Planting the future: JYSK apprentices get their own forest
A new tradition came to life with team 136 from JYSK Academy in Denmark. On Wednesday 10 April 2024, the students planted their own tree at HimmerLand.
Student and tree will grow together in the years to come and will help JYSK achieve two big goals. The plan is for the next team to plant trees as well, and eventually a JYSK forest will take form, which serves a purpose of putting focus on JYSK’s work with sustainability while telling the story of the students, who planted the trees.
However, there would be no story to tell if not for the man, who planted the first tree. Jørgen Olsen founded what is today known as JYSK Academy in 1992, and he was excited to kick off the new tradition.
“It’s a great honour to plant the first tree of the JYSK forest. It means a lot to me, as I founded the apprentice education back in 1992. The symbolism of planting something that grows bigger and stronger – to me, that really tells the tale of our many great JYSK students throughout the years who have grown with us. Like the trees, they grow, and that’s still a big motivation for me after 44 years at JYSK,” says Jørgen Olsen, who, when hired by our founder Lars Larsen, became employee number 11.
Since creating JYSK Academy, Jørgen Olsen has had more than 5,000 students come through the program.
A great honour
One of them is Malene Toft.
She is part of team 136 and was one of 37 students who planted their own personal tree at HimmerLand.
“It’s such an honour that our team is the first to plant our own trees in the JYSK forest. As part of our education, we have study sessions at Himmerland twice a year, and it’s so cool that we can now reflect our growth in that of our tree,” says Malene Toft, who dreams of making a career at JYSK.
Going forward, the students of team 137 and the next teams will also plant their own trees when they have their first study session at HimmerLand.
HimmerLand is sponsoring the trees and the land, on which 150 trees will be planted each year.
