Jennie Barker Elementary School played host to the City of Garden City’s Arbor Day event on Thursday, April 27. Fifth-grader Hailey Unruh was recognized for designing the best poster in the school, city and southwest district in the annual Kansas Arbor Day Poster Contest.
Stacy Perez a fifth-grader at Charles O. Stones Intermediate Center received second place in the city and Emily Evans a fifth-grader at Jennie Barker Elementary School took third place in the city.
Unruh received a specially framed poster for winning the contest. She also received a specially framed poster of the contest winners across the districts in the state. Her teacher, Anita Palmer, also received a specially framed poster of the contest winners across the districts in the state to display at the school.
Arbor Day is a holiday on the last Friday of April in which individuals and groups are encouraged to plant and care for trees. Garden City is celebrating its 45th year as being a Tree City USA.
John Klempa with the Kansas Forest Service demonstrated how to properly plant a tree at the school, which the winning students helped to plant.
Deborah Oyler, mayor of Garden City, read a proclamation that detailed the importance of trees to Garden City before naming April 28, 2023, as Arbor Day in Garden City.
At the end of the event, students were given little trees to take home and plant.