From the moon to the classroom, Prosper High School’s first Moon Tree is here in the Nest. Last October, librarian Stephanie Riley reached out to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to find out information about the application process regarding the Moon Trees. These trees came from the Apollo 14 mission in 1971 and were grown into seedlings by the U.S Department of Agriculture Forest Service. Moon Trees are awarded to distinguished programs and organizations, and applications are available to receive one of these trees. After a year of filling out paperwork and research, The Moon Tree arrives today at Prosper High School. 

“I am a huge fan of NASA, so I follow all of their things on social media,” Riley said. “So, last October, I saw a post, I believe it was on their NASA account, where they were doing a moon tree thing again. And they were like, ‘Hey, schools or institutions you can apply to get your own moon tree.’”

NASA approved Prosper High School as a receiver of the Moon Tree in August. 

“So the Moon Tree process started in 1971 or something like that, I can’t remember, but it was the Apollo 14 mission,” Riley said. “There was an astronaut in 1971, Stuart Roosa, and he was a smoke jumper. So he was one of the guys that literally jumped into wildfires to help.”

Riley’s background and passion for NASA inspired her to contact the USDA Forestry Service regarding the Moon Trees.

“Stuart Roosa teamed up with the USDA Forestry Service and had an idea because they wanted to see what effects space and radiation had on the seedlings when they came back and germinated them,” Riley said. “And that information would help them when they tried to start growing plants in space for long term, civilizations, nutrients, things like that. So, they did that. They brought them back, and they kind of just planted them all over the place, like at capitals and things like that.” 

Riley said some Moon Trees have yet to be found since the mission, and others have been awarded to schools and organizations. 

“They did not keep very good track of them, so most of them have no clue where they are – they have no idea,” Riley said. “So they know where some of them are. And they did, like a big moon tree scavenger hunt thing, trying to find them, and there’s a lot of offspring of these trees now, so, they decided, with the new Artemis missions, which are supposed to take us back to the moon, they wanted to kind of pay tribute and do this again.”

The Moon Tree will be planted outside of the school’s cafeteria in the back of the school. 

“Once they ship the Moon Tree, they’ll send us the tracking information. But, I reached out to the head of the planetarium director at the University of Texas at Arlington because they also got a tree, and she said it took probably like probably by the end of the week,” Riley said. “We should have it at the very latest in November and then we’ll plant it, and then, sometime after that, we’ll do an official ceremony.”

Students at Prosper High School, like senior Rachel The, said they are excited to see the Moon Tree.

“I think it is so cool that the school got to partner with NASA,” The said. “It is a really great opportunity to learn about the Moon Trees.”

Throughout the last few weeks, students have been able to submit name ideas for the Moon Tree through a Google form. 

“We also have a digital globe, but it’s like a citizen science app where students can also help collect data that actually gets submitted to NASA to help with research about tree growth and everything,” Riley said. “So once we get it planted, then we’ll start bringing everybody into it.”

The tree is currently stored in the Floral Design classroom. It must stay in a dark and cool environment for the Moon Tree to stay healthy before planting. 

“I know I’m going to have some of Mr. Rickley’s classes helped us build the fencing for the tree, so like the pool fencing and the cage,” Riley said. “I know Miss Owen’s classes and some of the other agriculture classes are going to help us take care of the Moon Tree.”

Ryan Miller, a future-ready design teacher, said she’s been witnessing Riley filling out forms and paperwork for the Moon Tree for the past year. 

“I’m very excited to have the moon tree here because it kind of shows that Prosper High School is involved in like a much bigger thing,” Miller said. “It’s also really neat to kind of see all the students that are excited about it through like the voting on the names and things like that.”

Miller works alongside Riley in the Nest library. 

“It’s definitely been a long process. I think Ms. Riley found out about it last year at some point,” Riley said. “And it’s been really fun to like get the updates, and when we finally got the official mail from NASA it was probably the coolest day.”

This story was originally published on Eagle Nation Online on November 13, 2024.