By Monica L. Thomas
Beacon Journal staff writer
Leafy greens spill forth from trays on a table tucked off to the side in Stephanie Baugh’s third-grade classroom at Case Elementary School in Akron.
The big green leaves, spiky fronds and delicate patterns announce the herbs and vegetables taking shape underneath. Right now they are under a grow light in the school’s temporary home on West Market Street. But this time next year, plants could be growing under sunlight in a greenhouse at the new school, now under construction at its former site on Westvale Avenue.
The school should be complete by December, with students moving in when they return from winter break in 2018. The greenhouse would be built next spring.
It is the hope of Craig Sampsell, Case intervention specialist, and Jen Victor, International Baccalaureate coordinator, that the greenhouse can be used for education and therapy not only for students but also for the rest of the community.
Sampsell and Victor recently received a $10,000 grant from architecture firm GPD Group’s Employees’ Foundation. The educators are pursuing other grants and want to raise funds with the school’s annual Race for Case 1-mile Fun Run and 5k on May 6 at Hardesty Park. The greenhouse will cost about $25,000 for the structure and supplies such as plants and dirt, Sampsell said.
“The idea behind the greenhouse is to not only use it for our students’ education, but also to increase community and business participation with our school,” Sampsell said Wednesday. “We will need caretakers over the summer months, and we’re hoping to partner with Let’s Grow Akron and Keep Akron Beautiful as well as GPD employees to keep the greenhouse producing throughout the year.”
The greenhouse also can be used as a therapy garden for students with special needs as well as to teach vocational skills, Sampsell said.
GPD Group President Darrin Kotecki said Case is the 33rd community learning center the company has designed for Akron Public Schools over the past 15 years.
The foundation was formed three years ago to support education and children with special needs in the communities the firm serves.
The foundation previously has donated $15,000 for an inclusive playground at the school.
“These projects at Case are ideal examples of the type of effort the foundation looks to fund as they will provide educational experiences for the children beyond those funded by the public,” Kotecki said in an email.
Sampsell will be meeting with the project manager in the next few weeks to go over possible layouts and is gathering information on structure types and what a greenhouse should include.
In the meantime, Baugh’s students are busy with Veggie U, a unit on the types of plants that could go into the greenhouse. It is part of the Sharing the Planet module in the school’s IB program. Baugh’s students are growing squash, carrots, cilantro, peas, radishes and even a farm full of creepy-crawly red worms that like to snack on the tender lettuce leaves. Baugh plans to take the trays home over the summer and keep them going in the garden she and her husband grow.
“Cilantro is one of our favorites, because it’s so fragrant,” Baugh said. The students got to taste the lettuce, too. Before they planted theirs, they also got to taste a variety of vegetables they might not have tried before from the Mustard Seed Market, including sweet and crunchy jicama, red-and-green radishes reminiscent of watermelons and rainbow carrots that come in hues of white and purple.
They also tried dandelion greens, which they found to be bitter.
“We were not a fan of that,” Baugh said, but she was pleased and surprised everybody tried everything.
The kids were eager to share what they had planted, calling out their answers.
“I planted the radishes!”
“I planted the squash!”
Were they excited to see what comes up?
“Yes!” they said, in unison.
Did they like to dig in the dirt at home?
“Me and my dad usually plant some flowers and vegetables on the side of the house,” said Alex Coffield, 8.
What do they think of the greenhouse they’re going to get at their new school?
“It’s going to be nice, because we might have vegetables,” said Lamont Benson, 9.
And that fits in with the five goals Sampsell and Victor have for the garden: to give students the ability to watch and participate in planning, caring for and eating from their own garden; to encourage students to become actively involved in food and nutrition; to encourage leadership qualities in students; to assist students in mastering state standards in a way that crosses disciplines and uses inquiry and self-discovery; and to foster additional partnerships in the community.
Math and business skills sneak in there, too. The class has talked about possibly setting up a station at the Countryside Farmers’ Market at Highland Square when there is produce to sell.
“Every day since our plants have started to sprout the kids kind of beeline back to the table to check things out,” Baugh said.
In the greenhouse on the grounds of their new school, the students will learn to care for and cultivate living things. With a little outside help, they’ll be sowing the seeds of community, too.
Monica L. Thomas can be reached at 330-996-3827 or mthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @MLThomasABJ and www.facebook.com/MLThomasABJ.