Crystal Lake Central HS

Our goal for the Crystal Lake Central High School garden is to use the hydroponic gardening system to teach students about the way of the future in terms of growing fruits and vegetables. Many of today’s greenhouse vegetables are grown through a hydroponic system. Our goal is to use the grant money to continue to add more components to the garden. Our vision is to collaboratively bring together our high school science classes, culinary classes, school cafeteria, preschool lab classes, and the Future Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) club in order to learn from the garden and contribute care to the garden. This group would provide extra food items to community groups such as the Crystal Lake Food Pantry and PADS homeless shelter. The environmental club will produce plants for their annual Mother’s Day plant sale using this equipment.
Hydroponics is a fun way to learn practical application of subjects such as food chemistry, biology, creative construction, and it is one of the most important subjects to be studied in the new millennium in order to end hunger and learn a mechanism that can be used to feed the world in an environmentally sustainable way.
Adding a greenhouse to the project would permit year-round vegetable production.
Adding preschool sensory equipment would further allow integration of the gardening project.