Da’mirah Vinson ’26
Today we had the chance to go on a tour of the city with Terris King II. He showed us a couple of places where his Temple X Forrest School works with various plots of land to either clean up trash, plant new trees or whatever the kids of the school imagine the land to look like. One of the locations that stood out the most to me was the urban forestry behind the Ashburton Elementary/Middle School. Terris and the students from the school have been working with the land for about 4 years and their main goal is to keep the forestry clean. The area suffers from a lot of litter because it is a usual dumping spot, people often walk through, and it is public property. What is frustrating about the land is that every time the school works to clean up the area, it is filled with trash again.
Terris also has an agreement with the city that if he can keep stewardship of the land for 5 years, he and the school will be able to own it. Touring the forests, and hearing how hard the kids and Terris work to keep it clean and consistent, made me think about how patience is key to community organizing and long term changes. The dedication to the urban forestry and all the other areas the school works with is remarkable. It reminds me that longevity and going back to start over is sometimes necessary to change. I often want and think of immediate change, but what I have learned from the past two days is that it takes years and small steps for sustainability.