Seven Arrows Spearheads TREEAMS Project Launch

The Student-Led Movement’s Goal is to Plant 5,000 Trees in the Next Three to Five Years

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Seven Arrows Elementary School students participated in the TREEAMS kickoff event on Wednesday, October 1, at the EF Academy campus in Pasadena.

The gathering of students, educators and community leaders, a student-led movement for reforestation and restoration, was anticipating a speech by world-renowned conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace, who died earlier that morning.

TREEAMS is the brainchild of Margarita Pagliai, head of school at Seven Arrows and founder of both Seven Arrows and Little Dolphins by the Sea preschool.

Uniting students from Altadena to Pacific Palisades following the January fires, TREEAMS (which stands for Trees + Dreams) is designed to empower youth to learn, grow and move forward together as they transform Los Angeles into a model of ecological renewal and harmony for generations to come.

Through environmental education, tree mapping and large-scale tree planting, the project seeks to transform grief into action by restoring burned landscapes, replanting lost trees and cultivating resilience.

The facility’s gym was converted into an auditorium with a makeshift stage. Seven Arrows participants were among 1,000 students invited from schools on the Westside, Los Angeles and Altadena, including Rosebud Academy, Saint Mark’s, Loyola, Windward, Brentwood, Crossroads, Archer, Marlborough, New Roads, Calvary Christian and Santa Monica Pacifica Christian.

The event began with adults and kids singing “Let it Grow” from the 2012 animated movie “The Lorax,” based on the 1971 children’s book by Dr. Seuss.

“When you plant a tree, you feel good and the earth feels good,” said Pagliai, who conceived of the idea in the aftermath of the January wildfires. “Jane told me 42 years ago that if we work together we can accomplish anything … she’s one of the most incredible human beings I’ve ever met.”

Speaking next on behalf of the Jane Goodall Institute, Erin McCombs stepped to the podium to announce that the famed primatologist (known best for her 60 years of study and research of chimpanzees in Tanzania) had just died at the age of 91. A moment of silence was observed, after which a video message was shared in Goodall’s memory from a talk she had given at the EF Global Student Leaders Summit in Costa Rica in 2015 during which she shared her thoughts on the environment and youth empowerment.

“I’ve been working on trying to make this a better world for animals, people and the environment since 1986 … and one of my greatest reasons for hope is the youth,” she said in the four-minute clip. “The key thing is to realize that everyday on this planet you make a difference and if you start thinking about the consequences of the small choices you make—what you buy and what you eat—and if millions of people are thinking like that then you start to get the kind of world that we cannot be too embarrassed to leave to our children.”

Then, at Pagliai’s direction, everyone in the room shouted in unison one of Goodall’s messages: “Together we can, together we will, together we must change the world.”

Now with key partners, including Jane Goodall Institute, Roots & Shoots Foundation, Steadfast LA, TreePeople, UCLA School of Education, Saint Mark’s School, EF Academy Pasadena, the SoLa Foundation and EcoRise, plus dozens of other public and private schools across LA as well as local expert advisors on tree planting, the goal is to plant more than 5,000 trees over the next three to five years.

“This movement shows what is possible when schools and communities unite in a shared purpose,” Pagliai added. “I’m very concerned about the depression among young people. We want to provide the scaffolding for students across Los Angeles to lead the way in turning loss into a vision for a brighter and greener future, and we’re honored to stand beside them.”

The kickoff event concluded with a ceremonial tree planting of a coast live oak on site at EF Academy, a private high school that partnered with Saint Mark’s School in the immediate aftermath of the Eaton fire to house the Catholic school’s 250 kindergarten through sixth-graders.

“Hosting the launch of TREEAMS and planting the first tree in support of this incredible program on our campus is both a privilege and a responsibility,” said Dr. Sally Mingarelli, head of school at EF Academy Pasadena. “Our students understand healing the earth begins in our own communities, and they’re eager to lead with compassion, courage and action.”

The students also created a time capsule box into which they dropped handwritten   letters containing their hopes and dreams for the future of Los Angeles. One such message, penned by Nathaniel, said: “I hope future generations do not pollute the world so much” and was read out loud by Pasadena City Councilmember Rick Cole.

“Through TREEAMS, our students aren’t only planting trees, they’re planting seeds of hope, unity and leadership,” said Jennifer Tolbert, head of school at Saint Mark’s School. “This initiative shows how young people can take real action to address the climate crisis while also rebuilding their communities after hardship, something we know first-hand after losing our beloved campus in Altadena.”

TREEAMS goals are four-pronged: unity (bringing together public and private schools, students and community in Altadena and the Palisades), healing through connection (connecting to process the emotional toll of the January wildfires through nature), ecological restoration (planting 5,000 trees in the Palisades, Altadena, Malibu and beyond) and student empowerment (teaching students environmental literacy and leadership skills).

Over the next six months, the TREEAMS leadership team will be focused on fundraising, organizing participating schools and educating students before the planting phase is slated to begin on April 22, 2026—Earth Day—with a large-scale tree-planting event at Will Rogers State Historic Park.

The Jane Goodall Institute is a global, community-led conservation organization founded in 1977 that advances the vision and work of Goodall in 25 chapters around the world. JGI uses research, community-led conservation, best-in-class animal welfare standards and the use of science and technology to inspire hope and transform it into action for the common good.

Through its Roots & Shoots program for young people of all ages, presently active in 75 countries around the world, JGI is aiming to create a movement of compassionate people who will help create a better world for people, animals and the environment.

Immediately following the assembly, the first tree of the project’s 5,000 was planted in Goodall’s honor on the EF Academy campus. Supervisor Kathryn Barger joined Cole, Mingarelli, Tolbert and Pagliai in digging the hole in which the tree was placed and leaders of the Gabrielino-Shoshone Nation of Southern California sang a song, the lyrics of which translate to “Good day to ancestors.”

“It’s devastating news that casts a shadow over this because students didn’t get to see her today, but hopeful in the sense that she wanted to be here,” a teary-eyed Cole said. “Her name was Goodall and she was the epitome of that. We’re going to hold her in our hearts.”

Shortly after, the Jane Goodall Institute released the following statement:

“The Jane Goodall Institute has learned this morning, Wednesday, October 1, 2025, that Dr. Jane Goodall DBE, UN Messenger of Peace and founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, has passed away due to natural causes. She was in California as part of her speaking tour in the United States. Dr. Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world.”

To learn how to get involved with TREEAMS, visit treeams.org.