When it comes to any project on the LMU Campus, it takes a pride of lions to get things done. That was the case on Friday, December 9, 2022, when ten students participated in a planting day at the Tongva Memorial as part of LMU’s Service and Action scheduled events.
Facilities Management (FM) staged the plants ahead of time, and CURes brought some extra shovels so more students could “dig in” during the planting.
Roya Shahnazari with CURes documented the students learning how to remove 1-gallon native plants from their containers and put them in the ground with the help and guidance of CURes Drollinger Environmental Fellow Lisa Fimiani. Alfredo Vasquez led the FM team who assisted the students and watered all the plants when the planting was done.
Over 40 new plants were put into the surrounding area of the Tongva Memorial, and the students seemed to really appreciate the significance of keeping this sacred site on Campus looking good, as a tribute to the Indigenous people who lived there hundreds of years ago.
Lisa was very impressed by the students’ ability to pick up the techniques of planting, and she enjoyed staging the plants with the students. Some students actually jumped for joy!
Yadira (“Yadi”) Enciso, Assistant Director for Student Engagement with the Center for Service and Action, also participated and organized the students. Some of the students told her how happy they were to spend time connecting with the earth and getting their hands dirty. Another student was in awe when they realized that “the plants we put in the earth would be enjoyed by students long after they graduate!”
In what was scheduled to take two hours, this pride of students had all the plants in the ground ready to be watered by an equally efficient FM team in just an hour and a half. Talk about an effective working pride! Go Lions!
