TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo Public Schools have received an out-of-this-world gift from NASA.
TPS planted its very own "moon tree" Tuesday afternoon in a ceremony made up of district administrators, teachers and students. The tree, which is a sweetgum sapling, was grown from a seed aboard the Artemis I during a 2022 NASA space mission.
According to Katherine Hernandez, a fourth grade teacher at Marshall STEMM Academy, Toledo is one of many school districts around the globe to receive one of the NASA seedlings.
"It's an international program and a lot of our teachers here at Marshall Academy are GLOBE trained, so we use the prairie garden we implemented a couple years ago and now the moon tree so we can send data and keep track of data for NASA," Hernandez said.
Applying for a moon tree is an extensive process. Hernandez recounts that last fall the school applied for a moon tree. Based on Toledo's region, a sweetgum tree was assigned to the school's campus.
According to Hernandez, the trees were grown by the U.S. Department of Agriculture after the seeds returned to earth from orbit.
Now, the tree has completed its journey and will remain stationary for students and staff to enjoy.
"I'm super excited about what the teachers and everybody can instruct, teach and learn from," Hernandez said.
"[Students] will learn about the growth of trees and keeping track of the data and all the information that goes with that in the GLOBE data program," she continued. "We plan on having a big dedication in the fall where students can take pictures with the tree and when they finally graduate from Marshall in eighth grade they can see the progress that has happened with the tree."
The first batch of moon trees was planted back in 1971, but Hernandez said 2024 marks the first year that one of those trees has made it's way to Toledo.