School embraces hydroponics
Posted : Apr 21, 2010 12:09 PM
Heritage Elementary School students will celebrate a school-wide "Green Day" on Friday, April 30 from 8:10 to noon. Thanks to a $1,000 Sustainability Grant award from the Bechtel Corporation last fall, students and staff purchased hydroponic aerogardens for all classes to grow and harvest herbs, vegetables, and flowers. So much enthusiasm arose from the active involvement in gardening on a school campus that the idea of an all-school learning event blossomed.
The "Green Day" event will involve more than 300 kindergarten through fifth grade students with a host of southern Colorado community presenters who will cover topics from soil, organic farming and animal care to ecologically-sound practices. Students will move through multiple learning stations throughout the day.
Events include music provided by local artists/musicians Lana Woodruff and Paul Zschokke and a Beulah MPEC ranger-led lesson. Dr. Christine Nevin-Woods from the Pueblo City-County Health Department will emphasize the importance of recycling to Heritage students. Tisha Casida will teach a sustainable agriculture food lesson, and Tammie Stevens of the Lazarus Fund for Animal Rescue will share wildlife wisdom. Even the youngest in our community will be involved, such as as an eight-year-old Beulah girl who plans to bring baby chicks and her own fresh eggs for sale from her local business.
