When the Arizona bicentennial is celebrated on Feb. 14, 2112, a tree planted Tuesday by Pima Butte Elementary School students could be a part of the history celebrated on that day.
To commemorate the state’s centennial, students at the K-5 school in Rancho El Dorado raised about $175 to buy a Desert Museum palo verde from a local nursery and planted it behind the outdoor basketball court.
The palo verde, which translates from Spanish to mean “green stick,” is the Arizona state tree.
The Desert Museum palo verde, a hybrid developed at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, was selected by the school because it has no thorns, said Jeff Cummins, the school’s lead custodian.
“We are so excited its Arizona’s birthday,” Principal Korrin Ledbetter announced to the 400 or so students gathered on the basketball court.
Then she asked, “How old is Arizona?”
“One hundred!” the students chimed in unison.
The first shovels of dirt were thrown on the tree’s roots by fifth-grader Asa Miller, student council president; and fourth-grader Grady Beach, student council vice president; while fifth-grader Aidan Jaeger, student council historian, took pictures.
Pat Brock, Maricopa Historical Society board member, attended the tree dedication and said the society had invited all schools in the city to plant a tree on the centennial.
“We wanted them to do this to create memories,” she said.
Asked if the tree will still be there 100 years from now, Brock answered: “It will be here, and the rest of us will be here in spirit.”
