School-Wide Planting Events Held: 1

Image Credit of Ryan Peterson

Posted 10/10/2025 at 9:40am

On October 9th, 2025, Sentinel’s first schoolwide tree planting event took place during SPEAR. During this event, all teachers were given the opportunity to let their students get outside and participate in ways they were not previously able to at school. Before this event, individual classes were able to sign up to participate during class periods on Wednesday, 12 teachers and one club, key club, have participated during these periods.

Tree planting is a precise endeavor that has a specific set of instructions that requires training. All adults helping out with the project were given an hour long training and a website with proper stewardship instructions; while adults are given official training, students are integral to the success of the project.

Students will use the 10 Phases of Mezirow’s Transformational Learning which include self-examination, critical assessment, and acquisition of knowledge, all very important skills in students. There are 3 core stages of Transformation Learning: All transformations start with a crisis, the crisis will be followed up with a reflection, and the last stages are going to be an action of some sort. At the end of a project the eventual hope is that students will become better learners and members of their communities. 

At the beginning of every shift, a list is displayed to all volunteers with tasks that need to be done. Each task is assigned two students and some also have an adult. Planting events are not all business, though. These events are an opportunity for friends and staff to spend time with one another while also contributing to the community.

Volunteering gives students and staff alike the opportunity to learn and develop their skills in hard work and see a project out from start to finish. One of the primary ideas of this project is to leave a lasting legacy on Sentinel that the community will appreciate for years to come. The hope is that these school wide events will help students take pride in their work.

This project has been labeled as a Transformational Learning Project.. Transformational Learning is defined by the state of Montana as “a flexible system of pupil-centered learning that is designed to meet the Montana Constitutional mandate of  ‘fully develop[ing] the educational potential of each person’ and is customized to address each pupil’s strengths, needs, and interests, actively engaging each pupil in determining what, how, when, and where each pupil learns.”

This project is achieved by requesting that clubs and all classes participate in some way. From club to club and class to class, this doesn’t even need to be a blanket type of participation. Different clubs are welcome to focus on what they are good at. Such as the Business club helping raise funds or the school newspaper writing about the events.

As all of these trees grow around campus it will be a lasting reminder of what the Sentinel hive can do when all heads are put together. Teachers, students, parents, and community members are excited for what is going to happen next.

Posted 10/3/2025 at 9:46am

This year, there is an exciting new Transformation Learning Project ramping up its work at Sentinel. This project aims to plant dozens of new trees on campus by combining the power of everyone from staff to students on campus. In July of last year, Missoula was struck with a windstorm that damaged nearly 25 percent of Sentinel High School’s mature trees.

Schoolwide involvement in the project starts during Homecoming Week (Oct 6-10), which is dedicated to planting the first round of trees amongst the usual school pride activities. During this week, over 30 trees are going to be planted around campus by students during their SPEAR class.

Last year the head advisor of the project, Mr. Ezra Shearer, a Social Studies teacher at Sentinel High School, started asking for donations from clubs and community organizations to get the project funded. Towards the end of the year, MCPS decided to provide a $12,000 grant to allow for 35 trees to be purchased and planted.

While campus beautification is a primary selling point for the project, its impact goes beyond just planting new trees. Some additional project descriptions provided in the letter to potential sponsors sent out by fundraising individuals to businesses included the professional care for existing trees on campus, the purchase of trees, and associated materials for planting. Other jobs involve training for interested students and staff on proper tree care techniques, design for outdoor classrooms, shade structures and native landscapes, and proof of concept so the project can expand to future MCPS campuses in the coming years.

Shearer is requesting that all clubs and classes provide additional time to plant all of the trees during Homecoming Week and the weeks after. The manpower needed is currently not able to be fully met by students during SPEAR, so additional support is needed and would be greatly appreciated by the school and project managers. If a student is interested in having their club or class plant trees, they are always welcome to talk to their club advisor or classroom teacher to ask them to fill out the form sent out to all staff a couple of weeks ago.

As homecoming week looms around the corner, advancements in the project have continued to be made. On September 30th, 35 trees arrived during the first period. These trees were purchased with funds provided by the MCPS grant. With the help of administrators and students in Mr. Shearer’s first period government class all of the trees were unloaded next to the band room exit door (see right photo).

Every student at Sentinel will at some point be asked to do an activity to help out with this project. By making this an all school activity, all students are able to participate in ways that they may have not been able to before.

Image Credit of Ryan Peterson