Owen Light
Student Award Recipient

A love of plants has always been a part of Owen’s life, and his passion has been nurtured by family members who are themselves botanists and avid gardeners. In fact, it was a prolific spider plant at his great-grandfather’s house that inspired the creation of Planting Smiles. Already aware that many students don’t have access to environmental education and that subjects like climate change often aren’t even taught before 11th grade, seeing all those spider plant “babies” sparked an idea that if more kids had a chance to grow and learn about their own plant, it might encourage deeper connections to the natural world and a broader environmental awareness for youth in general. With his family’s help, Owen collected the spider plant’s many offshoots into a suitcase for the trip home, converted their backyard shed into a greenhouse, and with friends began propagating hundreds of plant starts to give away to kids, being thoughtful to only grow plant varieties that would be easy for elementary students to care for on their own.

Owen then worked with his AP Environmental Science teacher Rebecca Babbey to develop an age-appropriate curriculum and reached out to the principal of Penn Elementary, a nearby Title 1 school, to propose his idea and plan for working with classes across their campus. In December of 2024, Owen delivered plants and lessons to 387 students across 16 classrooms at Penn School! Nervous at first, Owen discovered that he loves working with students and how they light up with excitement when they see him arriving with a boxful of plants. He appreciates their many thoughtful questions and how quickly they pick up concepts and incorporate new vocabulary into their conversations.  School staff have reported how much joy this project has brought to their students and shared letters with him that students have written about their plants. The feedback Owen received has validated his instincts that connecting kids with plants is powerful and meaningful, and he is eager to expand this project.

In preparation for the upcoming school year, Owen continues to propagate plants and experiment with different species and techniques to find how best to scale-up this project for the future. In addition to reaching out to new schools, Owen also plans to offer the Planting Smiles program to other organizations such as the Boys and Girls Clubs and local libraries. To build awareness and solicit plant or financial donations for Planting Smiles, Owen has created a website and is also working on opportunities for volunteers to help with propagation and eventually even program delivery. Owen is committed to growing Planting Smiles and is truly invested in increasing environmental education for youth who often miss out on other outdoor learning opportunities. As a high school senior, there are many demands on Owen’s time. It speaks volumes that among his many responsibilities he continues to mobilize his peer community and connect with local plant groups to sustain and grow this wonderful program. Owen’s project exemplifies the values of building empathy for the natural world through direct personal contact and creating equitable environmental learning opportunities. As members of the CEEF board we are honored to celebrate his achievement, and are grateful for his passion, innovation, and commitment to connecting young people to the natural world one plant at a time.