By Julia Pina, Herald Contributor – November 3

On Saturday October 22, the Frank Davidson Core, along with members of the RWU community, gathered at the campus water tower where the second annual tree planting ceremony—a new addition to RWU’s Alumni and Family weekend—took place.

The Frank Davidson Core is an organization that originated from a handful of Roger Williams Architecture students and is devoted to reforestation. While the majority of the organization is currently graduate students who are enrolled in the School of Architecture, co-founder Christian Johnson, a second-year grad student, cheerfully explained that they would “love for other people from different schools to get involved.”

Johnson explained that the tree planting event was meant as a way to bring awareness to campus as well as the surrounding community about the importance of the environment and sustainability. He then elaborated on the organizations goals by stating that they strategically place trees as a way to test and study CO2 emission and its possible health benefits.

Despite a couple slight hiccups in the ceremony, such as how it started a few minutes behind schedule due to the fact that the water for the tree was hard to transport, and the fact that the hole the tree was being planted in was dug in the wrong location, the spirits of the crowd were still high.

The Dean of the School of Architecture, Stephen White, briefly spoke about his pride for his former students and their endeavor, and then announced that this year the tree was to be dedicated to the late Robert H. Ward, a man who, according to his family and community, was “a good guy who believed in giving back”.

As the event was drawing to a close, with the certified tree Stewarts almost finished filling in the hole where the tree would now live, Lisa Raiola shared a quote to end the event:

“The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago.”