Pinelands Regional Junior High School is working toward educating students on the importance of agriculture, climate change, and their local pinelands ecosystem after it recently received a $75,000 N.J. Department of Education grant for climate change education.
Last year, seventh-grade science classes began utilizing the greenhouse, growing canna flowers, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant over the school year. Volunteers Harry and Laura Cross of Little Egg Harbor flower business Blessings and Blooms LLC taught the students about gardening and assisted with the upkeep of the greenhouse. Students got to take the plants home at the end of the year, which was a valuable learning experience for them, said science program supervisor Kim Clark.
"Some students, not that they didn't realize, but they were excited to be a part of it because they got to see how what they did created the plant," Clark said.
Read more at The SandPaper.