Mayor Foster Senn and City of Newberry staff visited Newberry Academy and Newberry Elementary Schools on Friday, December 6, for their annual Arbor Day tree planting.

Each year, the city rotates to a different city elementary school to hold the planting ceremony.

Arbor Day marks the beginning of tree planting season. Climate determines when this is in any given area and South Carolina’s planting season begins in December and ends in mid-March.

The schools chosen for the ceremony each receive a tree of their choosing to plant on the school grounds. Newberry Academy planted a Ginkgo tree on their school’s playground this year, with Newberry Elementary School choosing a Windmill Palm tree planted behind their school sign.

Students at Newberry Academy spoke on the history of Arbor Day along with a presentation prepared by several fourth-grade students. Mayor Foster Senn elaborated on the day’s history and spoke of the importance of trees to a community.

“We plant trees now so that people can enjoy them well into the future,” Senn told students.

At Newberry Elementary school, several students spoke, reading a poem about trees, sharing the importance of taking care of the Earth by planting trees and why they were important to the environment. Students said for them at Newberry Elementary, trees provided them with lots of learning experiences .

Senn told students that the City of Newberry was working to obtain a Tree City USA designation and would be focusing on planting more trees in parks and around town, while encouraging residents to also plant trees.

City Manager Matt DeWitt said he was impressed with the students’ knowledge on the history of Arbor Day as well as the importance of trees to the environment.

“We look forward to the information that the students present each year at the tree plantings and know these trees are in good hands for years to come,” he said.