Lakewood Garden Club Partners With LHS For Horticulture Outdoor Learning Lab

Long a supporter of the Horticulture program at Lakewood High School, the Lakewood Garden Club has ramped up that support with funding for a new and innovative project that will provide an outdoor learning lab for the program.

The Garden Club contributed $4,000 toward the project and raised almost all of the remainder of the nearly $20,000 needed for the project from local community sources and friends of Lakewood City Schools. Construction on the 3,664-square-foot Horticulture Outdoor Learning Lab, which will be located at the visitors’ entrance of Lakewood High School, 14100 Franklin Blvd., began on November 21.

The completed project will add a significant dimension to the current horticulture program by linking indoor classroom and greenhouse knowledge with the external natural environment. Learning to manage the environmental challenges of weather, wildlife, insects, and humans will enhance the student’s academic knowledge and broaden potential career opportunities. It will also become a landscape centerpiece for the high school.

“We are grateful for the Lakewood Garden Club’s support and thank the members for its investment in our students,” said Superintendent Jeffrey W. Patterson. “The partnership is one we hope to recreate with other organizations in our community as we move forward in these challenging economic times.”

Following the legacy of former Lakewood Garden Club Education Committee Chairperson Mary Jo Potts, who initiated the club’s support of the Horticulture program 10 years ago, the club’s current Education Committee worked with Horticulture teacher Mark Rathge to design and plan the development of the outdoor learning lab. 

“The partnership that has been formed with the Lakewood Garden Club and LHS Horticulture has been incredible,” Rathge said. “I truly have been blessed as a teacher to have such wonderful support from this organization. It is this partnership that has enabled this outdoor lab to come to fruition.”

Added Garden Club Education Committee co-chair Judy Riley: “This project will not only provide an enhanced educational opportunity for the students, but it will also spotlight another innovative program being offered at Lakewood High School. We look forward to Mark's cultivation of the outdoor learning lab as it emerges into yet another excellent accomplishment for the horticulture program." 

Rathge’s students will help in planning what and where to plant, as well as doing some of the planting and maintenance of the lab. Besides hands-on-learning what Rathge most hopes to accomplish is a “sense of pride” in the project so that they may take that appreciation of gardening and landscaping to help beautify the community – “to transfer what they have learned here and desire to do the same at their home now and any future home they might have,” Rathge said.

The design of the outdoor learning lab includes the construction of four raised plantings boxes, 10-feet by 5-feet by 2-feet high. The planting boxes are an essential element of the outdoor horticulture experience for several reasons:  1) The raised planters will provide handicap access since their height will allow wheelchair bound students the ability to easily reach the soil; 2) Raised beds warm up sooner than the ground and therefore can be planted earlier; 3) The boxes will be built along the perimeter of the classroom area as a boundary, preventing walkers from casually tramping on in-ground plantings; and 4) The raised beds will have a 12-inch cap allowing them to be used as benches while providing protection to plantings.

A 7½-foot-wide paved pathway has been designed to stretch from the sidewalk at the base of the classroom area, through its center, to the school’s entrance. Besides a pathway to the school, it would also allow for the ease of wheelbarrow movement and other gardening activities. 

The planting areas will be used for growing perennials, shrubs, trees, annual beddings, and for herbs and vegetables that could be used by the school’s culinary arts program in their Ranger Café. While not in use by the horticulture program, the outdoor classroom will be available to be used by other educators for creative learning experiences.

LAKEWOOD GARDEN CLUB/HORTICULTURE PARTNERSHIP HISTORY

In 2000, the Lakewood Garden Club donated $5,000 to assist in the reconstruction of Lakewood High’s greenhouse and return the long dormant horticulture program to active status. The initial offering of the program in 2000 had two classes of 15 students each. The next year, due to the program’s popularity and the recently established State of Ohio high school graduation requirement for a third year of science, three additional classes of 25 students each were added. The size of the program grew each year to its current size of 160-170 students. Each year subsequent to the initial Garden Club gift in 2000, the Lakewood Garden Club has been providing financial assistance.

The support of the Lakewood Garden Club for the Horticulture program played a big part in the Lakewood City Schools’ decision to include a state-of-the-art greenhouse with automated temperature, sunlight and irrigation controls, a hydroponic growing system, and a handicapped-equipped elevator to move students from the adjacent horticulture classroom to the greenhouse in its newly renovated high school

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

Financial support is still needed to cover such items as lighting, benches, stepping stones and planting materials. Tax-deductible contributions may be made to the Lakewood Foundation (501c3) program. Donations should be made payable to the Lakewood Foundation, Attention: Laura Schuerger, 16024 Madison Avenue, Lakewood, OH 44107.

Please indicate on the check memo line that the contribution is for the Lakewood High School outdoor horticulture learning lab.