Session 1: Group photo of Ms. Allen’s Science 9 students, Mr. Steadman’s Grade 11 students, and Ms. Danielson’s Skills for Life students from Royal Bay Secondary School
Session 2: Group photo of Ms. Anderson’s Life Sciences 11 students and Ms. Allen’s Grade 9 students from Royal Bay Secondary School
What a fun day we had connecting people to one another and nature, all while restoring habitat! Keep on reading to find impacts, highlights and more from the day…
Impacts
- 76 enthusiastic students, 4 teachers, and 2 teacher aids engaged
- 95 hours contributed to habitat restoration
- 7.4 cubic metres (46.25 bathtubs full) of invasive Himalayan blackberry removed
- 115 square metres of habitat revitalized
- Countless smiles, laughter, and cheers of accomplishment were shared!
Highlights
- Students from Royal Bay Secondary School thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this ecological restoration activity and used their with knowledge, skills, and determination to remove invasive species!
- It was a day filled with great teamwork and lots of fun in the sun! Students enjoyed participating in a hands-on outdoor activity as well as engaging in a little friendly competition for largest root crowns!
- Students and passerbys enjoyed the additional education and decorative designs provided by the plant signs, learning about identification in a fun, creative way!
- We have been to this site located behind Royal Bay Secondary School and it’s great to see our hard work paying off with many areas cleared of invasive species and our recently planted native species beginning to flourish!
- This site is especially important to Royal Bay Secondary students as it is located just behind their school, so their impacts are noticeable and meaningful as they walk past this area each morning.
- It has been great to be able to engage students at this school on an annual basis, so they can see the progress as they return to the school year after year!
Community Investment Partner
A huge THANK YOU to GableCraft Homes for making this activity possible with their financial support!
THANK YOU to the City of Colwood for providing direction and ecological expertise to guide this activity!
Together we are achieving our common goals and creating connected, healthy and resilient communities engaged in environmental stewardship.
Why We Do This Work
The Greater Victoria Green Team organizes hands-on educational activities that have a positive environmental impact to empower people. Through activities such as invasive plant removals, plantings, litter cleanups and more, we are fostering connections with others and nature so that health and well-being is prioritized, lifelong environmental stewardship is promoted, and community members are enabled to take care of themselves, each other and the places they live. We all have the power to make a difference!
We all experience mental and physical health benefits from spending time in nature, including reduced stress and anxiety, and improved mood, focus, memory and more. While doing so, we can also have a positive impact on the environment as demonstrated through this activity!
Staff Who Made This Activity Possible
Greater Victoria Green Team Program Manager, Kaitlin Warren and Program Coordinator, Severine Tyszewicz, work hard behind the scenes to bring these high-quality activities to you.
Partnership building, outreach, social media, activity logistics, leading on-the-ground, reporting on impacts and more – they can do it all!
Severine was hired as part of Green Teams of Canada’s Youth Leadership Program, intended to empower the next generation of environmentally-focused community organizing.