Darla Hart, Cascadia Community College customer-service specialist, places a shovel full of dirt near a big-leaf maple sapling during today’s Earth Day planting ceremony. Cascadia lead gardener Tyson Kemper watches.

Campus gardeners grew the sapling from a seed from a 60-foot-by-40-foot tree that graced the area for some 90 years. It was taken down about three years ago because it was diseased.

“We picked one that spoke to us,” Kemper said of the sapling; they had 50 that they grew to choose from. “It’s (for the) next 100 years. It’s great to be a part of something that I can come back to when I’m old and reconnect with something we’ve done long ago.”

Also pictured are Bothell Mayor Mark Lamb, Cascadia President Bill Christopher, student Paddy Moran and guest speaker Steve Hilbert and his mother, Stephanie. The late Morton Hilbert played a pivotal role in encouraging and mentoring students who organized the first Earth Day events at the University of Michigan and other college campuses in the spring of 1970.