The Columbia Borough Shade Tree Commission and the Columbia Tree Society, in cooperation with the Columbia Education Foundation, will conduct their 28th annual Arbor Day celebration at the Columbia High School, 901 Ironville Pike, on Friday, April 26, at 6 p.m.
Dave Cunningham, president of the Columbia Education Foundation, will serve as master of ceremonies. The ceremony will include an invocation and benediction by pastor Mark Harris of Salem United Church of Christ and remarks by Columbia Mayor Leo Lutz and Columbia Borough Council member Kelly Murphy. Rick Hartlieb of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Bureau of Forestry will present Columbia with its 27th consecutive National Arbor Day Foundation Tree City USA Award.
Additionally, several borough residents and organizations will be recognized for their work with the commission in 2018, and prizes will be awarded to second-grade students from Our Lady of the Angels School and Park School for their winning entries in the Arbor Day coloring contest.
Musical selections will be played throughout the ceremony by the Columbia High School chorus under the direction of Rick Jensen. Boy Scout Troop 35 will serve as the color guard, and Frontier Girls Troops 191 and 202 will assist in the distribution of programs.
Columbia High School senior Mitchel Lutz will recite Joyce Kilmer's poem "Trees." Mitchel is the son of Laurie A. Gerfin-Lutz and Mitchel L. Lutz Sr. and the grandson of Sue and Charles "Rich" Gerfin and John "Tink" and Merle Lutz. Mitchel is a senior at Columbia Junior/Senior High School and currently attends Lancaster County Career and Technology Center in the electro-mechanical engineering program.
Mitchel is a member of the National Honor Society, the Columbia High School marching band and the football team. He has also participated in stage band, chorus, wrestling and track. Mitchel is a member of the senior choir at Columbia United Methodist Church.
After high school graduation, Mitchel plans to attend Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology to study electro-mechanical engineering.
This year's ceremony will be dedicated to deceased members of the Columbia Education Foundation Ruth Crum, Charles Reinhart and Jeanette Sherk.
The current members of the Columbia Borough Shade Tree Commission are Amy Evans, chairperson; Amanda Hawn, treasurer; Shawn Shuffelbottom, secretary; Nate Smith; and Jack Gamby.
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