Freedom High School’s Center for Environmental and Natural Sciences has rehabilitated its onsite greenhouse to provide an inclusive learning place for students. Carlos Wallace, a special education teacher, shared that the idea for this project was sparked by a student suggesting the use of the space. “The students inspire me,” said Wallace.

From that moment, Wallace developed a lesson plan aligned with the curriculum, providing a hands-on learning opportunity for students to harvest pumpkins. Students learned about the pumpkin life cycle, seed packets, dissection, soil testing, and fertilization before planting the seedlings.

The project expanded to include students in technology education classes, who built the planters used for growing the pumpkins. Wallace expressed his gratitude for the support from students and colleagues, stating, “I would like to thank Mr. Bonano and the students in the technology education construction classes for the help constructing the planters, as well as Mr. Knight, who maintained the greenhouse and kept the project running, and Mr. Lohr for all his support.”

After five months of learning, monitoring, and watering, and with the help of over 50 members of the school’s staff and student population, the batch of pumpkins were harvested. The pumpkins were taken around the school and given to the teachers, students, and staff.

Throughout the growing and harvesting process, students acquired life skills and the benefits of teamwork. Furthermore, the project exemplified inclusion by uniting all students in the school, with or without disabilities, and brought them together toward the common goal of working together to nurture and grow pumpkins.

“Mr. Wallace and the G-House team are a testament that it is not just a program but a community, uniting staff and students to work together to achieve the common goal of sustainability,” shared Dr. Jessica Doiron, administrative coordinator at Freedom High.

When asked about a significant memory from the experience, Wallace explained, “There are so many of them... the memory is this, when we all get together at the end of our planning, we put our hands together [into a circle] and say, ‘one, two, three, G-House!’ “At the end of the day, one, two, three, G-House means a lot,” reflected Wallace.

Next year, in continuance with the pumpkin project, there is a plan to develop a partnership with the school's bistro to have the class break down the pumpkins and celebrate with pumpkin pie.