Columbia, SC—Twenty six students and two classes earned awards in this year’s Richland County Arbor Day Student Contests, sponsored by the Richland Soil and Water Conservation District and the Richland County Conservation Commission. Each entrant was tasked with demonstrating why trees, forests, and/or forest products are important through the media of writing, videos, and bulletin boards. The entries were exceptionally creative and diverse, arriving in the form of poems, songs, speeches, plays, newscasts, diaries, bumper stickers, and letters.
“They give us oxygen/They give animals food/Don’t the changing colors of the leaves/Just put you in a good mood?” Tyniah Wilson, a fifth grader at Harbison West Elementary School, writes in her poem “Tree of Life.” “In the forest, things come to serenity,” adds Hope Alexander, an eighth grader at Longleaf Middle School. Several students emphasized the importance of celebrating and protecting trees, including St. John Neumann sixth grader Theresa Pickler, who explains “The trees are life’s keys,/So help us preserve them please, please, please.”
In South Carolina, Arbor Day is observed on the first Friday in December (December 7, 2012). The Arbor Day Student Contests were the culmination of a series of events and programs coordinated by the Richland Soil and Water Conservation District and Richland County Conservation Commission to raise Arbor Day awareness and encourage tree appreciation. For more information about these activities, visit www.rcgov.us/rswcd. A complete list of winners is attached.
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2012 Richland County Arbor Day Contest Winners
2nd Grade
Writing Contest
- Megan Keener, “Arbor Day Trees Forest and How Trees Help Us” School: Harbison West Elementary School Teacher: Sheila Shelby
Video Contest
- Sean Young Lewis, Saanvi Cherukumalli, Amanda Speaks, and Serenity Greene; “Be Friends to Trees” School: Harbison West Elementary School Teacher: Jennifer Wahrmund
- Brayden Meeh, DeKerian Brown, and Carter Godfrey; “What Trees Do” School: Harbison West Elementary School Teacher: Jennifer Wahrmund
4th Grade
Writing Contest
- Joe Gentry, “Arbor Day” School: Harbison West Elementary School Teacher: Lesli Reeves
- Bethany Lindler, “Why is Arbor Day Important?” School: Harbison West Elementary School Teacher: Lesli Reeves
- Mrs. Littlejohn’s Fourth Grade Language Arts Class, “Trees” School: Brennen Elementary School Teacher: Katherine Littlejohn
- Paige Maylath, Untitled School: Harbison West Elementary School Teacher: Lesli Reeves
- Anna Grace Mensch, “Diary of a Tree” School: Harbison West Elementary School Teacher: Jamee Hollifield
5th Grade
Writing Contest
- Sofia K. Guerrero, “The Everything Trees” School: Harbison West Elementary School Teacher: Lori Wenzinger
- Lauren Summers, “Since the Beginning of Time” School: Harbison West Elementary School Teacher: Lori Wenzinger
- Tyniah Wilson, “Tree of Life” School: Harbison West Elementary School Teacher: Lori Wenzinger
- Arianna Windsor, “Arbor Day Writing” School: Harbison West Elementary School Teacher: Brenna Lamprey
Video Contest
- Dallas Bess and Malik Seabrook, “We will never live without trees” School: Harbison West Elementary School Teacher: Lori Wenzinger
- Kristen Boaz, “Vas Happening” School: Harbison West Elementary School Teacher: Lori Wenzinger
- Olivia Reuter, “Terrific Trees” School: Harbison West Elementary School Teacher: Lori Wenzinger
Bulletin Board Contest
- Mrs. Wenzinger’s ELA Students (Escolares Program), “We Love Trees” School: Harbison West Elementary School Teacher: Lori Wenzinger
6th Grade
Writing Contest
- Sarah Army, “Letter to Finklestien’s Fabrics” School: Southeast Middle School
- Kaleigh Boddy, “Arbor Day Awesomeness” School: Longleaf Middle School Teacher: Kimberly Ziegler
- Theresa Pickler, “The Trees are Life’s Keys” School: St. John Neumann Catholic School Teacher: Melinda Beach
Bulletin Board Contest
- Eboné Fields, “Our Amazing Trees” School: Longleaf Middle School Teacher: Kimberly Ziegler
7th Grade
Writing Contest
- David Army, “Arbor Day” School: Southeast Middle School
8th Grade
Writing Contest
- Hope Alexander, “Arbor Day Writing” School: Longleaf Middle School Teacher: Kimberly Ziegler