Katrina Bernaus of Swarthmore has received the Gold Medal award from the Canadian Institute of Forestry for her performance during her four years as a student in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. The award, presented to one graduating student per year, recognizes those who have demonstrated not only a high level of scholarship and academic achievement, but also outstanding character, leadership, and sportsmanship. Katrina will graduate with honors on June 2, with a Bachelor of Science degree in natural resources management. Katrina is the daughter of Kim and Dave Bernaus of Swarthmore.

(Left to right): Strath Haven High School sophomore Imogen Sharif, junior Zoe Feinberg, and sophomores Sylvan Prey-Harbaugh and Nailah Sweeting — student leaders of the school’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance — celebrated at Strath Haven’s annual Rainbow Dance on Friday, May 14. Students danced outdoors on King Field, using hula hoops to promote social distancing. Ticket sales raised nearly $1,500 for the Ali Forney Center in New York City, an organization that works with homeless LGBTQ+ youth. Photo: Eva Switala

The Philadelphia folk duo Who? What? When? Where? Why? Werewolves? (6W for short, pictured) and singer-songwriter the Wildflower Project played live at Swarthmore’s waR3house3 (run by Swarthmorean co-publisher Rob Borgstrom) on Saturday afternoon. Photos: Greg Hoy

The Old Mill in Rose Valley was the site of a native plant sale on April 24. Co-sponsored by the Rose Valley Environmental Advisory Council, the sale was led by Cindy McPherson of the Rose Valley Gardeners.

Students from Penn State’s Brandywine campus were among the volunteers, some of whom are pictured here (left to right): Dave Firn, Susan Ploeg, Katherine Rubin, Gwen Rubin, Lisa Yang, Amjed Idris (behind), Nina Yang, Sumaya Islam, Cindy McPherson, Carrie Lowe, Jack Kwok, and Scott Laughlin. Photo: Ron Ploeg

The Rutledge Shade Tree Commission held its annual spring tree planting on Saturday, April 24. Five new trees (pink dogwoods and a hornbeam) now grace the borough. One of the trees was planted, at the request of resident Samantha Newell, in memory of her father, and the commission marked the occasion with a ceremony and an ornament made by Rutledge artist Rachel Sten.

As part of the borough’s Earth Day celebration, the Shade Tree Commission auctioned off a Rising Sun Redbud tree, which was won by the Ward family. Front row: Thanh Ho (left) and Rachel Sten. Back row (left to right): Suzanne Stewart, Madelaine Liberi, Connie Marchei, and Lindsay Reed. Photo: Rachel Hezlep

(Left to right) Third-graders Sawyer Barclay, Emma Levicoff, and McKinley Moots were among those participating in an eco-fair for Swarthmore-Rutledge School book club members and friends on Friday, April 3. The book clubs had read one of two Earth Day-themed selections, either Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk or The Wild Robot by Peter Brown. The group decorated reusable tote bags, spruced up the school gardens, and learned about recycling and communicating with legislators. Photo: Quincy Carpenter

Karl Rennick-Zuefle of Swarthmore recently installed “Little Free Library” book-sharing boxes at Umoja and Little Crum Creek parks as his Eagle Scout service project. The boxes enable passersby to take and leave books. About a dozen scouts from Troop 112 participated in the building and installation of the boxes over two weekends. The project was made possible with funding from the Swarthmore Centennial Foundation, the Rotary Club of Swarthmore, and the Swarthmore Senior Citizens Association.

Photo: (Left to right) Griffin Barrett, Nicholas Armstrong, Aidan McLean, Tanush Talekar, Nolen Spivey, Aidan Ross, Thomas Miller, Kevin Gao, Roland Rennick-Zuefle, and Karl Rennick-Zuefle of Boy Scout Troop 112. Photo: Dagmar Zuefle

Veronica King (left) and Callie Fries were among the many sixth-grade students at Strath Haven Middle School who worked in the school’s Zach Rufo Habitat Garden on Earth Day. The garden was first planted as an Earth Day project in 2010. Photo: Deirdre Abrahamsson