“Maybe 8 inches,” he said confidently.

The annual planting of a class tree is a long-time tradition. Trees have been planted near the Middle School and the Senior High.

Nobody is really sure when the tradition began.

Thompson’s mom, Emily Thompson, didn’t really want to think too much about the implications of 12 years in the future.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Feelhaver and Duncombe kindergarten students gather Wednesday morning at the Fort Dodge Middle School to plant the Class of 2031 tree.

“I don’t even want to think about it,” she said.

Fort Dodge Community School District Superintendent Jesse Ulrich was on hand to talk to the students and help with the planting. He supplied “just right” sized shovels for the kindergarten students.

“Today is a really important day,” he told the students. “You guys — in 12 years you’ll be graduating as Dodgers.”

Ulrich compared the needs of a tree to the needs of a student.

“What does a tree need?” he said. “Sun, water and soil. The most important part is underground. The roots are the most important part of a tree. You as students need a good support system, love and roots. You’ll grow right along with the tree.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Cooper Elementary School kindergarten students Kasen Flatgard, left, along with KaReena Barrett, help shovel dirt onto the Class of 2031 tree at the Fort Dodge Middle School Wednesday afternoon.

Each group of students got to help set the tree into the ground.

Calli Bird, 6, a kindergartner at Butler Elementary School, helped out.

“It was heavy,” she said. “Like weights.”

She, too, had a theory on tree growth.

“It will be about eight feet tall,” she said.

Expected maturation?

“Probably six years,” she said.

One of the more important things about planting a tree is that it requires a quiet crowd.

“We have to keep our voices at zero,” Ulrich said. “Otherwise it scares the tree away.”

The day was special for both him and the students.

“This is my first year and their first year, too,” he said.

Yes, that 2031 seems like a long time down the road for him, too.

“It does make me feel old,” he joked.