The clouds loomed thick on Santa Cruz Island when the Ojai Valley School students began work.
Fragrant eucalyptus mulch needed to be laid two inches thick across the Cavern Point Trail, and juniors Hannah Little and Tigran Nahabedian, along with three fourth graders, took to the task with glove-covered hands, rakes and shovels.
The project was one of several service initiatives performed by OVS students and teachers on Jan. 17 to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
But for Hannah and Tigran the service day also represented a homecoming of sorts: the two were members of the first OVS elementary school class to perform island restoration work as part of the school’s Hands On the Land program, an effort launched in 2016 with federal funding to connect students, teachers and volunteers with public lands and waterways.
In returning to the islands earlier this month, this time as juniors, student leaders and mentors to the younger OVS students.
“Going with the fourth graders this time as a high schooler reminded me of what it was like to go as an elementary student,” said Hannah
Neither Hannah nor Tigran is a stranger to the islands.
Hannah’s mother has worked for the Channel Islands National Park for many years, and Hannah has been on the islands multiple times both to perform restoration work and just to have fun exploring the rugged terrain.
Tigran has a unique connection to the Channel Islands because it was the first National Park he visited. Since then, he has visited more than 120 service sites in the National Parks System.
“I was glad to be able to do my part to give back because that place is very special to me and it started off my adventures in national parks,” said Tigran, who has been recognized for displaying exemplary leadership as a junior ranger with the National Park Service and as a board member and youth director of the Channel Islands Park Foundation.
Both Tigran and Hannah said riding to the islands and working with the OVS fourth graders earlier this month reminded them how they felt going to the Islands in fifth grade.
That year, Tigran and Hannah were among the first OVS students to venture to the islands under the school’s “Hands on the Land” program, an initiative initially funded by the National Environmental Education Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Grant funding made it possible for more students to access the islands and use them as living laboratories for projects that have included working on-site in nurseries, removing invasive vegetation and compiling plant restoration data.
Hannah and Tigran trekked to Anacapa Island for their fifth grade volunteer work, but their work earlier this month took them to Santa Cruz Island.
Although several years have passed, the pair was just excited as the fourth graders on their trip out on the islands.
As they have now become older, they possess a deeper understanding of what the channel islands are and how meaningful the works are.
“Now going as a high schooler I have a lot more fun going on hikes and doing the volunteer work whereas when I was a fifth grade I was just so excited to be on a boat and be out there running around on the island and seeing the animals, especially the little island foxes are always super fun,” Hannah said.
Both Hannah and Tigran have been out to the Channel Islands multiples times to perform restoration work. Seeing the significant change in the islands that they helped to protect has increased their sense of responsibility and strengthened their bonds with the land.
“It’s truly an experience that you remember, and I’m hoping that for these fourth graders, they’ll remember what they did and be just as excited as I was when I went up there,” Tigran said.
