Riverside City College Recognized as 2024 Tree Campus Higher Education

Riverside City College (RCC) is proud to announce its recognition as a 2024 Tree Campus Higher Education institution by the Arbor Day Foundation—marking the college’s second consecutive year earning this distinction.

This national recognition honors RCC’s ongoing commitment to promoting healthy trees and engaging the campus community in sustainability efforts. To qualify, RCC met five core standards that support a sustainable campus forest and encourage student involvement:

• Adoption of a comprehensive Tree Care Plan

• Establishment of a Tree Advisory Committee

• Implementation of an experiential learning project

• Celebration of Arbor Day

• Dedicated funding for tree care

The recognition reflects collaboration across departments. Special thanks go to Andy Aldasoro and Robert Beebe from RCC Facilities for their work with the Tree Committee and for supporting required documentation. We also extend our deep appreciation to Dr. Tonya Huff, Professor Lani Kreitner, Dr. Christi Scott, and the Student Sustainability Collective for their leadership in RCC’s service-learning project to identify, measure, and map trees across campus.

To honor this recognition and celebrate Arbor Day, the Student Sustainability Collective and Faculty Sustainability Committee hosted a ceremonial tree planting near the campus clock tower. The celebration continued with a hands-on training session on tree measuring, mapping, and identification—part of the college’s ongoing tree inventory project.

"Tree Campus recognition affirms our commitment to environmental stewardship and student engagement," said members of the Faculty Sustainability Committee. "We thank the entire RCC community for helping us grow this important work."

For more information about Tree Campus Higher Education, visit www.arborday.org.