Hidden from the hustle and bustle of the New Pit halls is South’s greenhouse. Brightly lit by the sunlight streaming through the glass roof and walls, the heated air of the flora-filled learning space houses Horticulture classes taught by Science Teacher Erin McBride.

McBride has been managing the greenhouse for 12 years, instructing students in the classroom and helping them with experiments in the greenhouse. It offers an authentic learning experience different to so many other courses at South, junior Dean Tranas said.

“South has so many copy and paste rooms, all of the Old Pit and New Pit rooms are the same,” Tranas said. “Then you go through the door and you’re in this brand new structure. It’s surreal.”

The Horticulture program offers three classes: a fall semester, a spring semester, and an advanced class, McBride said. During the fall and spring semesters, students are introduced to horticulture through projects uniquely related to the season, senior Angelina Bakun explained. Having taken the spring semester last year, Bakun is currently in the fall class, with plans to take Advanced next semester.

“The greenhouse is a place to be creative and study progress in plants and even in yourself,” Bakun said. “I would love to continue to focus on floral design, even selling my own products.”

The skills that horticulture students develop during class grow beyond the classroom, McBride said. Having attended South and gone through the horticulture program as a student herself, McBride was able to return to the roots she had planted years later.  Horticulture can shape students not just as academics but also as people, she explained.

“The greenhouse is not traditional, and you can learn so much in here,” McBride said. “I love being in the greenhouse because you get the opportunity to learn in an au

thentic way.”

One of the experiments they do is propagations, which involves putting a small cutting of a plant into a fresh pot and letting it grow into a new plant of the same species, Tranas explained. Students do an abundance of propagations in preparation for school events such as their spring plant sale and the graduation ceremony. The greenhouse  provides a space for them to grow and store the plants they need, Tranas said.

Students design and run experiments of their choice in the greenhouse, McBride said. Seeing the variety of flora, all stemming from different ideas has helped Bakun understand that everyone can make something  worthwhile.

“Everyone has different creative minds and you can never judge based on an ability or inability to do something,” Bakun said. “That’s a life skill for me to never judge others because everyone sees things in a different way.”