Once again Texas Tech's Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources is set to mark its celebration of sustainability and community next week with participation in the university’s annual Arbor Day celebration from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday (Apr. 26). A free Arbor Day T-shirt and planting flowers alongside other Red Raiders makes the event one of the spring semester’s anticipated events.

Arbor Day is an annual event that provides an opportunity for students, faculty and staff to join together to beautify the Tech campus, while building a sense of community, said Davis College Dean Clint Krehbiel. 

Davis College organizations participating in the campus-wide program include:

• Ag Ambassadors
• Ag Council
• AgriTechsans
• Collegiate FFA
• Davis College SGA
• Pre-Vet Society

The schedule of events is:

• 11 a.m. – Music, free food, free T-shirts and lawn games are available to students with their Texas Tech student ID while supplies last at the Memorial Circle. (Faculty and staff can purchase an Arbor Day T-shirt at Sams Place in the Student Union Building from Apr. 22-26 for $10)
• 12:30 p.m. – Guest speakers
• 1:30 p.m. – Planting begins

When Texas Tech was founded in the 1920s, most of the funds went towards the buildings, but the campus was lacking landscape. In 1937, President Bradford Knapp decided to dedicate one day every spring to beautify the campus. He proclaimed to the university that one day every spring Texas Tech faculty, students and anyone who could lend a hand would help plant trees and shrubs around campus.

The day was carried out in true West Texas fashion. Administrators supervised the work on horseback. Home economics students in long dresses and sunbonnets rode in covered wagons to hand out coffee and doughnuts to the volunteers who were planting.

Although it was a great celebration for one day of the year, caring for the trees and shrubs became difficult for the other 364 days of the year due to the inadequate water supply. Most of the plants died, leaving the Texas Tech campus as the typical West Texas land it's known for. The tradition lasted only 10 years, ending in 1948, until it was resurrected in the late 1990s by former Texas Tech Chancellor John Montford.

CONTACT: Clint Krehbiel, Dean, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or Clint.Krehbiel@ttu.edu

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