ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS – Twelve Mother Teresa Regional School students and 18 Atlantic Highlands Elementary School students were honored by the borough Shade Tree Commission for their participation in the annual Arbor Day tree poster contest.
The students were cited by commission chairman Louise I. Donoghue during an awards assembly. The first-place winning posters, four from Mother Teresa and six from the Atlantic Highlands Elementary, are on display in the windows of the office of attorney Henry Wolff at 79 First Ave.
Each of the 30 pupils honored received gift certificates from Barnes & Noble and notice that a tree will be planted in their honor in a national forest.
The theme of the poster contest was “Trees Are Our Friends.”
Those honored at Mother Teresa were: third-graders Angellina Koeniz, first place, Ellie Conover, second place, and Jeanna Hennessey, honorable mention; fourth-graders, Grace McKinney, first, Paige Larson, second, and Orianna Nolan, honorable mention; fifth-graders, Molly Connelly, first place, Alicia Flanagan, second place, and Mark Marullo, honorable mention; and sixth-graders, Ava Iannaci, first, Robert O’Keefe, second, and Page Smith, honorable mention.
Students honored at Atlantic Highlands Elementary School were: Adrianna Laborante, first place, Siofra King, second place, and Shealyn Higgins, honorable mention: second-graders, Charlotte Young, first, Grace Schutzenhofer, second, and Layla Wasserman, honorable mention; third graders, Emily Rogers, first, Eddie Payne, second, and Kalelle Marrucca, honorable mention; fourth-graders, Maeve Sherlock, first place, Bailey Tucker, second place, and Clay Kline, honorable mention; fifth-graders, Shannon Forbes, first, Ricardo Santuiste, second, and Genevieve Keelen, honorable mention; and sixth-graders, Ralph D’Antonio, first, Corina Vidal, second, and Sean Haupt, honorable mention.
The poster contests mark the finale of the borough’s Arbor Day observances and included the planting of two trees honoring the borough’s first-responders at the municipal yacht harbor and a tree-related educational program for children at the public library. In addition, the commission distributed 200 pine tree tublings to local youngsters.
Donoghue also has announced that the borough has been named a “Tree City USA” for the 33rd straight year in honor of its commitment to community forestry. The national recognition was accorded by the Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the National Association of State Foresters and the U.S. Forest Service.
