The environment is an important factor to everyone. It’s essential for people to look after the environment for the present and future. Youth4Impact, an organization founded by local high school students for Granite and Folsom high schools who wanted to help with environment related problems by helping the community, can encourage other students to do so too.

Recently, Youth4Impact partnered up with St. John’s organization and the SAC Tree Foundation, hosting an event to plant trees in the urban areas. Increasing the amount of trees helps the environment with adding shade to areas where the concrete gets too hot.

Youth4Impact invited many people from Granite Bay to help out and support the project. In total, they planted 12 trees with the help of 10 volunteers and that’s just the start.

“Originally, just Youth4Impact as a whole, we started around last year, and it was kind of in response to the feeling we felt of the Placer County fires. We first [had] like a fire centered organization, and then we just expanded it to other things. And we happen to focus on the environment and help with tree planting and urban areas and focus[ed] more on that… in the last couple months,” Aijt Virk, a senior at GBHS said.

Not only does Youth4Impact relate to the environment but also help students too. Virk wants students to get involved and help solve problems. Currently, they are focusing on negative effects in the urban heat. 

“Well, we just want to be a start for students getting involved in problems that seem bigger than ourselves Right now specifically, we’re trying to improve the greenery in urban areas,” Virk said.

For many students who participated, it was their first experience planting trees. Some of them were initially unsure about their abilities, however, they quickly found the experience welcoming and enjoyable.

“At first, it was a little daunting for me, because I’d never been a part of something like that, but everyone there was very welcoming, and it was overall, like a fun event to be at,” Madelyn Homitz, a sophomore at GBHS said. 

Another volunteer shared a similar experience, explaining that the event helped with feeling more connected to their community. 

“I had no experience with gardening or tree planting, so I was kind of scared that I wasn’t going to be able to help,” Violet Smith, a senior at GBHS, said. “But everyone was so sweet and gave us the materials and let us go at it. It made me feel really good knowing that I was giving back to the community.”

Additionally, beyond the environmental benefits, it encouraged students to be involved in these community projects. Working alongside other students created a meaningful experience and potentially encouraged future events.

“I liked how we were able to work with another youth organization. It was cool to do some hands-on community work and plant trees with other high school students,” Haleya Hoang, a senior at GBHS, said.

Youth4Impact hopes to continue organizing events like this in the future. These organizations for more tree planting events possibly expand to other areas of community service too, as the group grows.

“Hopefully, we can have more people take on leadership roles and bring their own friends into the organization… The goal is to make Youth4Impact as large as possible, so we can make as much impact as possible,” Virk said.

While the organization is still relatively new, its leaders and volunteers show how students can work together and create change. Even if it’s events like planting trees, it can be the beginnings to a larger movement in improving the environment all while at the same time, building communities.