STUDENT SPOTLIGHT Cassandra’s sister Melissa’ 16, an Ursuline graduate, introduced her to this service opportunity. Cowell, eager to introduce the program to the community, employed the help of her classmates Marissa Petrucci and Helen Way to collaborate on bringing TreePlenish to Ursuline. Together they planned the event, attended meetings, contacted administration, and hosted the tree planting event on campus. An electronic form was circulated among students whereby a variety of trees were sold for two dollars. Students signed up online and arrived at Ursuline on April 24th to receive their trees with a local address where they planted them. Student volunteer Emily McHugh ’21 “enjoyed being able to enact real change in the community,” and the opportunity to resume service in-person with her classmates.
The event was a huge success, with 50 trees being planted, and an additional 50 being donated to Needham’s Arbor Day where residents received trees to plant in their own backyards. Petrucci felt her time leading this event was a worthwhile experience because of how she was able to connect with other students through service. In recognition for their efforts, the students were awarded the Land, Air, and Natural World Award from Project Green Schools, a Massachusetts-based organization dedicated to environmental education, and were commended in a virtual ceremony held in May.
Ursuline Student Body Profile: 2021–2022 368
92
Overall enrollment
New students
61
Cities and towns represented
20
Legacies (daughters of Ursuline alumnae)
26%
Receive tuition assistance
84
Different elementary or middle schools
18.3% Identify as students of color
$8,700
Average grant in aid
*As of October 2021 7
