2023 Theme: Dream as BIG as Trees!
ArborScape is proud to help sponsor the Colorado Arbor Day Poster Contest alongside the Colorado Tree Coalition and Above & Beyond Services. This fun, artistic competition is open to public, private, and homeschooled fifth-grade students across the state with the goal to increase appreciation and awareness of the important role that trees play in the environment and our quality of life.
This year’s contest theme was ‘Dream as Big as Trees’, encouraging students to think about the type of environment they wish to see in the future. We believe if you work hard and dream big, your own branches can reach high and beautiful.
This year’s contest winner was Fidaa Hamed of Charles Hay World Elementary School in Englewood. She and her family were all smiles as she proudly showcased her artistic talents that highlight her dreams for the future. Her work, along with 32 other school submissions will be on display at the Helen Fowler Library at the Denver Botanic Gardens until May 5, so go check out the wonderful and creative ideas of our future generations.
Arbor Day has always been about investing in the future. Celebrated specifically to plant trees for the next generation to benefit from, Arbor Day is a wonderful opportunity to help improve the environment and our quality of life. And isn’t that what we want for our kids and grandkids?
Investing in our future starts with education; one of the many reasons we love supporting this contest. One of the reasons this contest is exhibited in the Helen Fowler Library of the Freyer-Newman Center at the Denver Botanic Gardens is due to the ideals of combining art and science for people of all ages to learn in different ways.
Helen Fowler and her husband were members of the Colorado Forestry and Horticulture Association, and Ms. Fowler spent years of her life dedicated to creating a collection of gardening and botanical books for the Association to use and learn from. Her collection is now located in the Boettcher Memorial Center, but the library itself was moved into the Freyer-Newman Center at the Gardens in honor of her work toward science, art, and education.
The Director of Education at the Gardens remarked about the contest’s importance in the Center specifically, “It’s designed to combine art and science […] as a means to educate people in different ways.” Everyone learns things differently, and we can certainly appreciate art as a beautiful interpretation of what we’ve learned, and how we view the world. Or in the case of this contest, what our dreams are for the world.
While we were happy to present Fidaa with a $500 gift card, we’re also grateful for the opportunity to give her school access to programs for further learning. Her art teacher will be getting $100 for art supplies, as well as the access code to Project Learning Tree for the classroom. PLT delivers award-winning environmental education curriculum resources and support that can be integrated into lesson plans for all grades and subject areas; it teaches students “how to think, not what to think,” about complex environmental issues, and helps them acquire the skills they need to make sound choices about the environment.
The more people are educated about the art and science of horticulture, the more opportunities we have to preserve and sustain the environment we live in. Trees are what sustain us, so if we can learn how to conserve and promote tree planting and science, we can help sustain the world. Because don’t forget, an arbor is a shelter made of vines or leaves; it’s a form of protection that assists the planet, its wildlife, and all of us. So this Arbor Day, learn how you can give back to the environment that’s already given us so much.
Like the fifth graders across the state, don’t be afraid to dream as big as trees. While it may take a lot of work and investment, we believe that with the right tools, patience, and a bit of help along the way, we’re all capable of doing great things to preserve the world for the next generation. So check out our services, or give us a call to see how we can help you get a start on sustaining your own environment.