On Sunday, April 18th, Passaic Academy for Science and Engineering’s Key Club gathered at Third Ward Park to help one of Mayor Hector Lora’s initiatives: make Passaic more environmentally friendly. Various families and groups came to participate in this event including our own Key Club. Members who participated were vice president, Jessica Ahuat, and treasurer, Bryan Ahuat. The plan was to plant as many trees as possible in the allotted time at the park. Mayor Hector Lora brought over 300 trees to plant in Third Ward Park. During this tree planting day, we were given shovels and around the park we found trees waiting to be planted. With measured time, the Key Club strived to plant as many trees as possible – accomplished under the bright sun of the day. In total, the Key Club planted 6 trees in one hour! During this hour, many people greatly appreciated our hard work and local garden enthusiasts even gave us helpful planting tips in order to be more effective in our tree planting endeavors. This event will help not only our city of Passaic but our Earth as well; more trees mean better air quality, which translates to also removing carbon dioxide from the air everyone breathes.

      We are appreciative of this initiative which will help many trees bloom during the summer and help the Earth greatly. As Earth Day comes up this Thursday, the Key Club strives to keep our environment as friendly as possible and participate in other environmental opportunities to help our beloved city of Passaic. We also aim to help educate the youth, through mentorship programs, to appreciate the environment and do what it takes to take care of our surroundings. Last but not least, the Key Club thanks Mayor Hector Lora for inviting us to participate in this great initiative and hope for more opportunities to help our environment in and around Passaic.