"local students... enrolled in the Regional Occupational Program at Soquel High School.
students will help raise money for their program by selling the orchids that they've been caring for as part of a class for ROP's environmental horticulture program. ROP is designed to provide students with training and work experience... Miriam Kaplan, who last year took over as head of the agriculture department at Soquel High School, said the orchid sale gives her students a taste of the real world. "I think it is remarkably satisfying ... to have that hands-on experience combined with a business component and a working component," Kaplan said. About 45 students enrolled in ROP work with the orchids, many of which have been donated by members of the Santa Cruz Orchid Society. Two greenhouses on campus are filled with hundreds of plants, and students are responsible for doing everything from repotting them to protecting them from insects. The environmental horticulture program is also associated with the Future Farmers of America. Kaplan said that through agriculture education, they learn everything from biology and ecology, to environmentalism. The FFA also teaches leadership skills, she said, and educates students on what it takes to run a business. .... For Victoria Cooke, a 17-year-old senior at Soquel High School who has been involved in the environmental horticulture program for the past three years, working with the orchids has become a passion. "Orchids are something that I really love," said Cooke, who is vice president of the school's FFA chapter. She began working with the orchids as a freshman while taking a beginning agriculture class, and has since learned the ins and outs of caring for the tropical plants. Some members of the Santa Cruz Orchid Society visit the classes and give tips on everything from transplanting to making organic pesticides from scratch, she said. "It's mostly us going outside and doing the work ourselves," she said. "It doesn't feel like a class. It's kind of like a mixture of being at home and a hobby." Cooke, who hopes to study landscape architecture at UC Davis next year, said the orchid show is an opportunity for students to market their products and use their leadership skills. ... Matt Zemny, who retired from Soquel High School last year after 34 years of teaching, helped create the agriculture department 33 years ago." source : http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/January/26/style/stories/07style.htm ********** Regards, VB _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
