Medina 4th graders plant a maple tree at FFA Model Farm

Photos by Ginny Kropf: (Left) Destiny Cherry (in blue coat) and Kellan Bensley shovel dirt in the hole where a maple tree will be planted. (Right) Kellan Bensley, left, and Jack Smith get shovels from FFA adviser Todd Eick, to help plant a maple tree at the FFA model farm.

MEDINA – Fourth-graders from Oak Orchard Primary School learned about trees and helped plant a maple tree at Medina FFA’s model farm on high school grounds.

It has been a tradition for several years for Medina Lions to conduct an activity with fourth-graders every year on Arbor Day, said Lions president Jim Hancock.

In the past the Lions have visited the fourth-grade classes with speakers to talk about trees, planted trees with help from the students in various locations, and in one year they gave a sapling to each child.

This year, however, they decided to plant a maple tree in the pasture of the mini model farm maintained by the FFA at Medina High School.

Medina Lions president Jim Hancock, left, and Lion Tim Moriarty, right, talk with Medina FFA teacher Todd Eick at the FFA Model Farm on Medina High School grounds, as they wait for fourth-graders to arrive for a tree planting ceremony.

Children and their teachers, Karen Pane, Scott Gerdes, Alina Patterson, Maria Lemme and Alexis Jones from all five fourth-grade classes walked to the farm on the southwest corner of the high school, where they were greeted by FFA instructor Todd Eick and his class of FFA members.

Eick asked each teacher to choose one child from their class to help shovel dirt around the tree.

Eick explained they planted a tree in the middle of the pasture to provide shade for the animals kept there. This includes alpacas, Nigerian dwarf goats and several ducks. A maple tree was chosen, as Eick explained, so 40 years from now when he has retired and his successor is in place, the tree can be tapped for maple syrup, providing another element of farming for the students to learn.

Then he asked the children how old they thought the oldest maple in New York state was. He told them the oldest living maple was planted in 1590 in Syracuse.

Medina FFA instructor Todd Eick, center, talks to fourth-graders about the importance of trees prior to planting a maple tree at the FFA model farm on Arbor Day.

Eick urged the students this summer to bring their families out for a walk and see how the tree is growing. He explained a maple tree grows about a foot a year and half an inch in diameter.

Hancock told the children about the Lions Club and how they were founded in 1935.

“We do a lot of good things for the community,” Hancock said.

He also introduced Tom Robinson, incoming president and chair of the tree program, and Lions Tom Beach and Tim Moriarty.

Eick then shared that the FFA in Medina was founded in 1936.

Before the children left to go back to their school, Eick asked them to line up and sing happy birthday to his mother, Pat Eick, whose birthday was Monday. Eick’s son Mason, an FFA member, recorded the song to play for his grandmother.

Fourth graders from Oak Orchard Elementary School head back to class after participating in a tree planting ceremony at the FFA Model Farm at Medina High School.