SSHS Horticulture Students
"Making Do" This Week

 

by: Bobby McDonald

 

SSHS Horticulture students were inspecting plants and pruning them from Friday night's "cold shock"
as a result of the fire in the adjacent Vocational Lab Building.

 

Students enrolled in Amber Norris' Horticulture classes at SSHS have spent the week assessing damages to plants and working with "make do" efforts, following Friday night's fire in the Vocational Agriculture Lab Building, on the high school campus. "We've spent many hours working to protect the plants in our greenhouses," advised Norris, on Tuesday morning. "And, we've tried to make it a learning experience, that there is always something going to come along and 'thwart' your best made plans!"

"As best we can figure, we've lost approximately 60 plants, due to the heat being turned-of, following Friday night's fire," stated Norris. "That was the coldest night of the season and some of the plants just needed more heat than they got!"

Norris and her students were also sorting through supplies for the floriculture segment, that were damaged by smoke and water, as they were stored in the building that was damaged by fire.

 

 

Amber Norris, Horticulture Teacher at SSHS, in the foreground, instructs her students in "making do"
as they work with tender plants exposed to weekend cold, following the fire at SSHS.

 

"We have to prepare a list for the insurance company and this is great experience for the students to deal with these kinds of set-backs, and learn that everything doesn't always go as planned," advised Norris. "Most all of our plants went through 'cold shock' on Friday night and early Saturday morning, so they will be 'set-back' for about two weeks and students are busy pruning dead and damaged leaves and making assessments to the damages."

Norris and her students were hoping to have their propane services restored on Tuesday, but meanwhile had installed portable propane heaters to provide heat for the plants and still have hopes of meeting the deadline for April's Annual Plant Sale, that is a major source of funding for the department. "We'll just 'make do' and make the necessary adjustments to our schedule and give the plants the TLC that they need, to be ready for the sale!"

 

Vocational Agriculture teachers and students have installed portable propane heaters in their greenhouse
to protect the tender plants, once natural gas supplies were shut off, when a fire damaged the adjacent
Vocational Lab, on Friday night, when temperatures were the coldest of the season.

 

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