Another successful Tree Campus kickoff: VTU
This fall, the Arbor Day Foundation and Toyota are visiting college and university campuses across the United States to kick off Tree Campus USA, a new program designed to engage students and their host communities to establish and sustain healthy community forests. This week, Arbor Day program assistant Mary Widhelm reports on the tree planting kickoff at Virginia Tech University.
Well we had another great tree-planting event take place at Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg, VA on October 21st! Over 150 students, administration, and community volunteers showed up to help us put ninety nine new trees in the ground and recognize Virginia Tech as the third Tree Campus USA university in the country.
The event started with a ceremonial tree-planting in front of the university’s new Holtzman Alumni Center followed by the presentation of the Tree Campus USA plaque and flag, received on behalf of the college by various members of the facilities department, faculty, and students. Dr. Eric Wiseman, Assistant Professor of Urban Forestry, shared with the attendees that of all the things they do at Virginia Tech, “planting trees on campus will be one of the longest legacies that you will have here.”
After the ceremony, the students and other volunteers were off digging holes and planting trees!
The ambiance of the area was just exhilarating as students grabbed their shovels and started digging holes and putting trees in the ground. For many this was their very first time planting a tree. One student said how much he was looking forward to coming back to campus in twenty five years to see how “his tree” had grown. Mary Ambler, Virginia Tech’s student representative on the college’s Tree Advisory Committee and an Environmental Policy and Planning major couldn’t stop expressing her excitement and appreciation for the gift of trees the Arbor Day Foundation and Toyota gave to the university. “This is just so exciting receiving these trees and getting to be a part of this planting event! Thank you so much for being here.”
And thank YOU to the Virginia Tech team that worked so hard to organize this successful event, which will make the campus more beautiful for years to come.
Stay tuned for updates about our next events at Oregon State and Jackson State University!
- Mary Widhelm
