The Hamilton Middle School greenhouse was once under-utilized, but is now flourishing and playing an important role in the HMS STREAM program.
"It was built a number of years ago and I had the opportunity with the help of HMS principal Liz Morehouse and our superintendent Brad Lusk to get the greenhouse going again," said 8th grade teacher, Steve Hickok.
As the STREAM English component teacher, Hickok is putting the Greenhouse to great use throughout the school year. Through the donation of HCS parent Dan Mast and Andy Mast Greenhouses, Hickok's classes are now taking care of the plants every day and learning a lot about the variation of plants and the attention they all need.
"One of the great things about doing these hands on projects like this is we're learning a lot about what to do, but also what not to do," Hickok chuckled. "We actually had a Rest In Peace portion of the greenhouse because we quickly learned what not to do to some of the plant species."
Hickok's first hour Enrichment class has been caring the plants and are now taking orders from teachers around the school.
"We have a large selection of plants that we've been growing this semester and we've begun delivering them to our customers inside Hamilton Middle School," Hickok added.
With the greenhouse's control temperature of 68-72 degrees, the greenhouse has also been used by several HMS teachers for a warm yet semi-outdoor class study space this winter.
Great work, Mr. Hickok and our HMS students!
