FUTURISTIC GARDENING TECHNIQUES TO THE CLASSROOM

/PRAvenueNW/ The Westerville North High School (WNHS) Science Department, located in Westerville, Ohio, is using advanced aquaponics and hydroponics systems to teach students about vertical gradening and other futuristic gardening possibilities. After one year of implementation, the program has generated extensive student interest and local businesses are purchasing the herbs and produce being grown at the school.

"We believe our aquaponics system is the first of its kind in a high school setting," said WNHS chemistry teacher Jeffrey Bracken. "No other high school in the United States has a 7-foot tall vertical herb garden that is fertilized by the fish in a 65-gallon aquarium."

The WNHS aquaponics project was made possible by a generous grant from the Bette Marschall Memorial Foundation. Bracken said similar vertical gardening operations can be found at the Epcot Center in Disneyworld.

The WNHS Science Department also operates a hydroponics system that was made possible by a unique collaboration with the Westerville Police Department. The police department donated four hydroponic grow lights that had been confiscated by law enforcement officers.

"We know of no other high school in the United States that has acquired $2,000 worth of hydroponics equipment that was slated to be destroyed at the conclusion of the judicial process," Bracken explained. "Our biology, ecology, and chemistry students can now investigate the factors of successful aquaponics and hydroponics operations."

Bracken said that this equipment has allowed WNHS's Science Department to grow quality produce that is now being sold and marketed by the school's economics students. The school is also using two homemade aeroponic cloning chambers to raise seedlings of native Ohio plants that are currently found in the Columbus Metro Parks.

"This collaboration with the Columbus Metro Parks is new and again represents an example of students performing real-life science with our community partners," Bracken said. "These cloned plants will then be planted in our school's 16-acre land lab in the spring by North's ecology students."