Students will use the motto “Live on, UniversiTree” to celebrate OU’s Arbor Day on Wednesday.

Arbor Day celebrations are important because they are in the spirit of one of OU’s oldest traditions, said Kaleigh Kaczmarek, management information systems sophomore. This year will be Kaczmarek’s second year to participate in Arbor Day celebrations at OU.

“Most first-year students hear the story about [OU] President [David] Boyd stepping off the train when he first got to Norman and he saw nothing but vast fields and barren land,” Kaczmarek said in an e-mail. “Boyd planted thousands of trees on the OU campus, and that’s part of what makes the campus so beautiful today.”

Arbor Day is a nationally celebrated observance that encourages tree planting and care. Students will plant about 78 trees around residence hall buildings to celebrate the holiday, said Kari Dawkins, student affairs volunteer coordinator.

Arbor Day will be celebrated nationally on April 24.

The celebration began in Nebraska in 1872 and was brought to OU in 1997. In the past 12 years, more than 4,000 new trees have been planted at the Norman campus and the OU Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, according to the OU Web site.

“This is a celebration of our beautification here,” Dawkins said. “It allows people to come together, work together and to make OU what it is.”

She said many prospective students choose OU because they think the campus owes its beauty in part to trees.

The celebrations also serve as a gift for future generations of Sooners.

Tarricke Mills, human relations sophomore, said his vision for the future of Arbor Day has already begun.

“It is simply having students from all walks of campus gather around and plant the future of their own child or even grandchild,” Mills, second-time Arbor Day volunteer, said in an e-mail.

Wednesday’s events will serve as a finale for the reforestation efforts that began after the 2007 ice storm. About 1,000 trees on campus were destroyed during the storm, Dawkins said. A total of 1,600 trees will have been planted to replace those lost since the ice storm after Wednesday, she said.

A free picnic lunch accompanied by jazz music for volunteers will help kick off the event in David A. Burr Park until noon, when OU President David Boren will speak about the importance of Arbor Day, Dawkins said.

The park is located at 1501 Asp Ave., adjacent to the Huston Huffman Center. In the event of inclement weather, the picnic will be held in Couch Center Cafeteria.

Wednesday’s opening festivities will also recognize student organizations for the maintenance of their Adopt-an-Areas. OU gardeners judge the areas each Monday throughout the year and assign point values to the tidiest areas.

Tree planting is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. and volunteers may register at the Burr Park gazebo to receive their assignment, but no pre-registration is required, Dawkins said. All volunteers will receive a free T-shirt.