Laguna-Acoma HS becomes
a botanist's playground

Large PVC pipes hold tomato and pepper plants in the Laguna Acoma
High School biology class hydroponic project. The hydroponic project
will move into the greenhouse next school year when electricity is
ready. [photo by Helen Davis / Independent]

By Helen Davis
Cibola County Bureau

PUEBLO OF LAGUNA — Students in the Laguna-Acoma High School biology classes learn basic biology and zoology, but at the end f the school year, the biology classroom looks like a botanist's playground, with plants from the class greenhouse and a set of hydroponic projects taking up the back third of the room.

Biology teacher Carol Prewitt and her classes have the greenhouse to work with, but while workmen install electrical outlets that will run pumps and ventilation next year, plants that have been living in the greenhouse are taking up lab tables in the classroom.

Prewitt said in an interview last week that there is never enough room. With the outdoor plants now inside, zoology projects are pushed into a small part of the lab. The greenhouse, she said, provides the extra space required to have both zoology and botany projects available during the school year.

The outdoor plant room was originally built with a grant from PNM obtained by a previous teacher and constructed by students in the Earl Prewitt's woodworking and building trades classes at the high school.

Prewitt recently applied for and received a $10,000 grant from BP Energy for solar panel project to power the greenhouse.

She obtained a PNM grant last school year for some upgrades to the greenhouse, and she then applied this year for a large grant from the BP Educational Group for the 2008-2009 school year.

The $10,000 will go to installing solar panels on a nearby section of the school roof to provide electricity that will help power the lights, pumps and ventilation in the greenhouse. Prewitt said she expects to put in two panels, which may not be enough to power the entire greenhouse.

If the students' hydroponic projects move into the greenhouse move into the greenhouse, the system will require pumps to move nutrient rich water for the vegetables. Students have developed a hydroponic garden that uses large vats, small pots and stabilizing clay pellets to grow tomatoes, peppers and other plants.

Hydroponics have been in the classroom where water and electricity are readily available and will remain inside for the rest of the year, but Prewitt said the building needs the ventilation right now. It was 118 degrees just before the cold snap.

The teacher explained that although the grant has been awarded, no money will be released until she takes a Winners Circle training class this spring to learn how to manage the grant.

Unlike some project grants, the BP grant goes to the teacher rather than the school district. Prewitt said she will take the offered option to deposit the grant with the schools, because if she handled it herself, the money would be taxed as her money.

"It would be wasting a lot of money in taxes," she said.

The BP award will require progress reports as the proposed work moves alone. The grant winner will also have to report any changes in budget. She said BP will monitor the money and progress carefully.

Prewitt said people need to know how to grow things; it is getting us back to our roots.