With students at home, teacher maintains campus greenhouse on her own

Agriscience teacher Katherine Dalton never lets a little heat or humidity stop her from tending to a greenhouse with temperatures inside reaching over 93 degrees.

It’s one of the laboratory spaces in the Agriscience Magnet Program (AMP) located on twenty acres of the Madison High School campus.

Other lab spaces include: Agricultural Mechanics, Aquaculture, Floriculture, Meats, Rooftop Garden, Veterinary Science, among others.

“There’s a lot that is definitely learned in the greenhouse,” she said.

With hundreds of plants sprawling throughout, the property needs daily attention and upkeep.

Since students are stuck at home, Dalton has taken it all on by herself.

“It’s making sure that the plants are getting watered every day, taking out the trash, going through the plants and maintaining them with the summer heat peaking here in July,” Dalton explained.  

Typically, students help out in the summer but this year due to COVID-19, that all changed. 

“Without students- they don’t realize how beneficial they are!”

It has been a challenge for Dalton to run the greenhouse on her own but she said she is happy to do it.

She looks forward to the time when students can get involved again.

“In here, the hope is to make some videos but also to put together some kits for the students that they can pick up then take home and do hands on with the video. Ideally, we don’t want our student to completely lose that hands-on aspect,” Dalton explained.

She said one of the main even goals in the AMP program is identifying internship opportunities so students can gain valuable skills through real-world experience.

So, with many agriculture students stuck at home right now, they are getting creative.

“I’ve got a student who is taking plants that she’s learned how to propagate succulents in here and she is using that as a side business as she’s been in college. It’s skills that she’s learned in this greenhouse which is really rewarding to see,” Dalton added.

That rewarding feeling is something she has been lucky enough to experience as an educator for almost a decade.

"I am actually a product of NEISD. I am alumni of James Madison High School and I went through the Agriscience Magnet Program. I knew from then on I was going to be an ‘ag’ teacher,” she said.

Dalton plans to continue to come back every day to keep the greenhouse up and running so when students do come back, it will be ready for some hands-on learning.

“I think agriculture is very valuable. This is the future; this is how we sustain life. It’s something that people need to have at least a little bit of education on,” she said.

To learn more about the Agriscience Magnet Program (AMP), click here: https://www.neisd.net/page/131