Every tree gets a name.
Every name gets a person.
Ten trees per class, adopted and cared for all year — each one paired with a younger buddy or a partner community, and logged in a Tree Passport that follows it for life.
Tree plantation drives are common in schools, but most suffer from the same flaw: responsibility ends the moment the photographs are taken. Saplings are planted with enthusiasm and then left unwatered, unmeasured, and often unnoticed within weeks.
At the same time, students rarely get sustained, meaningful contact with people outside their own age group. Roots & Relationships fixes both at once — long-term custodianship of real trees, paired with an ongoing human relationship.
How it works
Phase One — Adoption
- Each class adopts 10 native trees, on campus or nearby
- Every tree gets a unique ID, a name, and a Tree Passport
- Weekly watering, cleaning, and growth measurement
- A dated photo logged with every entry — no exceptions
Phase Two — Companionship
- Each tree is paired with a junior buddy or a partner community
- Monthly visits — supervised, group, never one-to-one
- The tree becomes the shared symbol of that relationship
- When a batch graduates, trees pass to the next — "Passing the Torch"
The programme at a glance
What we're aiming for this year.
Built to last, not just to launch
Tree Passport
A living profile per tree — species, growth history, photos.
QR Code
Scan any tree on campus to see its full story instantly.
Survival Challenge
Classes are ranked on survival rate, not planting count.
Passing the Torch
Trees and their history are handed down every graduating year.
From the field
Photos from adoption day, weekly care, and buddy visits — add your own in /assets/gallery.
Who built this
Add a real photo for anyone below — drop a JPG named to match into /assets/team and it appears automatically.
Questions we get asked
Passing the Torch — trees are formally handed to the next batch of caretakers along with their full growth history already logged in their Tree Passport.
All visits are supervised group visits with a teacher present, and arranged through an institution — like a retirement home or parish group — rather than individual arrangements.
It's logged honestly, not hidden, and replaced with a new sapling of the same species — an honest survival rate matters more than a perfect one.
Every weekly log requires a dated photo, taken at the moment of logging — not added after the fact.
Yes — the whole system (Tree Passport, QR profiles, the growth log) is built to be reusable, with no rebuild required for a new batch or a new school.
The trees are already growing.
Roots & Relationships — SJBHS Social Impact Learning, 2026–27
Meet the Team →