On November 20th, 48 Shafter FFA students traveled to Independence High School to compete in the FFA Opening and Closing speech contest.

Photo Credit: The Yearbook Staff The senior PLTW Environmental Sustainability students planted 30 trees out in the Shafter practice field. The trees came from a grant received by the KHSD. The Grant came from Cal Fire. Cal Fire which is the main arm of the California Forestry Dept. provides the funding for an urban reforestation program. California lost so many trees in the drought these programs are addressing that. How it works is the Tree foundation orders the trees from a wholesaler and has them delivered. The district grounds crew does the heavy lifting. But the grants are designed for student and volunteer participation. The Tree Foundation presents a planting demonstration and a short talk on trees and the environment. Students break into teams of two or three and set the trees in place, fill the hole and add mulch. Kristy with the Tree foundation records GPS co-ordinates for each tree and submits the report to Cal-Fire. They then monitor the trees for a number of years both by satellite and on site inspections. The specific grant is long since closed but there is an official blurb here: https://www.fire.ca.gov/programs/resource-management/climate-change-and-energy/