Sprucing up Sutter Middle School

Arbor Day is still more than a month away, but Sutter Middle School decided to get the celebration started Wednesday afternoon.Partnering with the city, students at Sutter Middle planted 88 trees, ranging from Red Maples to Valley Oaks to Chinese Elms, on school grounds.Sutter Middle is one of Folsom's older campuses and some areas of the school grounds lack trees and shade, said city arborist Ken Menzer. We really wanted to get new trees in the ground.Kevin Garmston, Sutter Middle's vice principal, estimated the cost of the trees would have run the school around $5,000. But thanks to the city, the school received the saplings for next-to-nothing.Ken (Menzer) came to me and said, ˜I've got a lot of money and funds specifically for trees,' said Garmston. This didn't cost us anything except to irrigate it. The city and county have really stepped up. We're very appreciative. The planting started at approximately 10 a.m. and proceeded throughout the rest of the school day. According to Garmston, the students who helped plant the trees came mostly from science classes.The trees, in addition to helping create a more picturesque campus, will also one day serve a practical purpose.The rewarding aspect, which I will never see, is having a big, fully grown tree, said Menzer. The shade will be nice for people who turn-up to watch athletic events.While Wednesday's tree planting is the largest beautification attempt Sutter Middle has ever staged, it's not the first time the school has endeavored to beautify the campus by adding greenery.We've tried planting trees before, said Garmston. But by and large, they get eaten by lawn mowers, broken by kids, etc.The saplings are large enough to avoid destruction at the hands of mowers, but both Garmston and Menzer are hoping that potential vandalism will be curbed by having the students plant the trees themselves.Vandalism becomes pretty big, said Menzer. If you get kids to help, they take ownership and won't want to harm the trees.Hopefully, this will help the students take some pride in their school, said Garmston.And of course, there were lessons to be learned at the planting. It did take place at a school after all.We're planting these trees and they're really going to help the environment, said eighth grader Mason Lontz, who planted several trees that afternoon. They'll help make more oxygen, and it's a good community service project.The students are doing a service to the school, said Garmston. They're learning the importance of community. It's a feel-good activity. It's a win-win situation.