Skip to Content

Emporia State University

  • Sign in to your Merit page
« Back to Recent News

ESU Students Prepare for Arbor Day Event, Celebrate Tree Campus Honor

by Gwendolynne Larson

Emporia, KS (04/23/2019) — When Emporia State students plant trees this week, they will celebrate both Arbor Day and the university's sixth annual Tree Campus USA® recognition.

The annual Arbor Day event, which began on campus in 2012, is at the old Hornet Field north of the ESU campus near King Lake. It beings at 1 p.m. Friday, April 26. Approximately 60 student volunteers and staff from University Facilities will plant native trees to line a new trail from 18th Avenue to the Neosho River.

The university's inaugural Arbor Day event helped it earn its first Tree Campus USA® recognition for 2013. This year, ESU earned 2018 Tree Campus USA® recognition. One key to earning that recognition was a service learning project, "Kansas Tree Health and Climate Change," according to Blythe Eddy, director of student activities and community service.

The presentation in November 2018 by Kim Bomberger, Kansas District community forester for the Kansas Forest Service, shared information to help trees and their canopies withstand the changing Kansas climate.

Tree Campus USA, an Arbor Day Foundation program, is celebrating its 11th anniversary this year. The Tree Campus USA program honors colleges and universities for effective campus forest management and for engaging staff and students in conservation goals.

Emporia State University achieved the title by meeting Tree Campus USA's five standards, which include maintaining a tree advisory committee, a campus tree-care plan, dedicated annual expenditures for its campus tree program, an Arbor Day observance and student service-learning project. Currently there are 364 campuses across the United States with this recognition.

Media Attachments

Students and Corky gather before the 2018 Arbor Day event on the Emporia State University campus.

Emporia State University

Gwendolynne Larson, assistant director, ESU Marketing & Media Relations, (620) 341-5528, glarson1@emporia.edu

Share this Story

  • Print
  • Email

Recent News

  • Final ESU Summer Theatre Show Is Rock Musical
  • Nine More Fallen Educators to be Added to National Memorial
  • ESU Summer Theatre Features Comedy and Rock Musical
  • Free activities highlight a summer of science at ESU
  • Summer Camps Offered at Emporia State
  • Emporia State University Recognized as a National Model for Student Success by Carnegie Classification
  • William Allen White Book Award Celebration Focuses on Books, Children
  • Art Professor John Decker Awarded ESU's Highest Faculty Honor
  • Commencement Ceremonies Set for May 9 and 10 at Emporia State
  • Explore the Cosmos at ESU's Peterson Planetarium This May
… View all recent news
Copyright © 2025 Merit Pages, Inc. • All Rights Reserved. • Terms of Service • Privacy Policy • Opt Out