FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CITY TO HOLD “TREE”MENDOUS ARBOR DAY CELEBRATION

Congressmen Bobby Scott and Rob Wittman to join the festivities

“Tree”mendous Arbor Day and Tree City USA Celebration 10:00 a.m., Friday, April 29, Booker T. Washington Middle School

The City of Newport News is joining with Booker T. Washington Middle School, Dominion Virginia Power, and the Newport News Green Foundation to hold a “Tree”mendous Arbor Day and Tree City USA Celebration beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, April 29. The event will take place at Booker T. Washington Middle School (3700 Chestnut Avenue, Newport News 23607) and start with an all-school assembly highlighted by remarks from Congressman Bobby Scott and Congressman Rob Wittman, and the reading of a proclamation by Newport News Councilwoman Tina L. Vick. Following the assembly, students from the school along with volunteers from Dominion Virginia Power and the Newport News Green Foundation will participate in outdoor activities to include planting trees on school grounds and on nearby Newport News Green Foundation property, aiding residential neighbors by performing basic landscaping work, and holding a litter pick-up in the surrounding community. This is the 28th consecutive year that Newport News has been designated as a Tree City USA community by the Arbor Day Foundation.

“This event is an opportunity to further educate our young people about the importance of conserving and replenishing our natural resources, and to inspire them to take care of the environment,” said Newport News Mayor McKinley L. Price. “Booker T. Washington Middle School is the perfect venue for an Arbor Day observance in that it is home to the Clark Oak, which was planted in 1935 as a seedling from Hampton University’s Emancipation Oak.”

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