Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Tales...Story 2: Technology and Trees

NARRATION: IT’S A SUNNY MONDAY MORNING AT MCKINLEY TECHNOLOGY HIGH SCHOOL IN NORTHEAST WASHINGTON DC.

Katie: This looks like hard work.

Student: In our area there are a lot of rocks, so we’ve been hitting rocks all day.

Narration: A GROUP OF 10TH GRADERS ARE SWEATING IT OUT PLANTING MAGNOLIA AND HOLLY TREES ON THEIR SCHOOL GROUNDS.

Student: We had a lot of reason trees are important, for soil erosion and to clean the air and environment, to reduce greenhouse effect and global warming.

Narration: TODAY’S PLANTING IS MORE THAN JUST BEAUTIFYING THE SCHOOL. IT’S PART OF AN URBAN PLANNING PROJECT THE STUDENTS HAVE BEEN DESIGNING, ON THEIR COMPUTERS.

Student: We use a program called GIS and we have an aerial picture of McKinley tech high school so we digitize the trees and then we map where we would like trees. It’s a complete layout of the area from high up, so you can see where you would like to have trees or you would want your trees.

Narration: AND THAT LAYOUT CAN SHOW THEIR SCHOOLYARD, THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD, THEIR CITY, AND THEIR REGION, FROM WASHINGTON, DC, TO BALTIMORE, MD, TO THE WHOLE CHESAPEAKE BAY WATERSHED. GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS, OR GIS, IS SOPHISTICATED MAPPING SOFTWARE THE STUDENTS USE UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF TEACHER DREW SWEIRZCEK:

Drew Sweirzcek: So what you do is plot all of the trees on GIS map and then you can run analysis software that tells you the benefit of the trees in term so of pollution removal, absorption of water runoff, things that have major costs to a government in a city.

Narration: IT’S A YEAR LONG PROJECT FOR THE STUDENTS.

Drew Sweirzcek : It culminated with Casey trees donated the 5 trees and planting them today.

Narration: CASEY TREES IS A FOUNDATION IN WASHINGTON, DC WORKING TO RESTORE TREES IN THE CITY. FIVE TREES MAY NOT SOUND LIKE MUCH, BUT CARLOS’ LONG TERM URBAN PLAN CALLS FOR A LOT MORE.

Carlos: We planted 25 trees around the school. I put the American elm tree by the track, it will give us shade and it will help prevent water runoff on the field.

Narration: BACK IN THE COMPUTER LAB, CARLOS AND DARSHAY ARE FINALIZING THEIR GIS PLANTING PLAN.

Katie: Are you opening one of your maps?

Sound of clicking.

Katie: Oh wow, so tell me what we’re looking at.

Darshay: This is McKinley right here and this is the track, and that’s where we decided to plant the trees for water runoff and shade beside the track.

Katie: Are the blue circles the trees?

Darshay: The blue circles are the trees and the orange shading is McKinley and the yellow boxes is the outside of McKinley.

Katie: What phase of the project are you in?

Darshay: I’m still digitizing the trees, I want more than 25 trees but I’m trying to squeeze in 25 right now.

Narration: AND DARSHAY IS LEARNNG A VALUABLE LESSON. HEATHER LANGFORD OF CASEY TREES WANTS THE PROJECT TO HELP STUDENTS SEE HOW URBAN PLANNERS USE THE SAME TECHNOLOGY TO INFORM THEIR DECISIONS.

Heather Langford: They can do an environmental and economic analysis of benefits, it actually gives a dollar value to the benefits of ecosystem services, and we come up with a planting design and this design at McKinley was all by the students.

Go back outside

Sound of watering trees

Students: We’re done!

Footsteps. Doors opening.

Drew Sweirzcek: A lot of them came to me and asked if they get extra credit for this, are we getting paid, what are getting for this 3 ½ hours of sweat and labor, and I said nothing. I hope they learn to appreciate the environment around them especially in the inner city where you don’t have a lot of opportunities to experience nature and the environment, also learn that kind of constant balance that needs to be kept in mind when a city is expanding,

Narration: AND MR. SWEIRZECK IS HOPING THAT THE STUDENTS UNDERSTAND THAT THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE WHOLE REGION. FOR SOUNDPRINT, I’M KATIE GOTT.

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