Where a Canopy of Trees May Grow

By Carin Hall

In early February, the Alliance for Cape Fear Trees led the planting of 65 trees at the Girls Leadership Academy of Wilmington (GLOW Academy), thanks to a $5,000 grant from the Cape Fear Garden Club, funded through its Azalea Garden Tour. It’s an example of the kind of community partnership Wilmington does well—hands in the soil, neighbors investing in what lasts.

When we talk about “supporting students,” we usually mean tutoring, scholarships, and improving access to resources. All of that matters, of course. But there’s another kind of support that’s harder to measure until you feel it, like the relief of shade on a hot afternoon, the calm that comes from looking up mid-lesson and seeing leaves move in the wind, or the way a greener campus can soften stress. 

“We believe that every student deserves to grow under the protection and beauty of shade,” says Isabelle Shepherd, ACFT’s executive director. At GLOW, where young women from historically underserved communities are building futures with fewer barriers, that shade carries extra meaning. 

The tree list reads like a love letter to the Cape Fear region with native oaks, tulip poplar, hornbeam, and serviceberry. Each was chosen with care by landscape designer Sheri Chisholm of New Garden Designs to create a layered canopy that cools the parking area, attracts pollinators, and “stitch[es] ecological health back into a developed landscape.”

A decade from now, those trees will be taller than today’s students. And that’s the point. In a world that rushes, a tree insists on patience and hope.