Growing Green at Pleasant Valley Secondary

It is a sea of green as you walk into the Science for Citizens – Grade 11 (hydroponics) lab at Pleasant Valley Secondary School. There are seven different grow light stands that tower over the room with the vines and plants all growing towards, or around, them. The students are spread around the room busy looking after their own plant station.

Sunflowers, ocra, mouse melon, squash, egg plant, tomatoes, ornamental cypress vine and traditional tobacco are some of the plants which might greet you.

The star of the show in the classroom is a large luffa vine, which had to be hand pollinated because there are no bees in the lab. Luffa has large yellow blooms producing gourds. These gourds can be eaten, but they are also dried for use as natural sponges. Threatful commented that this is the only vine that will be kept when the lab is cleaned at the end of the school year.

The traditional tobacco plant grown in the lab also has an important role. When ready, the plant is harvested and given to the school’s Indigenous Education Department, where it is used for ceremonial purposes.

During the lab portion of the class students are given different seeds to grow, they learn about water, mixing fertilizers to feed the plants, and balance how close to the light it needs to be at different stages of the plant’s growth. They work to ensure their plants are doing well. The students spend part of their class in the lab and the rest in the classroom, learning the theory behind the biology and horticultural science they are doing in the lab. Safety in the lab is also an important focus.

Teacher Andrea Threatful says she has a great group of students in the class. “It is just the nicest group of kids. They are very keen.” It is also a very busy class with students doing many different activities at the same time, so she is thankful to have the help of the Certified Education Assistants (CEAs) and, such as this year, Grade 12 students who have taken the course and help with the Grade 11 class. “It requires a well oiled team to run well,” she adds.

The class was originally introduced by then teacher Steve Drapala (who is now principal of the school) and then principal Abbas El Gazzar in 2012. “It’s a very valuable course,” she comments as students learn how to grow food year round and hopefully be self sufficient one day.

The course wraps up with students cleaning up all the plant stands and then sterilizing the space so that next year’s class starts with a clean slate!

Threatful would like to send a special thanks to program sponsor, Pacific Northwest Garden Supply in Kelowna. “They really make it possible for us to run the program.”