Cascade High School is located in a very rural area, with many students residing in the towns of Amo, Clayton, Stilesville and a neighborhood located in Plainfield.     

          Though the majority of the CHS student body comes from a farming community, many of them have little to no understanding of where their food  comes from. 

          Because of this, a greenhouse is a great tool in order to introduce these students to the aspect of agriscience and life science. And it provides an opportunity to learn much more. 

Our very own Mrs. Searcy has earned a grant that would provide the school district with the funds to build such a greenhouse known as The Cadet Conservatory. 

          The purpose of this project is to construct a 20’ X 36’ greenhouse that would be used by the agricultural department and the FFA Chapter in the Mill Creek School Corporation. The K-12 educators and administrators would also utilize this greenhouse to give opportunities to the students at Cascade High School, Cascade Middle School and the staff members. 

     The greenhouse would also help to encourage members of the community to become active in agriculture, which would not only benefit the FFA program but the entire community.

This project also benefits the whole school district because of the objective of collaborating with community groups and organizations to provide opportunities for student projects related to nutrition.  These projects might include  cultivating school gardens, learning to better understand food labels and maintaining a caloric balance between food intake and physical activity and exercise.

The timeline of this project ranges from August 2020 to August 2021 and includes multiple goals for each month. Once the greenhouse is constructed and complete, the programs put in place will begin almost immediately. 

          The students from each school will run the facility together through the agriculture courses. During the summer, The Cadet Conservatory will be taken care of by the Supervised Agricultural Experience course. Students in the special education program will also have responsibilities within the greenhouse throughout the school year.  The staff members from each school that will be using the greenhouse will also be managed by the students, who are in charge of maintaining a schedule to create adequate space and time. 

There are many aspects and objectives that need to be met in order to properly construct and take care of the greenhouse. It will be a large responsibility that will greatly benefit the entire school district as well as helping students become more aware of where their food sources come from. A benefit of this greenhouse is that it will introduce the students to possible career choices in agriscience, facilities and maintenance, environmental conservation, and natural resource management.

Searcy has done a great thing for this school district and we should all be thankful for her efforts that go towards the betterment of the community, the people, and the school.