East Grand Rapids — Recent East Grand Rapids High School graduate Amelia Iorio has always had an affinity for the great outdoors.
Some of her dearest and most vivid childhood memories are of nature — tromping through the forest, playing with friends under the branches of old oak trees, following her parents and grandparents around as they tended to the family gardens.
She wanted to do her part to make sure future students have the same opportunities. So, when the time came for her to choose a service project for the International Baccalaureate program, she knew just what to do.
With the help of a grant from the East Grand Rapids Schools Foundation, Amelia planted eight new trees on the campus of Wealthy Elementary, her former school, where many of her own memories were made.
The goal of the project was to expand the school’s shade and tree cover, Amelia told SNN.
“Growing older, I became more aware of the importance of having an urban tree canopy, and how it significantly reduces temperatures in urban areas,” she said. “It’s just so important, especially with all the pavement and parking lots and new buildings, to have a tree canopy.”
Robust tree canopies are crucial, Amelia said, not only to shelter students from the sun, but also to help bird habitats thrive.
“I think that’s really important, especially when you’re playing on a playground,” she said. “You don’t want to get sunburnt as a little kid. And I think visually it looks really nice to have. And with all the birds that can have nests there, all the wildlife.”
‘I’m excited to watch them grow’
Amelia started work on the project during the summer before her senior year, working with school administrators to pinpoint optimal planting areas, and doing research on species and height requirements dictated by the city of East Grand Rapids.
After researching the matter, she settled on four cedar trees for the wooded area just inside the sport fence behind the school, two Japanese tree lilacs along Lake Drive between the sidewalk and the street, and two littleleaf Linden trees to be planted on the far east side of the Lake Drive parking lot.
‘It’s just so important, especially with all the pavement and parking lots and new buildings, to have a tree canopy.’
— EGRHS grad Amelia Iorio
The trees were paid for with a $1,530 foundation grant, and planted in fall 2025 by Amelia, with the help of some parent volunteers and the East Grand Rapids Tree Planting Program.
Amelia said it was amazing to watch it all come together.
“I found it really fascinating to really see my project,” she said. “I think that it’s just so nice to walk by every day and just see the trees there, and I’m excited to watch them grow.”
She said the experience helped her develop planning, communication and project-management abilities, which she’ll put to use in the fall studying biology at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts,
“I think I just picked up really great skills with how to plan something. Just, like, organizing all the different factors and communicating with other people,” she said.
In an essay for the IB program, Amelia outlined how she hopes the project will impact the district in the long term.
“I hope students can find the same peace on the playground while playing under the towering trees as my friends and I did. Maybe my project will inspire others to plant trees of their own to increase the tree canopy in our urban community,” she wrote.
“I find fulfillment in being able to make a difference in my town. Now, standing among the trees on the campus, I feel tall and proud, not intimidated by the towering figures around me, because I know that I can make a difference as I look to do even bigger things.”
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