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SCTC Prepares for Edible School Garden thanks to Sizable Grant from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation
Thanks to a generous gift from the Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation, Simpson County Technical Center (SCTC) will soon be offering fresh fruits and vegetables to its students and surrounding communities through the aid of an edible school garden.
As part of its mission to build a healthier Mississippi, the Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation has been partnering with K-12 schools across the state to provide edible school gardens for healthy hands-on learning experiences.
Last year, the Foundation awarded SCTC with a sizeable grant in the amount of $119,814 to carry out the vision of Agricultural and Natural Resources Instructor Patricia Braddock, who sought to renovate the center’s existing greenhouses and provide her students with a conducive learning environment, suitable for gardening and teaching plant science. However, due to obstacles presented by the ongoing global pandemic, updates to the greenhouses were postponed until this year.
“Because of the things I wanted to do, we were eligible to receive a school garden grant,” said Braddock. “I am ecstatic about exposing my students to new technology and experiences that may spark an interest in them to pursue a career in plant science or horticulture.”
With the funding, SCTC will have three renovated greenhouses; a germination chamber – an enclosed area that provides optimum humidity and temperature control to help start seedlings; – and aquaponics and hydroponics systems – alternative farming techniques that use water instead of soil for growing plants.
Once the project is completed, Braddock and her students will grow a variety of fall and spring plants, such as spinach, squash, zucchinis, tomatoes, and pumpkins, which will be sold at local farmers’ markets and donated to neighboring communities. There are also plans to add a vineyard with blackberries, blueberries and muscadines.
According to SCTC Director George Huffman, renovating the greenhouses has been a goal of his since he became director of the technical center in 2014. Huffman said he was thankful for Braddock for applying for the grant and for the Simpson County School District Board of Education for allowing the center the opportunity to obtain the funds to continually improve their programming.
“The newly renovated greenhouses will provide opportunities for our technical center students in the agricultural and natural resources program to have realistic hands-on activities that will help them to develop a better understanding of horticulture, greenhouse operations, and the process of food production from the garden to the table,” said Huffman. “These funds will help us continually improve what we do in order for our students to develop the skills and knowledge that will allow them to go somewhere and do something after graduation. This is just one more reason why career and technical education is a pathway to a brighter future.”
Led by greenhouse specialists Tubular Structures, updates to the greenhouses are expected to be completed by December.
For more information, contact the Simpson County Technical Center at 601-847-4000.
MageeNews.com is an online news source serving Simpson and surrounding counties as well as the State of Mississippi.
