Philip fifth grader wins South Dakota Arbor Day poster contest

PIERRE, S.D. — McCoy Peterson, a fifth grade student at Philip Elementary School is the winner of the 2015 South Dakota Arbor Day Poster Contest.

McCoy’s first place poster was selected for its interpretation of the contest theme, “Trees Are Terrific…Inside And Out!”. McCoy will receive a $100 cash prize, a certificate of achievement and her poster will be featured on the division’s poster contest promotional flyer.

McCoy’s teacher, Lee Vaughn, will receive $100 for the purchase of educational supplies.

Emily Comes of Harding County Schools in Buffalo was selected as the second place winner. Emily receives a $75 cash prize, and a certificate of achievement. The third place winner, Nicholas Doby of Stewart Elementary School in Yankton, will receive a certificate and a $50 cash prize.

The top twelve artists’ posters will also be featured in the annual Arbor Day Poster Contest Calendar.

The annual Arbor Day Poster Contest is designed to help promote the importance of Arbor Day and tree planting, and is open to all South Dakota fifth graders. The South Dakota Department of Agriculture (SDDA) Resource Conservation and Forestry Division, the Dakotas Society of American Foresters and the South Dakota Arborists Association sponsor the contest.

South Dakota celebrates Arbor Day on the last Friday in April; in 2015, this was April 24. Nebraska newspaper publisher J. Sterling Morton proposed the very first Arbor Day in 1872. On the first Arbor Day, over one million trees were planted in Nebraska.

For more information on Arbor Day, please contact Aaron Wang with SDDA at 605-773-3594. To view the winning poster, visit http://sdda.sd.gov/education-outreach/arbor-day-poster-contest/.