GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — West Side Christian School debuted its greenhouse, where their mission is to plant seeds both in the garden and in the minds of their young students.
West Side Christian School was recognized as a 2024 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School, which highlights the school's commitment to environmental sustainability and educational excellence.
As for the school's greenhouse, it's designed to grow fruits, flowers and fun for the West Side Christian School students, and today, dreams become reality.
Although the school has had a garden since 2011, in Michigan, the best part of the growing season is done by the time the kids come back to school after summer break. With this new greenhouse, the kids will now get to watch the plants grow year-round, without simply seeing the beginning and the end of the growing process.
It could be the first greenhouse of many for 8-year-old Elma Curnow. She said, "I really like to garden, so probably I want to be a gardener.”
Elma hopes this greenhouse will protect the school's growing garden from wildlife. “We get to have our plants in a safe place, and no deer will eat them,” Elma said.
Elma isn't the only genius in the garden. When I asked 10-year-old Adam Mast what he likes most about his school's garden, he had lots to say. Adam told me, "I like helping out with the plants, watering them, selling them, sometimes maybe eating them.”
This greenhouse will be used for more than just lunchtime for West Side Christian School. Starting from preschool to eighth grade, their students will have intentional time built into outdoor learning.
Janet Stall, director of Nature-Based and Outdoor Education, said, “Knowing that we have the greenhouse, there's different ways each grade level is going to be integrating that space.”
You could say West Side Middle School is the gardener and the kids are the seeds.
“It’ll grow with the kids, starting from the seeds — the small seeds at the younger grades — to how the middle school can incorporate higher-level thinking,” Stall remarked.
So, as the greenhouse continues to grow, so do their goals.
West Side Christian School hopes to one day debut an outdoor kitchen, and maybe even a chicken coop.
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