SPRING LAKE HEIGHTS — Students in Spring Lake Heights welcomed a ginkgo tree to their school grounds on Thursday, April 27 in honor of America’s 151st Arbor Day.
An overcast sky provided the backdrop to a tree-planting ceremony outside Spring Lake Heights School last Thursday. On the eve of Arbor Day, dozens of students took time out of their day to hold an outdoor presentation introducing a young ginkgo tree to the property. Monmouth County Commissioner Director Thomas A. Arnone, who is also a member of the County’s Shade Tree Commission, attended the ceremony to present the students with their green new schoolmate.
Earlier in the year, Spring Lake Heights School had applied to the Monmouth County Shade Tree Commission to receive a tree for the school property. They were accepted to the program, and their tree was planted for the April 27 ceremony.
Lamees Elabasy, a sixth-grader who assisted with the tree planting presentation, said that the annual celebration is in part spurred by the natural symbiotic relationship between trees and humans.
“We celebrate Arbor Day because trees provide us with oxygen and stuff,” said Lamees.
Another sixth-grader, Ivy Byrne, celebrates Arbor Day for the passive benefits trees provide for humans.
“I like the natural feel trees give,” Ivy said. She echoed Lamees’ sentiment, saying, “They also clean our polluted air.”
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