hope and resilience that we as a class have had, and also all our teachers, administrators, educators and families as they adjusted to this new reality.”

Watch the tree planting below.