Stroll and learn with the Tree Walk around Wilmette’s Marie Murphy School

Ever since she was young, Anisha Vasudevan has loved being outdoors.

“I was raised in a family that prioritized hiking, camping, spending time in the backyard,” she told The Record during a recent phone interview, “especially when it was raining. … I was digging for worms.”

When it came time for Vasudevan, a New Trier High School senior, to complete her Eagle Scout project, she decided that she wanted it to be nature themed. And more specifically, she wanted to give back to the school that helped her discover her love of trees.

This past summer, Vasudevan’s project, an interactive tree walk, was installed on the grounds of Marie Murphy School, where she graduated from in 2023.

While at Marie Murphy, Vasudevan joined the school’s science olympiad team, and when deciding which events to compete in, forestry caught her eye.

“I’d never really studied forestry before, but given my background interest with nature and the environment, I was like, ‘This sounds great,'” she said. “I’ve always appreciated trees and plants around me, but honestly, forestry gave me a completely new understanding about how much there was to appreciate about them.”

For instance, Vasudevan said she learned about what’s known as “tree blindness,” which she said is “the tendency for humans to ignore or overlook the appreciation of trees and other plants in their surrounding environment.”

“Because trees are around us when we grow up, our human mentality is telling us that there’s this kind of green foliage that’s background noise, and it’s not really a living entity,” she said. “And forestry actually taught me differently.”

Vasudevan ended up placing eighth nationally in forestry, while overall the science olympiad team placed sixth.

More than the accolades, Vasudevan most cherished the knowledge learned from science olympiad.

“I was in awe of the transformation of my perspective of trees,” she said. “I think learning about these trees made it come to life for me.”

She immediately knew, when it was time to complete her Eagle Scout project, that she wanted to do something involving environmental education.

“I’ve always loved teaching people, and this was kind of like a full circle moment where I could give back to the community, specifically Marie Murphy, that had taught me all this wonderful information,” she said.

For the specific project, Vasudevan said she was inspired by her family’s visits to Morton Arboretum, a venue in Lisle that has signage near each of the trees to provide details of them.

Vasudevan said she wanted to do that at Marie Murphy.

“Principal (Elena) Ryan was great,” Vasudevan said. “She was fully supportive (of the idea) from the beginning.”

Vasudevan explained that the Tree Walk, which is around the perimeter of the school, provides signage for each tree, including a QR code that can be scanned and that brings users to a page on Marie Murphy’s website with more information.

But she didn’t do the entire Tree Walk on her own. Vasudevan collaborated with many others, including former science olympiad teammates.

She said another forestry teammate helped her write up the summaries for each tree. Additionally, she also recruited former teammates and current Marie Murphy students to provide audio recordings of the tree details.

“It’s a great way to have this sense of connection to this project as well,” she said of all the collaboration. “And I think it also allows more people to be aware that this is a project in our community, and I think everyone was really proud of the recording and all the work that they were able to contribute to this.”

In all, Vasudevan said the interactive Tree Walk contains information on 12 different trees at Marie Murphy.

Her hope is that the Tree Walk inspires people to learn more about trees and nature.

“I hope they come out and understand that these trees do make a large impact on our world, and that they are living beings,” she said. “And if you’re able to see their beauty, you’re able to change your mindset and your behavior regarding these trees, and especially coming into a time where climate change and global warming is becoming a big issue, not taking them for granted and hopefully taking action to help protect these trees would be the ultimate hope.”

Vasudevan added that she will be leading the formal debut of the Tree Walk at 10 a.m on Sunday, Sept. 20. She said those interested are welcome to join her as she talks about the project and explore the trees.

In an email with The Record, Ryan, Marie Murphy’s principal, said the hope is that the Tree Walk will be a permanent addition to the school.

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