The Arbor Day Foundation named Amsterdam High School a 2024-2025 Tree Campus for its dedication to enhancing community well-being through tree education, hands-on experiences, and community engagement.
The Arbor Day Foundation is a global nonprofit with a mission to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees. Its network of more than a million supporters and partners has helped the organization plant more than 500 million trees in forests and communities across more than 60 countries since 1972. The Tree Campus program recognizes schools, universities, and healthcare facilities that utilize trees to improve their communities.
“The young people of today are the environmental stewards of tomorrow. By nurturing an appreciation for trees in its students, schools like Amsterdam High School are helping shape a better future for all of us,” said Michelle Saulnier, Vice President of Programs at the Arbor Day Foundation. “We’re proud of Amsterdam High School’s dedication to creating meaningful opportunities for students to interact with trees and help cultivate a lifelong respect for nature.”
Trees on school grounds can lower the energy cost of school facilities by providing shade cover, reducing extreme heat, improving air quality and boosting physical health benefits for students and staff. In addition, trees improve students; mental and cognitive health.
In recent years, our district has faced loss and hardship, but we’ve done what our community does best — we’ve come together. Through shared grief, compassion, and resilience, we’ve grown stronger. The trees planted on our campus are more than just symbols of sustainability — they represent healing, remembrance, and unity. The people we’ve lost live on through these acts of growth and care, their memory rooted deeply in who we are and who we continue to become.
"This was never JUST about trees. It was about showing up. Listening. Planting things we may never see fully grown. It was about turning grief into growth, and classrooms into ecosystems of care. It was about a canopy of people—students, teachers, families, staff—all reaching toward something better, together. We are rooted in care. And we are still growing…" said Special Education Teacher Kristen Barringer.
