Visiting students do planting

BY TOM HENDERSON
GAZETTE-TIMES REPORTER

The first inch was easy. After that, the dirt at the Corvallis Skate Park seemed to turn to rock.

Nursing student Jordan Long from Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Wash., pounded the dirt with her shovel.

“This is like anatomy class,” she said.

Um, exactly what about digging a big hole is reminiscent of studying anatomy?

“It’s annoying,” said Long.

“No,” laughed student Sarah Scoles. “We’re nursing students. We like to pick at things.”

That was the jovial mood Friday as 80 students from across the West Coast planted trees near the skate park. You would expect as much from young people who work in university residence halls. “This is a very spirited bunch,” said Linda Hamilton of Oregon State University. She is among the members of the Pacific Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls meeting this weekend in Corvallis. She attended last year’s conference and is one of the leaders of this year’s event.

Students from Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and Idaho hit town Friday and immediately started the philanthropic chore of planting trees at the skate park. Two of the trees were Oregon Ponderosa pines. The rest were Willamette fig leaf maples.

Members of the Marys Peak Sierra Club provided the trees. Club member Barry Wulff commended the students on their efforts. “It will mean something to someone later and yourselves as well,” he said.

Charitable projects are a major priority for the students, Hamilton said. In addition to planting trees, they’re also collecting books and other donations for schools in Tanzania and Kenya.

The students, many of them residence assistants at their home colleges or serving on dorm councils, also will spend the weekend focusing on leadership activities and ways to improve the experience of students living on campus.

Dr. Seuss provided the theme for the weekend. Quotes from his children’s books adorned official T-shirts, and students spent their first evening watching “Horton Hears a Who.”

“It’s a way of getting back to the basics, to the ABCs we learned in childhood,” Hamilton said.

For many students, planting trees was a first. They never so much as dug a hole before. Rachael Schlosser of Gonzaga University in Spokane found that getting the wrapping off the roots of the tree was difficult. “This is like Velcro, only heavy-duty Velcro,” she said.