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The Arbor Day Foundation has honored Moraine Valley Community College as a 2009 Tree Campus USA college for its dedication to campus forestry management and environmental stewardship.
Moraine Valley is the third college or university in Illinois and the first community college in the state to be named a Tree Campus USA college.
“The Tree Campus USA program will have a long-lasting impact at Moraine Valley as it engages college students and local citizens to plant trees and create healthier communities for people to enjoy for decades to come,” said John Rosenow, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation. “The college will benefit from exceptional tree-care practices on campus as it works with tree-care professionals in the community to improve the tree canopy in Palos Hills.”
Tree Campus USA is a national program launched in 2008, when 29 colleges were inaugurated, by the Arbor Day Foundation. The program honors colleges, universities and leaders of the campus and surrounding communities for promoting healthy urban forest management while engaging the campus community in environmental stewardship. Tree Campus USA is supported by a grant from Toyota.
Last year Linley White, Moraine Valley dean of Workforce Development and Community Services, introduced to the college’s Sustainability Team the idea of applying for this honor. He, along with the tireless help of student intern Rosa Perez, of Alsip, worked on the application.
“The application process was a lot of work and a great learning experience for Rosa. She did a wonderful job,” White said. “Becoming a Tree Campus is really part of the Sustainability Team’s efforts and fits well into the college leadership’s vision to be more sustainable. Tree Campus is a new thing. Being only the third college in Illinois to have this honor shows we’re a leader in the program.”
Moraine Valley met the required five core standards of tree care and community engagement in order to receive Tree Campus USA status. Those standards include establishing a campus tree advisory committee; evidence of a campus tree-care plan; verification of dedicated annual expenditures on the campus tree-care plan; involvement in an Arbor Day observance; and the institution of a service-learning project aimed at engaging the student body.
More information about the Tree Campus USA program is available at www.arborday.org/TreeCampusUSA.
For news media inquiries contact Maura Vizza, Moraine Valley public relations generalist, at (708) 974-5742 or e-mail VizzaM@morainevalley.edu.
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