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Earlier this year, Freedom High School teacher Carlos Wallace’s students learned about soil testing and the pumpkin life cycle as they grew their own pumpkin patch in the Prince William County school’s greenhouse.
Wallace, who鈥檚 a teacher of student’s intellectual disabilities and autism, said that experience left them craving more.
鈥淥ur students gave me the incentive to plant the poinsettias,鈥� Wallace said. 鈥淭hey said, 鈥楳r. Wallace, why don鈥檛 we plant the holiday plants?鈥欌��
So, that鈥檚 what the group of Prince William County students with disabilities did. They spent weeks nurturing and fertilizing the plants, learning how to take the pH balances of the soil and transport the holiday plant from one pot to another.
For a few days during lunch, the students are collecting donations in exchange for the red plants that both their peers and teachers are eager to bring home.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e been growing because we鈥檝e been doing a lot of work, putting effort into it,鈥� said Nathaniel, who鈥檚 a junior at the school. 鈥淢aking sure they grow, that they have water, and make sure that they get enough sunlight.鈥�
Wallace鈥檚 group calls the greenhouse the 鈥淕 House,鈥� and the lessons built around the facility behind the school鈥檚 main building aim to prepare students for jobs after high school.
In addition to the students putting together the pumpkin patch, they鈥檝e also learned how to mow the lawns.
鈥淲hat we focus on at Freedom High School, which is one of my classes, is job skills, social skills,鈥� Wallace said. 鈥淲e have our work adjustment training, so those hands-on experiences will actually groom our students when they exit Freedom High School and going into the workforce.鈥�
In addition to learning how to care for the red holiday plants, the students are gaining experience in how to manage money while collecting donations in the cafeteria, Wallace said.
The experience is also helping them 鈥渟how a lot of charisma and build their social skills up with individuals in the general population,鈥� he said.
The donations will benefit financially underprivileged students at Freedom. Over the next few days some students will get gift cards, and the funding will also be used to help the school offer free yearbooks and prom tickets in the spring.
鈥淭hese poinsettias, they represent good cheer and community spirit,鈥� Wallace said. 鈥淭hat good cheer and community spirit is synonymous with Freedom High School鈥檚 positive energy and virtues.鈥�
Kiandra, one of the students collecting donations during Wednesday鈥檚 lunch, said, 鈥淭he plant is really pretty, and they鈥檙e really nice.鈥�
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