Ask DeWitt Middle School students how their garden grows.
"Fast. The lettuce grows really fast," said one eighth-grader at the school recently. "And the lettuce tastes good, too."
About 250 other students have been lapping up botanical knowledge since faculty, staff and students from Cornell's Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABEN) Department and Cornell Cooperative Extension helped in constructing the school's new greenhouse to house that garden.
The facility, now used by many of the school's students, was built by participants in the school's special education program, with the help of Cornell and community volunteers.
"As special educators, we rely on the relevance of the curriculum. We had lots of written work for the students, but it wasn't hands-on enough," said Fred Knewstub, a teacher at the middle school. "Then, we had an idea: Wouldn't it be nice to build a greenhouse?"
So they did.
The greenhouse project began about two years ago, and the structure literally was built from the ground up. The students helped dig the trenches and put up the skeletal frame and the half-inch plastic siding. But, the DeWitt teachers are quick to point out, the greenhouse might still be in the dream stage if not for help from Cornell.
Kerstin Johnson and Katherine Deddins, the past and present presidents of the Cornell student branch of ASAE (the Society for Engineering in Agricultural, Food and Biological Systems) organized their group to redesign and build equipment for the greenhouse. Doreen B. Greenstein, Cornell Cooperative Extension educator in ABEN, obtained grants for materials and provided encouragement and ideas. ABEN lecturer Thomas Cook worked closely with the ASAE students in the design and construction of the equipment. Lou Albright and Dan Aneshansley, Cornell professors in ABEN, answered questions and worked with the Cornell students and DeWitt Middle School staff, particularly Tom Nicholson, a teaching assistant at the school and a greenhouse enthusiast.
The 32-by-21-foot steel and aluminum frame structure meets a wide variety of needs. Tables and work areas can be lowered to accommodate students who use wheelchairs, thanks to adaptive workbench designs built by the Cornell students.
DeWitt students involved in various projects now spend an hour or so a day in the greenhouse. And they are absorbing sunlight and enlightenment.
"The students were totally surprised that seeds grow so fast," Knewstub said. "Now they are very engaged in the learning process. I think the students were relieved they did not have to sit in the classroom all the time, as most of the students really like the physical aspect of working in a greenhouse. They just really like to do it."
Sadly, DeWitt student Tony Payne -- an enthusiastic member of the greenhouse project -- was killed last summer in a car accident in Trumansburg. The other students have dedicated a plaque at the greenhouse in his honor.
DeWitt special education students and teachers gave a slide presentation to Cornell's agricultural engineering department last week on campus, reporting on the progress at the greenhouse.
"This is a community-based class, where we need to teach the students to prepare for life," said Tricia Armstrong, a teacher at the middle school. "Many of these students were dependent upon adults before we built the greenhouse; now they're harvesting plants, selling plants at the [Ithaca] Farmer's Market. They're communicating, they're interacting."
Armstrong said the students' self-confidence and self-esteem have improved greatly as well. They've acquired job skills and even math skills because of the greenhouse project.
A little hard work goes a long way.
"They're learning all the things that go with life. All the money the students make from selling produce or plants at the Farmer's Market goes back into the program," Armstrong said.
Knewstub says the greenhouse is so popular among DeWitt's faculty and the rest of the student body that the structure might already be outgrown. "I guess we could use more space," he said.