The QUESTServes team stands with one of the trees they planted on Morrill Quad on April 23rd

With spring in full swing on UMD’s campus, we’ve been fortunate to resume some socially-distanced outdoor events to reunite our QUEST community. Student organization QUESTServes was recently able to host its first in-person event of the year – just in time for Earth Day! On Friday, April 23rd, QUESTServes partnered with the UMD Arboretum to help beautify the campus. I had the opportunity to take a break from Zoom classes, get some fresh air, and help out the QUESTServes team!

The event happened to fall on Arbor Day, which was perfect for our project: planting trees on Morrill Quad! Between the seven of us, we planted four bare root trees behind Tydings Hall. Although the trees were light enough to carry, they were taller than us at about ten feet tall! QUESTServes member Anna Colabewala (Cohort 33) said, “I have never planted a large tree before, just little ones in my yard. I love nature: being outside, gardening, and learning about it.” 

Anna Colabewala and Ryan Gerbes (both Cohort 33) plant a bare root tree with UMD Campus Arborist Richard Jones

The UMD Arborists we worked with taught us about the importance of the trees we were planting and the history of the quad. “I loved how knowledgeable the man was who explained how to plant the trees. I learned so much about UMD’s history and about gardening in general from him! It was truly inspiring and a great day,” Anna said.

When I asked Anna her favorite part of the event, she asked, “Can I say everything? It was amazing to work together with a team of people who want to better the world, and even though we didn’t all plant one tree together, whenever I go back to that quad I smile looking at what we did together.”

Check out a video about the event here filmed by UMD journalism student Barbara Ron-Giron. Thank you to the UMD Arboretum for giving us this opportunity!