Fallsnewspress.com - Falls High students will break ground on greenhouse May 8

Twenty-one senior Marketing Education (DECA) students from Cuyahoga Falls High School will graduate this June with more than a diploma.

On May 8, during a ceremony at Cuyahoga Falls High School, the Senior Marketing Education (DECA) class will break ground for a new greenhouse that they have spent two years working on as a capstone Marketing Education experience. The ceremony will be at noon in the Thomas Court parking lot of Cuyahoga Falls High School.

This greenhouse will be built to replace the existing school greenhouse that has fallen into disrepair due to age and deterioration. The senior Marketing Education (DECA) class will gift the new greenhouse to the students of the Multiple Disability Unit at Cuyahoga Falls High School. The new greenhouse will be a source of real-life education for the students of the Multiple Disability Unit as they will have the opportunity to use the greenhouse to develop real life skills and experience hands-on learning. In addition, other classes and school groups from the entire school district will be able to use the new greenhouse to further scientific education.

The greenhouse project began during the 2006-2007 school year as the Marketing Education class took part in the Junior Achievement Company program. During this program students learned how to start and operate a company with the help of an outside business volunteer. This class toppled the existing school JA Company program sales records and saw profits of more than $7,000. It was due to that success that the students decided to dedicate their efforts and profits to begin planning for a new greenhouse.

Since that time, the Marketing Education students have conducted a Cavs Wheelchair basketball game, a corporate donation campaign, an individual giving campaign, a districtwide Green Day, and numerous other events to raise more than $12,000 to make the greenhouse a reality.

In addition to fundraising, Falls High Marketing Education students have spent many hours working with the community, school groups, educators, and administrators to plan the extensive logistics of such a project. "The greenhouse project has been an outstanding educational experience for my students," says Emily Kilgore, Marketing Education Teacher at Cuyahoga Falls High School. "The students have had a chance to learn not only marketing but life, communication, and personal skills that we could not have achieved any other way. I'm so proud of all of their hard work."

The May 8 ground breaking ceremony will jumpstart building plans for the greenhouse expected to be completed by September. The greenhouse is scheduled to be open for use by school and community groups in the fall.