On June 4, members of Whitehall High School’s Science Olympiad team headed to Whitehall Parkway with shovels, rakes and two infant trees. Science Olympiad, a competitive team-based event that replaces athletic feats with science-based intellectual ones, has fostered hundreds of teams throughout schools across the country since its inception in 1974.

As part of its regulations, members of the team must complete a community service project each school year. For this year’s community service project, Justin Boandl, a Whitehall High School biology teacher who has served as the school’s Science Olympiad coach for the past five years, partnered with John Delserro, secretary of Whitehall Township’s Environmental Advisory Council (EAC), and Joseph Wilfinger, head of EAC’s Shade Tree Committee, to plant two witch hazel trees at Whitehall Parkway.

The trees, which are native to Pennsylvania, were planted to lure more wildlife into the park and also to get the students interested in nature. With the students’ aid, both trees were planted in under two hours.

Wilfinger and Delserro were thankful for the group’s community service, as many of the voluntary environmental committees around the area are understaffed.