HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — A simple theme of teamwork formed the underpinning of a 9-month project conceived by Holland Middle School STEM teacher Bill Boerman — who helped his students plan and develop the project. (See the photo gallery.)
On Thursday, April 25, 2019, they saw the dream realized, as an empty plot of ground outside the school, at 373 E. 24th St., transformed into a hoop greenhouse with an underground low-cost, energy-efficient heating system.
Boerman’s idea is for students to actively use the greenhouse to learn about botany and nutrition — and enjoying and sharing its bounty.
This multi-layered lesson plan involved students creating and making presentations to area businesses, to garner donations and volunteers. They convinced a lot of helpers.
Holland High alum Dirk Jonker, the third generation of his family to own Jonker’s Garden, donated water cans, fertilizer and landscape fabric to the effort, as well as talked with Boerman’s students about greenhouse operations.
Zeeland Lumber and Fence Consultants donated supplies; 28 Specialties, provided excavation; the City of Holland provided compost. GVSU Farm Manager Youssef Darwich; Ottawa Area Intermediate School District instructor Tony McCaul and para-professional Paul Zelenka, who teach agricultural science at GVSU, provided guidance. Zelenka’s family once owned a Holland-area nursery; he donated hoops and hardware for the greenhouse from his business, P&B Farms.
Herman Miller and its foundation, Herman Miller Cares, provided a small grant and volunteers from the company’s Sustainability Resource Team, including Grand Rapids resident Mackenzie Stephens, a sustainability marketing and communications specialist..
“I have never built a hoop house. I learned all about how it’s built, from the ground up,” Stephens said, grinning. “I’m really enjoying, for the most part, watching the kids … I love to see them solve problems. They’re our bosses today.”
The role of adults, besides lending a hand, included witnesses students face and solve problems in team building, communication, and work flow, among other tasks.
The school’s greenhouses uses a climate battery system, which, like the City of Holland’s snowmelt network, leverages existing resources to maintain temperature conditions, though the greenhouse will use air rather than water.
This story will be updated.
