Students plant fruit trees, learn about nutrition

A throng of sixth-graders crowded around little holes on the grounds of Summit View Elementary School on Friday.

The 60 children split into groups of five or six and dug into the dirt. In those holes, they would plant 25 fruit trees, including apples, apricots, nectarines, pears and pomegranates, which together would form a school orchard.

Through planting these trees, the school hopes to teach the children about nutrition, weather and agriculture, said Gail Siqueiros, the school nurse who facilitated the project.

“It all kind of goes together,” she said.

Summit View, which is in the Sunnyside district, worked with the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, an international nonprofit organization based in Pittsburgh. The group provided the trees and education to the sixth-graders for free. The organization helps communities in need plant trees and raises awareness on climate change and global hunger.

The area of Summit View, which is south of Tucson International Airport, could be considered a “fruit and vegetable desert,” Siqueiros said.

Students there eat a lot of processed food, she said, so she wanted to get kids involved in growing fruits and vegetables so that they would be more interested in eating them. The school garden also features vegetables, including kale.

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“Hopefully, they will then go and teach their parents,” she said.

Abigail Saenz, 12, who was digging a hole with four of her friends, said she has planted flowers before, but not trees.

“I feel excited, because it’s my first time and I want to see how it goes,” she said.

She learned that day that “digging is hard” and also that by the time the trees produce edible fruit, she will be in middle school. But the wannabe-biologist said that’s OK.

The fruit trees planted at Summit View and other Arizona schools were chosen based on how they deal with the desert climate, including drought tolerance, said Lizzy Rainey, special project coordinator with the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation.

The organization is also working with Esmond Station K-8 School, Robison Elementary School and Changemaker High School in the Tucson area. On top of supplying the trees, the foundation also trains students about the environmental impact of trees, Rainey said.