03 Sep Foundation History: Windom Elementary Greenhouse
Ten years ago we released a grant to Windom elementary to help complete their Greenhouse project. The Greenhouse, now a staple of education for the community, gave student access to new programing that would be previously unobtainable with out grant funding. Go McPherson also did a video on the project in 2017.
Article by Cheyenne Derksen Schroeder, McPherson Sentinel Sept. 20 2016
WINDOM -Children at Windom Elementary School will soon learn hands-on in a greenhouse two years in the making.
The greenhouse project began in 2014, when Monsanto awarded USD 444 $10,000 to build a greenhouse for children to learn more about agriculture production at Windom Elementary School.
“Our goal is to have this a community-oriented greenhouse -not just the school, but Little River, Windom and Marquette.
We’ve had alot of great buy-in from local organizations,” said Jon Paden, prmc1pal of Windom Elementary School. “The last two years have been going through the fundraising process. We put together a committee and we found that to make this work right for our students, we needed a largr greenhouse.”
Students, teachers and school board members held a groundbreaking ceremony last Friday. The greenhouse will be 18 feet by 36 feet; however, this larger size is more expensive than the original plan.
‘We needed more money. We applied for more grants and we received $5,000 from the McPherson County Community Foundation and $2,500 from our Little River Community Foundation,” Paden said. ‘We continue to apply because we know we’ll need more supplies to get this up and going, but it’s a greenhouse funded by grants and private donations. We have area farmers involved and about 60 agricultural businesses or individuals involved:’
Students are also involved in the business side of growing. Elementary students held their annual plant sale, with proceeds to go toward Windom-grown plants in future sales.
“We really hope it will be self-sustaining with fundraising and plant sales. That’s the direction we’re going in to make sure kids can work in groups on problem solving in real-life situations.”
Teachers at Windom Elementary School are on board as well -over a dozen have been certified in integrating plants in the classroom.
“They’re doing a lot of neat activities with plants like making pieces of art with the flowers, planting potatoes in bags or learning about composting Paden said. now will help fill it with plants and supplies.
“Local businesses are involved in and supportive of the school and the district. Funding-wise in Kansas, we wouldn’t even be looking at this project if it weren’t for the grants;’ Paden said. ‘We’ve had a lot of retired individuals volunteering time in putting this together. It’ll be a big project for students and staff and we want to be sure that it lasts for years to come.”