Armstrong Elementary’s fourth graders have graduated, but their impact on the oldest campus in Highland Park ISD will only continue to grow.
The students partnered with Fannin Tree Farm to give their school a towering thank you gift — a 30-foot-tall live oak tree. The class planted the tree next to Armstrong’s main entrance on Cornell Avenue, where principal Betsy Cummins could view it from her office window.
“The kids will walk by it every day as they enter the school,” said Laura Price, who co-coordinates fourth grade special events with Lauren Clyce. “It’s a beautiful way to remember our class.”
A graduation gift is a tradition for Armstrong fourth graders. Past classes have donated benches, artwork, and a spirit tunnel that students can run through at special events.
Armstrong’s class of 2026 planned for almost a year to make its beautiful addition a reality.
Last May, parents began discussing the possibility of planting the live oak, which replaced an older tree that had died and needed to be removed for safety reasons. Both principal Cummins and the Highland Park ISD board of trustees had to greenlight the gift.
The 20-year-old live oak, meanwhile, was waiting for the right home at Fannin Tree Farm’s growing operation in Sherman. The tree wasn’t small, and neither was the process of bringing it to Highland Park ISD. That involved closing streets and was accomplished during spring break.
Armstrong’s fourth graders became part of the action on April 22, when they donned bright-yellow hard hats, picked up gardening tools, and posed with a rendering of the tree’s future plaque before the live oak’s official ribbon cutting.
“It’s important to give your school a gift to show how much you care when you’re leaving,” fourth-grader Rania Shah said during the dedication, “to show that you loved the school, and you loved the principal and staff.”
Fourth-grader Ellie Barnes said that future students will look up to her class when they see the tree, and that she will probably visit it when she moves on to middle school.
The tree’s dedication was timed to coordinate with Earth Day, the annual global celebration of the environmental movement.
“The trees in this neighborhood and the tree that was here make our spaces special and unique,” explained vice president of volunteer coordination Brooke Garner, whose family owns Fannin Tree Farm. “It was a loss to have the one that was here prior go.”
Later in the afternoon, Armstrong’s eagle mascot helped celebrate the new place to nest during a pep rally for third-and fourth-grade students. The Highland Park Middle School drumline, coaches from Mustang Cheer, and the fourth graders themselves all performed to cheers and applause.
Garner said that her father, Mike Fannin, was proud to help make the fourth-grade gift possible. Four of his grandchildren will graduate from Armstrong Elementary, including twins who finished fourth grade this year.
“It’s something that you can come back and see time and time again,” Garner said. “That touched his heart.”
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