Planting Tree in Honor of Classmates...

Excellent idea! I would call your local garden center and let them know what youre plans are and I'm sure they would donate them. Nurseries also carry trees. We did this also at my high school. What I did for our 10 year was made a board (those tri-folding presentation boards) and put pictures up of those who couldnt make it due to war, out of state etc and a brief paragraph that they wrote as to what they have done and why they couldnt be there. The attendees appreciated that... and had one are (the biggest part) a memorial for a gentlemen who passed away shortly after graduation.

They did this at my son's school for one of the parents that had been a big volunteer. Its a beautiful tree with a plaque at the base. I believe that they only had to get permission from the school. There is a local nursery that delivered the tree to the school.

The only problem I see with it is that the parent still had 2 kids at the school, and the PTA planted the tree right next to the front door. His kids literally have to walk past the tree 2x a day to go to school. I think it would have been a bit easier on the kids if the tree had been in a location a bit further from the front door.

At my college we lost some classmates. The class dedicated the bridge near the campus with a plaque where 2 of the students used to walk all the time.

I think something like a bench or a memorial garden would be nice gesture too.

M.

I think its a wonderful idea, when my dad died someone gave us a key lime tree instead of flowers and i thought it was the best sentiment. Everytime i pick a lime off of it i remember my dad.

Maybe a fruit bearing tree is the way to go

My background is horticulture and I've done a number of beautification projects. Call or email me if I can help with more specifics. - Great that you doing that!!

You need to talk to the school about this if you want to plant a tree on the school grounds. You will likely need to find out if they will even allow it and then present a proposal to be voted on.
Who will take care of the planting and care and upkeep, etc.

I know this because we worked on getting a memorial at a park for a child and it was a lot of red tape.
The school is the first place to start.

Best wishes.

In the past 1 and half we have lost 4 kids out of my class and we graduated in 2008! I wish we would have done a tree for them. Everyone knew them and it was just real sad. We grew up in a small town, not as small as yours. We had 120 graduate and I knew everyone one of them. I am sorry for the loss of your classmates. Contact the school and plant the tree. I think it would be wonderful :)