Alexandria Students Plant Tree at Elementary School For Arbor Day

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Alexandria City Public Schools hosted a tree planting event Wednesday morning at Charles Barrett Elementary School to celebrate Arbor Day.

Students participated in the event as part of Project Plant It, an environmental education program developed by Dominion Energy to teach students about the benefits of trees to the environment.

Dominion provided a tree to plant on school grounds. The students who participated in the event received a free tree seedling to plant at home and a free packet of wildflower seeds designed to attract bees and other pollinators.

Loren Brody, principal at Charles Barrett Elementary School, said he was proud of third grade teacher Kelly Bucceri and the students who participated in the event.

"Thank you to Dominion for this partnership because this is really great support to help the students to bring their learning to life," said Brody, who appreciated how the event allowed students to see how to care for the environment without leaving school grounds.

This was the first year Alexandria City Public Schools has partnered with Dominion on the program.

At the event, the students read a poem for the tree before it was planted. "Little tree, little tree, grow, grow, grow," the students said.

The tree, a redbud, is expected to grow to be 15 to 20 feet tall.

Dominion works in partnership with the National Arbor Day Foundation, which cultivates the tree seedlings, packages them in recyclable containers with instructions for indoor or outdoor planting and ships them to participants.

Spring 2022 marks the 150th anniversary of the first Arbor Day in 1872 and the 50th anniversary of the Arbor Day Foundation, established in 1972.

Alexandria City Public Schools teachers have access to 12 STEM-based lesson plans in English and Spanish about trees to continue the education process with students beyond planting the tree on school grounds.