Old Hammondtown students branch out with annual tree poster contest

MATTAPOISETT — The Mattapoisett Tree Committee invited fifth grade students from Old Hammondtown Elementary to create unbe-leaf-able posters for their annual contest. The theme this year was “Trees Around The World,” and with it came dozens of entries. 

This year, 28 students submitted their work to be judged by local artists and Tree Committee members. While the usual first place and runner-up posters were chosen — the committee opted to recognize a select few for special ribbons.

The students were honored in a ceremony on Tuesday, April 1. The artists who received the special awards include Brooke Mello for most inspirational, Colton Costa for creativity, Micah Kratochvil for botanical accuracy and Lila Anderson for best word artistry. 

First place went to Bea Apperson, who said she didn’t plan on gunning for the top spot. Apperson has wanted to participate since she was in third grade in 2023 — when she saw Emma Lowe take first and go on to win the state Arbor Day Poster Contest. 

Apperson’s poster is currently in Boston awaiting judging for that same contest. If she wins she will go on to receive a tree in her name on the Hammondtown Elementary grounds. 

“When it was time to do it I dropped everything and I was really excited to do it,” she said. “I was looking online and found a picture of the most beautiful tree and I’m like, ‘That’s the tree I’m doing,’ and that’s the tree in the center of the poster,” she said. 

Apperson dedicated a lot of time toward her work. She brought her poster home to work on it during spring break — in which it had a mishap with her cousin. 

“He was using it as a computer mat for some reason,” she said. 

Old Hammondtown art teacher Greta Anderson said the students worked on the posters during art class. She helped them interpret the words and how they could use them within their posters. 

MJ Gendreau placed second in the contest this year and chose to feature trees across the map of the world. He worked on his project for two weeks and said the hardest part was managing the space on the poster. 

He credits trees and all they provide for the inspiration behind his work. 

“Trees help us live,” he said. “If we don’t have trees then we would never be here.” 

Colton Costa used perspectives with his piece dubbed “most creative.” Using birds-eye-view he drew a bird flying over Earth. He chose to create his work with paint, markers and colored pencils and said the project took him four weeks to complete. 

his favorite thing about the poster — but also the hardest to complete. 

“We worked on it a few times in class and I finished it on the last day,” Costa said. 

Tree Committee Chair Nancy Souza and Secretary Sandy Hering congratulated the students on their work. Apperson and Gendreau both received gift certificates to Nick’s Homemade Pizza House. 

Souza thanked the students for their participation and for helping the committee. 

“We use this contest to submit an application for Tree City USA — we have been members for 16 years,” Souza said. “With this contest, we’re going to put it in our application and hopefully we’ll get to be in it for 17.”