The Cascade High School is going a little bit greener in their education this year. With a very generous donation from community members, the agricultural class gets a hands-on experience replacing the old greenhouse.
Since 2001, the greenhouse has sat in the corner of the Cascade Public Schools parking lot and has served the district in many positive ways.
Mrs. Ward, the school’s agricultural teacher and FFA advisor beamed with joy when explaining an overview of the project. She said, “We had a great greenhouse here. It served its purpose, but it's time to kind of up the up the game a little bit and be able to provide some newer technology for our students.”
Bob Burn and Pat and Becky Parker donated an 18 by 48-foot hoop house that the ag class gets the opportunity to install. A full hands-on experience - the project began with taking the old structure down. The students have begun the preparations to install the hoop house which will make its way to the school in a couple weeks.
“It's kind of kind of our motto, you know, learning by doing. And so, that's having their hands on involvement with that is super important and they're all really excited and want to come out and do things.” Said Mrs. Ward.
Students Brooklyn Fleming and Madasyn Faldzinski have been working on the project since its beginning and say that the work to complete the new greenhouse will be well worth it. “It’s really fun.” Madasyn said. “It will feel good when the greenhouse is up and all our hard work is paid off.”
The goal of the greenhouse is to not only provide the school with updated technology, but to provide a sustainable future in education. Mrs. Ward explained, “I think it is really important, especially now, to have our students understand where our food is coming from. It doesn't just come from the grocery store. Then they can take those skills and be able to take it at home and be able to hopefully be able to grow their own gardens and have their fresh produce and know where everything's coming from. Plus, we want to incorporate a Farm-to-Table program for the school eventually.”
The project kicked off at a rapid pace and is expected to be completed by the end of November. For this school district, it’s all about planting the seeds for a sustainable future.