Blooming with pride: Altoona Area High School students cultivate teamwork with class tulip project
AAHS students cultivate teamwork with class tulip project
AAHS junior Dominic Cashwell (from left), emotional support teacher Eli Mencer and freshman Deshea Smith weed through tulips Wednesday morning. Mirror photo by Matt Churella
Altoona Area High School junior Dominic Cashwell weeds through tulips Wednesday morning. Cashwell and his five other classmates planted the tulips outside the school’s entrance last November as part of a class project. Mirror photo by Matt Churella
AAHS junior Dominic Cashwell (from left), freshman Jayden Rodgers, science teacher Jessica Hogan, emotional support teacher Eli Mencer and freshman Deshea Smith weed through tulips Wednesday. Mirror photo by Matt Churella
AAHS junior Dominic Cashwell (from left), emotional support teacher Eli Mencer and freshman Deshea Smith weed through tulips Wednesday morning. Mirror photo by Matt Churella
Altoona Area High School junior Dominic Cashwell weeds through tulips Wednesday morning. Cashwell and his five other classmates planted the tulips outside the school’s entrance last November as part of a class project. Mirror photo by Matt Churella
AAHS junior Dominic Cashwell (from left), freshman Jayden Rodgers, science teacher Jessica Hogan, emotional support teacher Eli Mencer and freshman Deshea Smith weed through tulips Wednesday. Mirror photo by Matt Churella
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A patch of maroon and white tulips now blooming around the Altoona Area High School sign not only show off the school colors, they provide an example of what can be accomplished with teamwork and patience.
As part of a unit on plants in Jessica Hogan's science class, a group of six students got their hands dirty last November, placing about 250 tulip bulbs in the ground in hopes of spring blossoms.
This week, the tulips burst into bloom, bringing a sense of school spirit and pride to sophomore Jonah Walters as he and his classmates looked on at their work during class Wednesday morning.
"My girlfriend comes out here after school, and she looks at them and (asks) 'You did those?' and I laugh every time because it's funny and cute," Walters said.
According to Walters, the project showed the amount of teamwork that he and his peers were willing to put in to see the bulbs blossom.
Seeing the tulips bloom made all of the work worth it, he said.
"It was a success, as all of us were working together as a team to plant these tulips," Walters said, adding it was a fun project.
Hogan said the class received a grant from the Altoona Area School District Foundation to purchase the tulip bulbs from the Netherlands. They also purchased gardening supplies like diggers, shovels and soil.
Through the project, Hogan said, the students learned necessary life skills about working together and respecting each other's individual differences.
"I thought it would be a great way for them to see that you can start something, and maybe you don't see the instant results, but down the road you see the benefit of what you started," Hogan said.
Emotional support professionals Judy Vaughan and Eli Mencer filled in for Hogan for the final days of planting the bulbs while Hogan was on vacation.
Vaughan said she wasn't sure whether the students planted the bulbs deep enough or if they would survive the cold freeze from January.
When the bulbs spouted, grew and blossomed with the school's colors, it was "very exciting" to see, she said.
"This is our first year piloting these classes in regular classrooms, so this was a good experience for everyone," Vaughn said.