Owen Light (left) has started sharing his interest in environmentalism with young students through Planting Smiles. (Courtesy Owen Light)
Not all teenagers spend time e-biking and jamming to the latest tunes.
Take Owen Light, who at 16 years old, is making a big impact on San Diego’s youngest learners. The rising senior at the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts was recently awarded the 2025 Excellence in Environmental Education Award by the California Environmental Education Foundation, a statewide recognition of leadership and innovation in environmental literacy.
Light is the founder of Planting Smiles, a youth-led nonprofit that brings hands-on environmental education to elementary students in underrepresented communities. Since its launch in 2024, the program has reached nearly 1,000 children through classroom workshops, library pop-ups, and community events. Each session combines lessons on sustainability and climate with the opportunity for students to take home and care for their own houseplant.
“My interest in environmental education started with a single spider plant I was given for my room,” he said. “Caring for that plant taught me responsibility and sparked a fascination with nature. Eventually, I realized that this passion for plants could also be leveraged to promote responsibility, stability, and environmental stewardship in other kids. That realization inspired me to create Planting Smiles. At first, being a high school kid walking into a classroom of elementary schoolers was terrifying—but I’ve since come to love every minute of it.”
A typical Planting Smiles workshop lasts 30–45 minutes and is designed for K–5 students. Each session begins with a short, age-appropriate lesson that ties together concepts related to plants, nature, sustainability, and climate. Students then receive a plant and learn hands-on how to care for it, making observations and asking questions along the way. “The kids are genuinely excited to take home and care for their own plant,” Light said.
One standout example of the program’s impact occurred at Penn Elementary in San Diego, where Light taught every classroom and gave each of the 387 students a plant. The children later created a handmade “Thank You” booklet filled with drawings, notes, and pledges such as “I’ll grow plants to help the environment” and “I’ll teach my family about recycling.”
Planting Smiles is now preparing to expand to additional schools and libraries, with more than 1,000 plants ready for distribution.
As for CEEF’s Excellence in Environmental Education Award, it honors students who demonstrate vision, leadership, and measurable impact in fostering environmental awareness.
“Owen exemplifies what it means to turn passion into purpose,” said Kara Teschner, Light’s SDSCPA school counselor. “His work through Planting Smiles not only educates young children about the environment but also inspires families and communities to take small, meaningful actions that add up to real change.”
Light’s family, school faculty, and fellow students have all played critical roles in supporting Planting Smiles, too.
“My family was totally skeptical at first, but they encouraged me even when this idea seemed ambitious. My teachers and school counselor helped me design lesson plans, connect with schools, and recruit volunteers, while classmates helped plant, replant, and transplant thousands of plants—none of us received any pay, just the hope that the kids would appreciate our efforts,” he said.
Running the nonprofit has taught Light countless lessons in leadership, communication, and problem-solving. When a pest outbreak destroyed hundreds of plants in the program’s early days, he learned how to manage large-scale plant growth safely and turned the setback into a teaching moment of resilience.
Looking ahead, Light hopes to expand Planting Smiles statewide, reaching thousands more students and embedding environmental stewardship into everyday learning.
“Start small and don’t wait for the perfect opportunity,” he advises young people wanting to start their own initiatives. “You’ll make mistakes, but every mistake is a lesson. Be resilient, learn, and keep going. It’s far from easy, but it’s worth it.”
“My hope is that students realize that caring for something as small as a plant connects to something as big as caring for the planet,” Light continued. “Every small action matters, and together those actions can create lasting change.”
For more information about Planting Smiles, visit projectplantingsmiles.org.
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