Photo by Jon Anderson.
Rocky Ridge Elementary fourth grader Alice Boyte reads her essay that won the Hoover Beautification Board's 2025 Arbor Day essay contest for Hoover City Schools fourth graders during the Hoover City Council meeting on Monday, March 3, 2025. Mayor Frank Brocato holds the microphone for Boyte as the Hoover City Council, Miss Hoover 2025 Emma Terry and Miss Hoover's Teen Christina Norman listen.
Rocky Ridge Elementary School fourth grader Alice Boyte was named the winner of the Hoover Beautification Board’s 2025 Arbor Day essay contest.
Boyte was recognized with other individual school winners at Monday night’s Hoover City Council meeting and read her essay to a packed auditorium.
Each fourth grader in Hoover City Schools had an opportunity to write an essay about Arbor Day and submit it for the contest, and the top three essays from each school were sent to the Hoover Beautification Board for final judging.
The theme for this year’s contest was “Trees for tomorrow: The future is in our hands.”
Boyte, in her essay, talked about how her grandparents planted a tree for her mother when her mother was born and how she has seen pictures of her mother as a young girl standing next to the tiny sapling as well as current pictures that show the tree twice as tall as the house where it was planted.
Boyte said she thought it was cool to see how much the tree had grown over the years and said she thought about how the tree has provided a place for birds to build nests and provided pollen for butterflies and shade for people.
She also asked her parents to help her plant a tree this past Saturday with the hope that her tree will provide food, shelter, beauty, oxygen and shade for people and animals. “Even one tree can make the future a healthier and happier place,” she said.
Other winners from Hoover schools included:
- Bluff Park Elementary — Sebastian Wille
- Brock’s Gap Intermediate — Aryn Collins
- Deer Valley Elementary — William Azok
- Greystone Elementary — Luke Hamby
- Gwin Elementary — Juliana Faili
- Green Valley Elementary — Joshua Hitchcock
- Shades Mountain Elementary — Hannah Ma
- Trace Crossings Elementary — Eddy Molina
The city of Hoover held its Arbor Day celebration this past Saturday at Aldridge Gardens, including a tree giveaway, activities and crafts for children, and information about tree conservation, tree care and other nature and conservation-related topics.
