BY J. Edward Moreno
EDINBURG, TEXAS – DEC. 13, 2017 – UTRGV students, staff and guests gathered on the lawn at Southwick Hall on the Edinburg Campus on Wednesday for Arbor Day festivities.
For UTRGV, recognized as a Tree Campus USA college by the Arbor Day Foundation, Arbor Day festivities are an important way to celebrate the designation; this is the third year the university is hosting Arbor Day ceremonies.
Oscar Villarreal, director of campus facilities operations for the Edinburg Campus, said trees benefit college campuses. “They make the university environment more pleasant,” he said.
Villarreal commended the UTRGV Facilities Planning and Operations staff for taking excellent care of the 230-acre Edinburg Campus, including all the trees, plants and flowerbeds.
“They’re the ones that create the first impression of the campus to the community,” he said.
Staff and students planted one native tree – a Texas Coma – for the Wednesday ceremony, but the university will plant about 20 more trees on the Edinburg Campus throughout the year as construction projects are finalized.
Nineteen student recipients of the UTRGV Abriendo Caminos scholarship were present at the Arbor Day ceremony – shovels in hand – to help plant the tree.
Abigail Alfaro, 22, a nursing junior and recipient of the Abriendo Caminos scholarship, said they often take advantage of opportunities to volunteer around the community.
“It’s a great opportunity to beatify our campus,” she said. “I think more trees will help make the campus, well, prettier.”
Another Arbor Day ceremony will be held Thursday, Dec. 14, on the Brownsville Campus Library Lawn.
