Indiana schools are encouraged to have their fifth-grade students participate in an Arbor Day poster contest, helping students learn more about the important role of trees in the state’s urban and forest communities.
The contest, which is designed to help students discover and foster their understanding, appreciation, and stewardship of the trees around them, is sponsored by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Division of Forestry, through its Community and Urban Forestry (CUF) and Project Learning Tree programs.
The contest theme is “Oak Trees: Superheroes of the Forest.”
All Indiana schools and homeschooling families/co-ops are eligible to participate by submitting their winning poster to the statewide contest by March 1. One poster will be accepted per school. Entries must be scanned and sent to urbanforestry@dnr.IN.gov.
The student who creates the winning poster will receive a gift card, a book that will help continue their exploration of trees, and an Indiana native tree planting at their school. The winning student’s teacher will receive a kit of educational materials to support their class’s further engagement with Indiana trees, forests, and forestry, as well as a full scholarship to the Natural Resources Teacher Institute. Entries may also be featured on DNR social media.
Participating teachers are encouraged to engage with the contest theme in their classrooms to help inspire their students’ artwork. Teaching resources and standard alignments are provided on the contest webpage, along with full submission instructions, contest rules, and prizes at this link.
Please contact CUF staff with questions at (317) 234-6741 or urbanforestry@dnr.IN.gov.