BY NICHOLAS BRANDT
As a part of the annual Earth Day celebration at Cameron Park on Sat., April 26, a tree planting ceremony was held outside of the community center to honor former teacher Michael Okura. West Covina Beautiful, the organization that hosted the Earth Day celebrations, worked tirelessly to find the perfect spot to plant the tree and to plan out the successful event.
Informational booths were on display, performances from the WCHS Jazz Band serenaded attendees, the Girl Scouts provided free refreshments, and park goers were paid a visit by the Fire Explorers and Sparky from the West Covina Fire Department.
Recently, West Covina Beautiful has been presented an award for taking care of the city and showing an example for other cities to follow. The Earth Day celebrations were held in order to promote the ideas of keeping the city beautiful and clean. Family and friends in partnership with West Covina Beautiful planted trees in honor of Michael Okura and Terry Kaufman, two community members that set an example during their lives and made an impact in the community.
Michael Okura was an English teacher and a coach of three sports consisting of baseball, football, and wrestling for over 43 years on campus. During his extensive teaching career, Okura was an inspiration to his students and a mentor to his colleagues by showing what the Bulldog Family is all about. He passed on Jan. 17 of 2012, but his legacy lives on even today as the baseball field was named in his honor as well as the recent tree planting.
“The event accomplished the mission of West Covina Beautiful, to beautify and keep the green in West Covina while at the same time honoring the legacies of Terry Kaufman and our own Bulldog, Mr. Okura,” WCUSD Board President Eileen Jimenez said.
The family and friends of Okura and Kaufman gave speeches before they all crowded around the trees and began to plant the tree with golden shovels, followed by several certificates and plaques to honor them.
“I think that the turnout was great. It was great to see several school employees, former students of Okura, and city residents come out to join us for the event,” graphic arts teacher Drew Lorenger said.
