BY JESSICA STEELEY
Clarkston News Staff Writer
The children at Independence Elementary are building a hoop house to grow fresh produce and create an outdoor space for hands-on learning experiences.
“In Michigan we are constrained with trying to provide these kind of nature based activities because it just gets really cold six months out of the year,” said Chelsea O’Brien, CEO of Clarkston Family Farm. “Building this hoop house was something integral to making sure we can provide outdoor education activities throughout the school year.”
O’Brien partnered with Clarkston Community Schools to work on creating nature based activities and outdoor education spaces. The school board recently approved the building of the hoop house. She said since Independence Elementary is within walking distance, they offered to pilot a lot of the programs for the first year of the hoop house.
Fifth grade teacher Dr. Kristen Gretka was eager to pair with O’Brien and the hoop house initiative because she could use the space to align with the teaching of next generation science standards.
“We’re looking at solar energy, renewable energy, that’s our solar greenhouse. We’re looking at plant-based activities and photosynthesis and chlorophyll, that’s our growing space,” O’Brien said, pointing out different areas in the newly constructed hoop house.
Lauren Sielinski, a fifth grader, said she and her peers are hoping to serve some of the food in the cafeteria.
“Their goal is to grow enough plants to be able to sustain our school cafeteria, we’re going to start with one day a week, possibly to grow to more than that, and then also to provide for Blessings in a Backpack,” Gretka said.
The students are excited to help grow vegetables and fruit in the hoop house, O’Brien said. Strawberries, blackberries and raspberries are some of the possible produce they hope to grow.
“We’ve been building and planting,” fifth grader Macy McNaughton said. “It’s really nice and before, this was just a big field and we didn’t have anything.”
McNaughton said they’ve been working on raised beds and they had to build a trench. Another fifth grader, Isabella Lebert, chipped in, saying they’ve also built compost bins and spray painted.
The students said they enjoyed working on the hoop house, it was a new experience for them.
“I’ve never really built anything like this before. I build a lot of things, but never anything like this,” Sielinski said.
Principal Nate Fuller said working in the hoop house helps the kids build perseverance and allows them to see that their work pays off.
Independence already has a learning garden where teachers and parents can take kids to work and grow food, Fuller said, and now the hoop house is a chance for the school to provide students with a hands-on learning experience.
“I love the idea of kids getting a real experience, providing some opportunities for kids who love hands-on. They love to work in gardens, they love that type of thing, that they’re just not seeing it in a textbook,” Fuller said. “They’re being able to use their hands to create greatness out there and to create the raised beds, the gardens and so forth.”
Fuller wants to involve the community more in the school systems and thinks the hoop house has already proven to be a way for the community to interact with Independence Elementary.
Bordine’s of Clarkston partnered with the hoop house initiative and donated materials as well as time to the effort.
“The more the community sees what the school district is doing, the more powerful we’re going to become as a Clarkston district,” Fuller said.
The whole school is putting effort into completing the hoop house, including the kids, he said.
“They’re amazing, the hard work they do and they don’t complain,” Gretka said. “They come out and they’re excited. They know they’re doing something that’s going to be good for our school.”