Oak tree planted at Biloxi Back Bay Elementary

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - First grade students at Back Bay Elementary School saw a live oak tree being planted behind the school.

Principal Brooke Fontenelle said this is an opportunity for kids to learn.

“That’s going to be really exciting if they are able to stay around in the Biloxi area to come back and say, ‘Hey, you know, we planted that tree, and look how big it is now,’” Fontenelle said.

As part of a partnership with Harrison County Soil and Water Conservation, the tree went into the ground, but not before they learned why trees are important.

Harrison County Soil and Water Conservation commissioner Thad Anderson presented to the students before planting the tree.

“We demonstrate to kids how a tree grows, where a tree comes from and how important they are to our country — historically and scientifically,” Anderson said.

The school playground was once filled with trees. Due to storms, those trees slowly vanished and what once was a shady playground is now land exposed to the sun.

Biloxi councilman Paul Tisdale attended the ceremony. He also reminisced on the time when he worked at the school.

“I began my teaching career here a number of decades ago, I will not say how many. At that time, everything you see here was the playground equipment, the artificial turf, this was a stand of pine trees that were 40 or 50 feet high. There were probably 160 of them,” Tisdale said.

Students were invited to come out in 11 years to see how much the tree has grown.

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