SCH Academy Campus Certified as Level I Arboretum

The next time you walk down SCH’s red-brick path, pause to take in the trees. Once you notice the rich diversity of species, shifting with the different light and seasons, you may never see campus the same way. Woven throughout our grounds and spanning roughly 1.5 miles, our newly certified ArbNet Level I Arboretum offers an outdoor experience that engages students, faculty, and visitors. According to ArbNet, an arboretum is “a living museum of trees and woody plants, grown and cared for by an organization committed to their stewardship.”

Thanks to the efforts of our Faculty and Staff Green Task Force, which spearheads environmental stewardship on campus, the Springside Chestnut Hill Academy Arboretum has documented 32 trees to “engage Pre-K-12 students and the public in environmental stewardship,” right here on campus. 

Download the map and read more: www.sch.org/arboretum

The Path

“We started on the journey to become an arboretum with the encouragement of alumna Sherley Young '57, who has seen the transformation of the campus over many decades and felt it was important to share with the broader community,” said Jenny McHugh, director of Major Gifts at SCH, who also served on the arboretum committee.

While the certification effort is recent, the thought, care, and intention behind it extend back to 1886, when Henry Howard Houston first developed the property. Many of his original plantings—including the sugar maples along the main drive and specimen trees near the Inn—still thrive today.

Since then, generations of students and staff have continued to plant trees across campus, and over the past 27 years, SCH has expanded the collection by partnering with the Morris Arboretum and the Friends of the Wissahickon specifically to plant native species. From the American sycamore and Chinese elm trees lining Cherokee Street to the canopy trees along Willow Grove Avenue, the school continues to cultivate a unique, inviting environment for those who walk its grounds.

Stewardship and Curriculum

Environmental stewardship is central to the SCH experience, and the school's newly designated arboretum reflects that commitment. Students across all grade levels actively care for and learn from the campus land, from tapping maple trees in the spring to planting and mulching new saplings year-round. 

Across our curriculum, students will engage with the campus arboretum through hands-on ecology and tree labs in 11th-grade Biology and Environmental Science, while faculty plan to collaborate across disciplines to assist with tree cataloging, lesson design, and long-term monitoring. Beyond coursework, student-led initiatives are bringing the local landscape to life. Sophomore Chloe Kent’s CEL project will produce a botanical-inspired publication featuring poetry, photography, and art centered on native Pennsylvania flora. Meanwhile, senior Quinn Clotman is working toward her Girl Scout Gold Award by partnering with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and Tree Tenders to push for expanded tree canopy coverage across Philadelphia. Last year she planted five trees along Willow Grove Avenue.

“Planting the trees was such a learning experience, and I believe SCH's commitment to sustainability and a green campus is one of my favorite things about this school,” said Clotman.

A Living Project

In the coming months, the Green Task Force and SCH students will tag each tree, making it easy to explore the curated plant collection across our 62-acre campus bordering the wooded Wissahickon Valley. 

Like the arboretum itself, this is a living project: Upper School Environmental Science students, as well as Middle and Upper School Eco Club members, will continue identifying and mapping trees and woody shrubs across campus— and estimating their annual carbon absorption—as new curricular opportunities expand.

Other plans include an Art and Arbor Walk connected to the current Barbara Crawford Gallery exhibition, Nature Vivante, and a book club to cultivate community dialogue.

The exhibition links directly to the curriculum across all grade levels, combining artistic inquiry, environmental literature, and hands-on science with the arboretum. From Lower School sensory studies and Middle School watershed modeling to Upper School climate future installations, students use art, science, and the campus environment to deepen their ecological understanding and step into active roles as environmental stewards. This year, SCH 3rd graders will investigate how living things depend on one another within ecosystems while working directly with Class of 1957 Artist in Residence Marguerita Hagan.

Trees include: Paperbark Maple, Red Maple, Blue Atlas Cedar, American Chestnut Hybrid, Honey Locust, Chestnut Oak, Black Tupelo, Sweetbay Magnolia, River Birch, White Oak, Hackberry, Cedar, Chinese Chestnut, Willow Oak, Japanese Cedar, Sugar Maple, Hornbeam, Hinoki Cypress, Japanese Maple, Japanese Snowbell, Norway Spruce, Bald Cypress, Copper Beech, American Sycamore, Black Locust, Japanese Maple, Eastern White Pine, Oak Leaf Hydrangea, European Beech, American Tuliptree, Cherry-plum, and American Sweetgum.

Download the map and read more: www.sch.org/arboretum