Kent State University colleges and departments will hold several events across campus to celebrate Arbor Day on Thursday, April 21.
From 9 a.m. to noon, Kent State’s Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will host Arbor Day activities for the children from the university’s Child Development Center, including a children’s book reading at University Library and a tree planting near the recreation fields across from the Child Development Center on Loop Road.
From noon-2 p.m., students, faculty and staff can visit the first floor library reading room for environmental activities and information from Kent State student organizations.
At 2 p.m., four trees will be planted during the Arbor Day ceremony in the same location as the tree planting with the Child Development Center.
Kent State received part of the funding for this event from the Tree Campus USA Arbor Day Mini-Award.
The Tree Campus USA Arbor Day Mini-Award is a grant of $1,000 that encourages partnerships between local colleges and universities and Alliance for Community Trees (ACTrees) member organizations. Colleges and universities submit a proposal for an Arbor Day event that is focused on tree planting, care, education or other forestry activities, according to ACTrees’ website.
Kent State partnered with the Holden Arboretum, an ACTrees member located in Kirtland, Ohio, to apply for this grant.
“The money was earmarked from the Arbor Day Foundation to implement an Arbor Day celebration, so we collaborated with Holden Arboretum to come up with something that would work for us,” said Heather White, grounds manager at University Facilities Management at Kent State. “Holden Arboretum had suggested planting five different types of trees that are all within the same family to speak to what Kent State is about: everyone is different, but we’re all one family.”
Representatives from Holden Arboretum will attend the event to acknowledge their partnership with Kent State.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry also will present the Tree Campus USA award to Mark Polatajko, Ph.D., Kent State’s senior vice president for finance and administration. Kent State has earned its eighth consecutive recognition from Tree Campus USA, a national program created in 2008 by the Arbor Day Foundation to honor colleges and universities for effective campus forest management and for engaging staff and students in conservation goals.
For more information about Kent State’s Earth Month events, visit www.kent.edu/sustainability/earth-month.
For more information about University Facilities Management at Kent State, visit www.kent.edu/ufm.
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Photo Caption:
Kent State University students plant a tree behind Stopher Hall during the university’s annual Arbor Day celebration.
Media Contacts:
Heather White, hwhite1@kent.edu, 330-672-0817
Emily Vincent, evincen2@kent.edu, 330-672-8595