At Ector County ISD, gardening students begin the year with a new greenhouse and a new location.
Two new greenhouses are also on site at 7649 de Forest, and are expected to be completed in October, said Christina Butler, a horticultural and consultant teacher.
For now, the plants will be on the Frost building, but Butler said the students are on a farm.
Carla Byrne, Executive Director of Vocational and Technical Education, said the new greenhouses were funded by Ector County ISD with vocational and technical education funds. The price was $ 800,000.
The greenhouse was purchased and designed by Stupis. JSA designed the structure of everything around them, Byron wrote.
The CTE generates an average daily availability, so ECISD allowed CTE to use that money, which was very generous to Bern.
“It’s been a long time coming,” she said. “These greenhouses are about 20 years old, and we have struggled many times over the years, the refrigerators are falling apart; We have a lot of problems with them and we have such a wonderful team of maintenance staff who have helped us to fix it over and over again.
Byron added that the district is pleased with the value of the students’ work in the greenhouse and the education there.
“We are very grateful and very blessed. We can’t see how much better the product is when we don’t have to deal with greenhouses and then lead to more beautiful sales, ”said Byron.
Butler is pleased with the new facilities and hopes the program will grow as a result. She added that there are currently 20 students in fruits and vegetables and 150 to 200 students all living with animal science, veterinary and agricultural students.
The existence of a modern greenhouse gives students the opportunity to grow a variety of plants and control the climate.
One downside is that the greenhouse will not be built on time because the district will not have poinsettia sales this year, Butler said.
“We know that the community is relying on us to sell poinsettia during the fall and spring sales. We are sorry that we did not make this fall, but we feel better for the future, so we have to sacrifice this one sale, one poinsettia sale. “As a result, we hope the community will not forget about us and we hope to see it in the spring for spring sales and then the next fall with beautiful poinsettia sales,” he said. Byron.
We truly appreciate the support of our community in what we do with our fruits and vegetables, so we don’t want to underestimate them. We truly appreciate the patience of all. I think you can see how beautiful it is for sale when you go out for spring sale; Plants and the greenhouse themselves. I can’t believe it when I see it. They are so beautiful. ”
Both Butler and Byron are happy that all the agricultural and vegetable crops are together.
… There is a lot of overlap in learning between all the fruit and vegetable classes, but unfortunately this relationship has been broken because our children in animal science have always been on the farm and our children in the orchards have always been on the ice. Tech, so “each of those programs didn’t have much of a chance to work together,” Biron said. “Horticultural farming should not be separated from animal science in Shiloh because we are happy that the students are able to enjoy the whole agricultural world. It makes sense to have a greenhouse on a farm. In ag farming, there are many places where students work to grow vegetables and fruits and even crops. And of course, over the years we have, to some extent, made the science of animal science do this. We really want horticultural kids to go there, so that’s fun.
Byron mentions that the district offers many wonderful things that are well-kept secrets.
“Ultimately, our goal is to be in the right study program that will lead to a career in which children will be happier and more successful,” says Byron.
“I can’t be more grateful,” she told Superintendent Scott Muri and the board to approve the budget request.
“It is refreshing to know that people support professional technology because it supports students and the community at the end of the day. It is good to go to work every day, knowing that the people who run this district are worried about what they are trying to do for the children, and this has really shown me, and it has shown that to our children, and it has shown us that faculty. It is a big holiday. It is a great victory and we are grateful, ”Byron said.