While many teachers were happy to return to class last month, Trevor Horn could not wait to get the students out.
And Reynoldsburg High School’s agriculture and food science teacher was doing just that, picking up a handful of red peppers and small tomatoes from the school’s garden and venturing 90 degrees.
The garden and the greenhouse were created on the site of a former tennis court. With the help of Horn students, the gift of fruits and vegetables is rooted – Three varieties of tomatoes, ruby red potatoes, three carrots, eight apple trees and more.
“I look forward to working in the garden and really getting into science fiction,” said 15-year-old Ashley Ruhr.After working in the garden recently. Knowing what foods to eat is really fun and important.
In the backyard, Sofomor, a gardener, takes two rooms in the Livingston Campus, part of the Agricultural and Biotechnology course.
Soon, thanks to the district’s overwhelming federal support this summer, Horn will be able to expand its education. In June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture donated $ 91,180 to the Renoldsburg School of Agriculture to duplicate the road and to grow and distribute food on the city’s farmland.
The agency provided a total of $ 12 million to 176 donors across the country. Other awards were received by local organizations The PAST Foundation ($ 98,606) and the non-profit St. Stephen’s Community House ($ 96,460), both in Columbus.
According to a news release, the donation to Renoldsburg City Schools will be used primarily to increase harvest and food processing capacity. Some initiatives to achieve that goal include the installation of new water lines, power lines, and solar panels to support irrigation systems. Increasing honey bee habitat; And update the classroom kitchen with new stoves, appliances and modern cooking equipment.
He also said that a paid internship program will be created for high school students, adding that the agricultural road will be expanded from 5th to 9th grade. And agriculture for the school community and finally the Renoldsburg community.
“Growing up is a lot of work,” Horn said. Most of us have no connection to that relationship and no effort to produce the food.
So we promote good, clean, balanced food for all. We will talk about what we can do to support our local economy as much as possible, so that they (students) can find and get acquainted with that aspect.
Communicating with food
Horn background is like chef. Six years after Colton’s birth, he worked at the Walt Disc World theme park before deciding to change career paths.
Last month he began teaching at the four-room Reynoldsburg, which covers everything from food science and technology to slow food production. There is also a major role for aging farming systems. In all, the 37-year-old teaches about 150 students.
He said it is an opportunity to gain some contact with food and to understand how GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and their food grow because it is slightly distorted with its biotech features. Direct communication from farm to table has become our goal.
According to Horn, many young people in the classroom are not interested in making their own food – at least in the beginning.
That was 17-year-old Wesley Ossey. But last year, when he took Horn’s “Slow Food and Green House” course, he enjoyed learning how to grow tomatoes and peppers. The elder said that they look forward to learning more about plants this year.
Showing where their food came from has led to the creation of a tennis court greenhouse and garden on the Livingston Campus in 2018, as well as on the High School Summit Campus. He also built high beds in the three courtyards of the Livingston Campus to plant horns.
So these two tennis courts are fenced off in areas we don’t use. And a couple of us put this greenhouse in there and got an idea of where it would grow. It is literally expanding and we are getting more and more involved with students.
Members of the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, as well as local Boy Scouts, volunteered in the greenhouse.
It goes from the city garden to many places: high school cafeteria, Central Ohio cuisine, South Side roots and Central Ohio Market with HEART (Eastside and Reynoldsburg Thrive).
A.D. In 2019, Horn created the Rennoldsburg chapter of a slow-food diet designed to challenge the fast food industry and help people grow and grow their own food.
Horn also said that the branch is the first phase of high school in the country.
With that little extra money, I was able to work in the kitchen again. But I think this is very important, and now I get paid in different ways. Mid-Ohio (food collection) and seeing their efforts, and being part of that … really lifts me up. Get out of bed in the morning. ”
mwalker@dispatch.com
@ micah_walker701