After decades of providing shade to the students between H- and I-buildings, the Chinese banyan tree has come down.

“State arborists came by to inspect the tree and found that it was diseased,” Vice Principal Wilbert Lum said. 

The state suggested an intensive watering program to see if the tree could be rehabilitated, but after several months, experts determined the efforts were unsuccessful.

“It became a safety hazard,” Lum said. 

State workers brought in chainsaws and a chipper on Sept. 12 and chopped the branches and ground down the stumps to the grass level.

“I’ll miss that tree,” social studies teacher Missy Beavers, whose H303 room overlooks the open area between the buildings, she said.

Though it did not seem to be that expansive, the branches did actually block some of the sun. The third floor rooms in H building are brighter now.

Six large chunks of the trunk were delivered to woodshop teacher John Murray.

“I probably won’t be able to use them this year because they need to dry,” he said.

If he could get a lathe, he said he can imagine turning the wood into bowls or other useful pieces.