The Consumer Math class, taught by math teacher Angie Clark, planted trees on Sept. 25. Alliant Energy donated the trees, while the city donated the supplies.
“Alliant Energy and Trees Forever offered the grant collectively for communities to apply for $5,000. The city could not apply for the grant as a municipality so we approached the Berlin Friends of the park to represent the city of Berlin,” streets superintendent Scott Zabel said. “Once awarded the funds the city was able to choose trees to be purchased for the public spaces using the awarded $5,000.”
The consumer math class volunteered to help plant these trees during school hours.
“Knowing that every great financial plan includes giving 10%, and keeping in mind that many students don’t have jobs just yet, I wanted to teach them that giving 10% of their time is just as good as giving 10% of their earnings until they are in a financial position to do both,” Clark said. “Therefore, when I saw the request on Facebook looking for volunteers to help plant donated trees, I immediately sought permission from Mr. Bednarek to have my class participate.”
The trees were planted at Riverside Park. Planting the trees was optional and not graded, but all of Clark’s students participated.
“We were in groups and we made sure the hole for the tree was the right size. Then we took the tree out, placed it in the hole, covered it with dirt and mulch, and then watered it,” senior Taylor Scharschimdt said.
There were supposed to be at least 38 trees planted. However, after reviewing their budget, they were able to plant 41 trees.
“Over the past two winters the city has removed hundreds of diseased ash trees throughout our public spaces. With the number of trees that were removed from Riverside Park, it was necessary to use the majority of the trees from the grant to replenish the green space in Riverside Park with shaded areas for park patrons to enjoy,” Zabel said.
Riverside Park was not the only park that had trees planted. Locations around the city like Mound St. Park, Forsyth Park, Nathan Strong Park, Berlin Public Library, Longcroft Park, and Berlin Aquatic Center also had trees planted as a part of the grant money. Even though many other parks had trees planted, Clark’s class only helped plant trees at Riverside Park.
“We have also planted numerous trees in the parks as memorial trees for families of lost loved ones. The family reaches out to me asking to purchase a tree then I give them a short list of desirable tree species, once the family has chosen and purchased the tree a location is agreed upon and we plant the tree,” Zabel said.