From left, Valentino Falcon, of Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic School; Timmy Eletreby, of University Liggett School; Audrey Skiera, of Monteith Elementary School; and Ireland Hewitt, of Ferry Elementary School, flank their award-winning posters for Grosse Pointe Woods’ annual Arbor Day poster contest. The students were honored during a June 6 City Council meeting.
By: K. Michelle Moran | Grosse Pointe Times | Published June 22, 2022
GROSSE POINTE WOODS — Some budding artists in Grosse Pointe Woods were honored this month for their creative skills and tree advocacy efforts.
The Woods Community Tree Commission was on hand for a June 6 City Council meeting to present officials with a Tree City USA flag and to recognize the students who won this year’s Arbor Day poster contest.
“Thank you very much — (we’re) pleased to accept it,” Mayor Arthur Bryant said of the flag.
The Woods recently celebrated its 44th year as a Tree City USA, making it the Pointe that has earned this distinction for the longest time. Tree City USA recognition comes from the nonprofit Arbor Day Foundation and acknowledges communities that meet a number of criteria demonstrating support for trees, including enacting a tree care ordinance and spending at least $2 per capita on forestry efforts. The Arbor Day Foundation marked its 50th anniversary this year.
Poster-contest winners, all of whom were third graders during the 2021-22 school year, were chosen from each of the Woods schools with third grade classes. The winners were Timmy Eletreby, from University Liggett School; Ireland Hewitt, from Ferry Elementary School; Audrey Skiera, from Monteith Elementary School; Valentino Falcon, from Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic School; and Alana Martin, from Mason Elementary School. Only Martin was unable to attend the ceremony.
Paul Lechner, chair of the Woods Community Tree Commission, said the winning posters were displayed at City Hall.
The April section of the 2023 city calendar “will showcase the (winning) posters,” Bryant said.
Lechner said this year’s poster topic was the open-ended, “Trees are terrific because,” with students filling in that blank with their posters.
Roughly 300 students entered the contest this year, Lechner said.
“It was really tough” to select the winners, Community Tree Commission Vice Chair Laura Gaskin admitted.
Each winning student received a commemorative T-shirt and a special quarter — the latter of which was supplied by an anonymous donor — that features a child planting a sapling. All contest participants received a sapling to plant, commission officials said.
Lechner said they hope next year to coordinate with members of the Mack Avenue Business Association so that all poster entries could be displayed at businesses around the city, similar to what Grosse Pointe Park does with its Arbor Day poster contest entries.
Student winners are memorialized at their schools. Gaskin said the names of this year’s winners will be added to plaques at their respective schools, alongside winners from past years.
“We really appreciate the efforts of their teachers and the students for their creativity,” Lechner said.
Besides beautifying the area, the Arbor Day Foundation notes that trees offer multiple benefits, including increasing property values by 7% to 20%, reducing energy consumption up to 25% by providing cooling shade, creating habitat for wildlife and helping to clean water.