City and MPS celebrate Arbor Day with Tree Planting at Reagan High School

(MILWAUKEE, WI) – Continuing a decades-long tradition, the City of Milwaukee’s Forestry Services planted trees at an MPS school in observation of Arbor Day on Friday, April 26. Reagan College Preparatory High School students helped plant the six trees at the south side school.

Forestry Services also provided climbing and lift truck demonstrations for students, and the environmental nonprofit Reflo offered other activities, including studying how ground cover offsets surface temperature.

In a ceremony before the tree planting, Milwaukee Ald. Scott Spiker, who represents the south side district where Reagan High School is located, said, “When we plant a tree today, we’re not just thinking about the shade it will provide us in a few years or the beauty it will offer our streetscapes. We’re thinking about the generations that will come after us who will benefit from the legacy of our actions. It’s a reminder that our choices today have repercussions far beyond our own time.”

Studies show that interacting with nature enhances the cognitive, physical, and social-emotional development of children, said Dr. Katrice Cotton, Chief School Administration Officer for Milwaukee Public Schools.

“What the City of Milwaukee’s Department of Forestry Services is doing here today is so, so important. Milwaukee Public Schools treasures our longstanding partnership with the city and with Forestry Services,” Cotton said. “These trees today will beautify our Reagan campus, but they will do so much more — for our environment and for MPS students. This is truly an investment in the future.”

A plaque that Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson presented to Reagan Principal Mike Roemer to commemorate Arbor Day is made of wood salvaged from a felled city tree.

Two Reagan students took part in the ceremony: Nailah Jones read the city proclamation declaring April 26 to be Arbor Day in the city of Milwaukee, and Syd Voss discussed the school’s International Baccalaureate environmental science program and its studies.

Milwaukee, which maintains 189,000 street trees, has won a Tree City USA designation for the 45th consecutive year, the mayor said. The city’s Forestry Services grows the trees it plants at schools and along streets at the 160-acre city nursery in Franklin. Up to 20,000 trees at a time are grown there.

The trees planted at Reagan High School are sugar maples, sassafras, serviceberry, river birch, and swamp white oak.

The mayor noted that the city has a $12 million federal grant to plant more trees throughout the city and make access to the benefits of trees more equitable.

Reagan College Preparatory High School is at 4965 S. 20th St. In Milwaukee.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.