MANSFIELD — Students at Mansfield Christian School won’t just learn about the lifecycle of a plant this spring.
Inside the school’s new greenhouse, they’re going to witness it.
Mansfield Christian recently purchased a new, multipurpose greenhouse using a $25,000 grant from State Farm. The greenhouse will be a resource for science and STEM students of all ages.
“I’m so excited to launch the greenhouse project because I know it will provide our students with many hands-on learning experiences,” said Mandy Wushinske, the school’s director of academic success and strategy.
“A long-term goal for the greenhouse is to provide produce for the local community, as well as provide work experience for our students. It’s incredible to think about all of the possibilities.”
Craig Klotzbach, secondary school principal, said the greenhouse will provide experiences that are hard to replicate indoors.
“If you want to do a plant growth experiment of some sort, you have to do it on a very small scale in the classroom,” said Klotzbach, who taught biology for 21 years.
Once assembled, the greenhouse will be 20 by 48 feet and house rows of tables. It will be heated and ventilated for year-round use.
Klotzbach said students will likely employ the scientific method by comparing plants grown with varying lighting conditions and soil types.
“There’s lots of things you could do to get experimental data,” he said. “Ultimately, some of our students might be able to run it as a small business as well.”
The greenhouse will also be used to teach basic horticultural and business skills to students in the school’s special needs program.
Klotzbach said once the produce and flowers inside the greenhouse have matured, they can be sold to parents and community members looking to start or add to their outdoor gardens.
The ultimate goal is the greenhouse can generate enough revenue to fund a set of raised beds on campus, where students can grow affordable, fresh produce for the local community.
“We’re across the street from a retirement community,” Klotzbach said. “They wouldn’t have to go very far if they want tomatoes for tonight’s salad.”
Mansfield Christian isn’t the first school in Richland County to embrace horticulture on campus.
Malabar Intermediate added a high tunnel to its campus last fall. Mansfield Senior High followed suit this year.
“I think that it’s important for kids to understand where their food comes from and it’s empowering for them to know that they can create their own food and they’re not completely dependent on outside food chains,” said volunteer Kelly Neef of Green Patch Garden Organics, who helped install the high tunnel at Malabar.
“They can get involved and create their own food chains in their community.”
Klotzbach agreed, citing the pandemic as a demonstration of how fragile large-scale food chains can be.
“I think people are seeing the value in having locally grown things,” he said.
