YES Charter to hold Earth Day orchard and rain garden ribbon cutting

For this year’s annual Earth Day Celebration, YES Charter Academy is holding a ribbon cutting for the newly installed rain garden created for the budding orchard. YES prides itself in prioritizing their Farm to School program and teaching students about the importance of sustainability. Equipped with a garden, greenhouse, henhouse, and now orchard, the cafeteria is always stocked with fresh fruits and vegetables. As part of the new orchard, the resident farmer on campus, Juan Jose Domingo, installed a rocklined rain garden along a pre-existing bioswale in the orchard and has adorned it with native plants waiting to bloom this spring. Martin Carrion van Rijn, President of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers of California, expertly planned and designed the rain garden to capture rain and slow the flow of water near the newly planted fruit trees. While the beauty is astounding and inviting, the improvement in the health of the orchard and the increase in biodiversity on campus are the true benefits.

At the event on Earth

Day, Saturday April 20th, Carrion van Rijn and Domingo will be sharing their experiences working on the rain garden and answering questions during the ribbon cutting. The school and surrounding communities are elated with the Farm to School and environmental advancements YES has been continuously implementing; Principal Louise Miller expresses this, saying “I’m so proud of the work being done here by our students, staff, and partners such as Martin from the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. By following best practices based on science, students learn sustainability through hands-on projects”. YES Charter Academy’s persistence towards sustainability and hands-on education is something to be celebrated. Join us from 10am-2pm on Saturday the 20th for a wonderful Earth Day and momentous ribbon cutting.