@ParkwoodMSNC FFA Students Work on Tree Nursery
The FFA and Agricultural Program at Parkwood Middle School believes in incorporating hands-on and real-world experiences into the classroom with the use of their tree nursery. The nursery has over four hundred trees growing and are all hand planted and maintained by students. Agricultural students in grades 6th – 8th are able to see a full picture of running a large-scale nursery. Students are tasked with jobs such as planting new seedlings, maintaining nursery tarps, picking weeds, watering, calculating timers for irrigation and fertilizer amounts and understanding growth habits of different tree species. Students in the advanced agricultural classes for the 2024-2025 school year will conduct a yearlong SAE project measuring growth habits of tree species based on the use of synthetic vs natural fertilizer and other environmental factors. Through the partnership with AG Extension one of the end goals for the nursery is to donate trees to be planted on school campuses across the county. Other trees will be sold to the community through a student-run sale.