There was rain in the air, but that didn’t stop the crowd from gathering around the oak sapling behind the Humber child care centre.
“This tree is about to get a good watering,” laughed Carole Spraggett, director of the Ontario Horticultural Association’s District 15, as she warily looked up into the sky, shovel in hand.
Humber staff and students, several members of the Ontario Horticultural Association, city councillor Vincent Crisanti and about 30 Humber childcare children were all on-hand to commemorate the planting of a bur oak to honour both the Queen’s diamond jubilee year of 2012 and National Tree Planting Day.
According to Spraggett, Humber’s childcare centre was the perfect fit for the donated tree, one of 17 that were being planted today across Ontario.
“This tree is ideal here because this is a place where children are growing, and where new teachers are growing as well,” she said, looking over at the ECE diploma students who were watching the ceremony. “This is a growing experience for everybody.”
Although the oak only reaches a few metres right now, it will eventually grow to be up to 30 metres tall, and can live for 200 years.
“This is a significant moment,” said Humber president Chris Whitaker as he addressed the crowd. “These kids will be able to come back to Humber, see their grandkids graduate – and this tree will still be here.”
