Little over a week after six out of the nine saplings in front of St. Paul's United Church of Christ were destroyed by vandals, students from Ingraham High School's landscaping program planted new trees donated by Seattle Department of Transportation.

Under the instruction of Deborah Brown of SDOT's urban forestry program, Lief Herald and students planted six new saplings on Thursday morning along NW 65th Street.

The students are special-needs students who receive high school credit and vocational training in landscaping. They dedicate every Thursday to landscaping projects at various low-income homes, work with landscaping professionals, and learn real-life skills for future jobs.

"Restoring this beautification project also teaches them compassion and empathy," Herald said.

Herald added that he is very grateful for the trees.

"SDOT gave them to us for free. WIth our economic situation that just doesn't happen," he said.

The trees were brutally torn in half on the night of Friday, Nov 4, killing the saplings that had been donated and planted by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods only a year ago.