Maia Sparkman, a 2014 graduate of South Whidbey High School, recently traveled to Ecuador to help reforest cities as part of her environmental studies major at Seattle University.

Sparkman and 18 other students from the school participated in a program, Global Student Embassy, whose mission was to rehabilitate nearby forests, school gardens, habitats as well educate the community. One of the projects included reforesting land in San Clemente.

They worked on a local farmer’s land and planted nearly 300 trees in two days. Sparkman said that the farmer noticed his crops were being affected due to his land having a lack of trees. Without them, his farm was subject to harsh climates and wasn’t producing because of a lack of humidity and rainfall that a forest provides.

Another reforestation project took Sparkman to Bahia de Caraquez, a coastal community that was destroyed during the 1997 El Niño and an earthquake in 1998. Because of the natural disasters, local environmentalists wanted to rehabilitate Bahia into an “eco-city,” Sparkman said. The students reforested land in Bahia while also working with local high school students who were part of their eco-club at the school.

The students used 14 different species of trees during their reforestation projects.

Sparkman, a sophomore, is also minoring in biology. She is on the track and field team at the university where she competes in the 400-meter, long jump and 1,600-meter relay for the Redhawks.

“It was passion, inspiration, lifelong friendships and the best and most rewarding week of my life,” Sparkman said.