KENT, Conn.—As the birthplace of Birdsey Grant Northrop, founder of Connecticut’s Arbor Day, the day is an an annual celebration with deep roots for Kent.
Northrop was both an educator and a naturalist. He published extensively on forestry education and town planning. His report on trees in Europe, published in 1879 as “Forestry in Europe,” gained the attention of Connecticut’s State Board of Agriculture. The state board then requested a report on promoting forestry in Connecticut.
As a result of this investigation, the state legislature declared in 1886 that “The Governor shall annually, in the spring, designate by official proclamation an Arbor Day, to be observed in the schools and for economic tree planting.”
This past Friday, April 25, the children at Kent Center School followed this direction, celebrating Arbor Day with song, readings and artwork, but most particularly by planting a thornless honeylocust tree in the school’s courtyard.
Science teacher Chris Rose, who serves on the school’s Arbor Day Committee, was the master of ceremonies, and told the children about the honeylocust, which had been installed the day before by Conservation Commission member Jos Spelbos and Tree Warden Bruce Bennett. They were assisted by students Georgie Baird, Edwin Hernandez, Anson Zhang and Sam Brown.
The tree was sponsored by the Conservation Commission and the Kent Garden Club.
Rose told the assembled children that, with proper care from the school, the tree might survive “long decades—perhaps even more than a century,” providing “shade for generations of students and visitors, supporting pollinators and birds … and teaching us year by year about quiet strength and cooperation with the land.”
He told the students that the honeylocust is a special tree, a legume that will nourish the soil around as its root nodules by adding nitrogen to the earth.
“It is hardy and adaptable, comfortable in urban soils and drought-resistant once established,” he said. “… And, as a bonus, it’s not especially tasty to deer, so with any luck, it’ll get to enjoy its early years without becoming an all-you-can-eat buffet.”
Rose then invited a student from each grade to put a shovelful of dirt on its roots with the “golden shovel.”
The children returned to the school’s multi-purpose room for the rest of the program, where fifth graders recited the history of Arbor Day and Northrup’s contribution to it.
Teacher Ane Starr recounted the school’s participation in the Plastic Film Recycling Challenge with the Trek Company. She said students, staff and families had collected plastic wrap from plastic grocery bags, bread bags and even bubble wrap. As lightweight as these materials are, the school still managed to collect 352 pounds for recycling. The contest has ended, but the recycling effort continues.
“We know that recycling is only part of the solution,” Starr said. “One of the best ways we can help the planet is by choosing to use less in the first place—making sure we choose products with less packaging or packaging that can be reused of recycled.”
The students turned their hands to art for the Housatonic Resource Recovery Authority Billboard Contest, working with the theme “batteries can cause fires.”
Each student created a design and TrailHeads co-owner Stephanie Raftery and First Selectman Marty Lindenmayer chose winning posters for kindergarten, second, third and fourth grade, presenting certificates to the first-place winners.
Those receiving awards in kindergarten were: Stella Pruitt, first place, Dayton Barrett, second place, Camilla Ferreira, third place; Grade 1: no entries; Grade 2: Isabella Castellanos, first, Jameson Shafer, second, Delilah Rost, third, honorable mention, Jacob Zylstra; Grade 3: Grace Gawel, first, Emmalee Lapp, second, Charlotte McCann, third, Edyn Zylstra, honorable mention; Grade 4: Fulton Cole, first, Martha Close, second, Averie Decker, third, and Ashton Fodor, honorable mention.
Grades 5 through 8 had no entries, but grade 8 students worked in groups to create five large murals with themes such as “Weeping Willow,” “Nature’s Colorful Embrace,” “The Window of our Future,” “MC City,” and “Springtime Life.”
The children closed the ceremony with a rousing rendition of the song, “Rattlin’ Bog,” accompanied by music teacher Stephen
