News

LIGHTNING PHOTOS: Volunteers, schoolchildren plant trees on campus

Hendersonville Elementary School students enjoyed planting trees on Bearcat Loop.

By Bill Moss, Published: October 10, 2014

Volunteers joined more than 150 schoolchildren to plant 54 trees along Bearcat Loop at Hendersonville Elementary School today.

The project, initiated by Hendersonville's Tree Board, involved about a year of planning under the guidance of Tree Board chair Mac Brackett.
"I think they are feeling ownership," Mayor Barbara Volk said of the schoolchildren. "As they drive by in the morning they'll get to see them grow. It's going to have a long-term benefit."
City public works crews dug holes and the children and volunteers used mulch from the city for the plantings. The 54 trees planted Friday will be supplemented by about 20 more later.
Brackett was pleased with the turnout of volunteers and students.
"We have more people today than we thought we were going to have," he said. "We weren't sure they were going to get out of class. It's going faster than we thought. We thought we'd be here until 2 o'clock this afternoon."
Each tree was surrounded by a crowd of children, each eager to take their turn breaking up hard ground at the edge of the hole, shoveling dirt around the tree and spreading mulch.
"Each class has adopted a tree," said HES principal Kerry Stewart. "They're watching it grow and they're going to present a program on Dec. 5 of their final product. We're very excited about it because it ties into our interdependence curriculum for the state of North Carolina." The project touches subjects "from science to math to art — they've been drawing pictures."
Jennifer Ross watched her first-grade class plant one of the trees, creating a tangible connection to concepts they had learned in the classroom.
"We've been studying how animals benefit from trees and what our responsibilities are for maintaining trees and how humans benefit from trees," she said. "We're thankful to them (the Tree Board and volunteers). It's just such a more connecting experience for the children when they get to do a hands-on project like this."
The project organizers chose mostly hardwoods and a lot of fruit and nut varieties such as pawpaws, persimmon and crab apple. They also planted scarlet oaks, chestnuts and other varieties.
"We have math teachers out here who are going to measure the circumference of trees," said Barbara Glassman, a former tree board member who volunteered. "This gives us hope that these kids are going to grow into our tree planters. It makes you feel good to live in a community that would do this."