Arbor Day presentations

Day County Conservation District celebrated Arbor Day by attending schools in Day County. Presentations were given to the 4th graders at Enemy Swim and Webster Elementary Schools. Importance of trees, products from trees, how to plant trees were among a few of the topics touched on by Cindy Zenk, District Manager of Day County Conservation District and Jon Wendel, District Forester of SD Dept. of Ag. Every 4th grade student received a Black Hills Spruce tree complimentary of the Day County Conservation District.

Nebraska newspaper publisher J. Sterling Morton proposed the first Arbor Day in 1872. On that first Arbor Day, over one million trees were planted in Nebraska. South Dakota celebrates Arbor Day on the last Friday in April. In conjunction with Arbor Day celebration, South Dakota 5th and 6th graders have the opportunity to enter the Arbor Day Essay contest. South Dakota has held an essay contest for the past 36 years. Day County Conservation District hosts the local contest in each school and for the homeschool students of Day County.

This year the Day County winner that moved on to the State Essay/ Poem competition was Samantha Swanson, Waubay Elementary 6th grade. Samantha was awarded her 1st place certificate plus a cash award for being the county winner.

Other students recognized and awarded monetary for their essays or poems were:

· Logan Dolney, Trevor Johnson, and Samantha Wagner Webster 6th grade

· Shawn Renville Enemy Swim Day School 6th grade

All participants of the essay/poem contest received a McDonald’s certificate and tree seeds.

In addition to the essays, local 5th graders had the opportunity to enter the Arbor Day Poster contest. Day County Conservation District was proud to sponsor this event and awarded Waubay 5th grader Tristen Ness 1st place and Webster 5th grader Kaelyn Somsen 1st place. Every student participating in the poster contest earned a Webster Cenex individual pizza.

As well as learning more about trees, the students were awarded $20 for 1st place, $10 for 2nd place and $5 for 3rd place. Day County Conservation District would like to recognize the dedicated teachers and parents for encouraging the students to participate in these contests, and learn more about a renewable resource, trees.