CIU partners in historic Earth Day tree planting

Columbia International University President Dr. Mark Smith is encouraging fellow South Carolinians to plant trees on Earth Day April 22.

CIU is partnering with Governor Henry McMaster and other South Carolina organizations in POWERPLANTSC, a history-making effort to plant a record 3.3-plus million loblolly pine tree seeds across the state. McMaster calls it the “largest single-day tree-planting in United States history.”

POWERPLANTSC was conceived and is directed by CIU student Tom Mullikin, a global expedition leader and S.C. Floodwater Commission Chairman. Mullikin is working on a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership at CIU.

Earth Day will begin with a tree-planting hosted by McMaster at the Governor’s Mansion in Columbia. The ceremony will include Smith offering the invocation and CIU Chaplaincy Professor Dr. Mike Langston delivering the “blessing to the trees.”

POWERPLANTS is designed to raise awareness about the importance of trees to human and environmental health, not the least of which is the mitigation of disastrous flooding.

Here is an invitation from President Smith to get involved.

With record enrollment in 2020, CIU consistently ranks among the Top Regional Universities in the South by U.S. News & World Report, as well as a Best Value Regional University in the South. Request information on enrollment at CIU and Columbia Biblical Seminary at (800) 777-2227, ext. 5024 or www.ciu.edu.