WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, MENDON — Two area students were among this year’s winners in the Growing Works of Art contest, a statewide program encouraging Vermont students to explore their connection to trees through art and writing.
The 2025 theme, “Tree Tales from A to Z,” invited students in grades K–8 to select a letter of the alphabet and pair it with a tree-related word. Each entry included an essay and a visual artwork in any medium, judged equally on creativity and storytelling.
Winning students each received a Vermont State Park punch pass.
Among this year’s honorees:
3rd Grade: Ivy Everson of White River Junction, White River School
8th Grade: Evelyn Pike of Mendon, Barstow Memorial School
The full list of winners and their entries can be viewed at go.uvm.edu/growingart.
Ivy’s story:
Ivy Everson, a student at the White River School in White River Junction, submitted the winning artwork and written story for Grade 3 in the 2025 Growing Works of Art contest, sponsored by the Vermont Urban and Community Forestry Program.
“C is for cherry tree”
“Cherry trees require the winter cold in order to blossom in spring. You can also eat blossoms of the cherry trees. Some people think cherry blossoms are pink but cherry blossoms can be white too.”
Evelyn’s story:
Evelyn Pike
Barstow Memorial School student Evelyn Pike of Mendon was named the winner for Grade 8 in the Vermont Urban and Community Forestry Program’s Growing Works of Art contest.
“Sometimes my father leaves me to visit my aunt and uncle at their cliffside cabin overlooking the lake. The fall here brings me the most comfort, it was my grandmother’s favorite time of the year. Bulky knitted sweaters, warm pumpkin pie, hot tea, and leaf piles.”
“My aunt and uncle have an old tire swing with thick rope on one of the sturdy birches that stands on the cliff’s edge. Sitting on the tire swing peering over you can observe the quiet lake below, and this causes my thoughts to wander off about my father. How is he? I wonder if he is missing me too.”
“This spot is my escape from the busyness of the city with the beautiful white bark of the birches, the soft breeze creating ripples on the lake, the mountain in the distance. I sit also reminiscing about the sounds of the once nearby birds, who recently left their nests in this beautiful grove of birches. The quietness and beauty of the birches brings me peace. Nature has a way of doing that to folks. The yellow orange leaves of the birches are almost gone and a layer of frost is slowly growing around the edges of the lake on these chilly mornings.”
“As much as I love it here, I do wonder when my father will return and bring me back to the city. Maybe when he gets here we can collect birch bark to start a fire and talk all night long about his travels under the chilly fall sky.”
