Students take interactive trip to K-State Greenhouse

Brianna Carmack, Staff Writer

Greenhouse students went to the Kansas State University greenhouse in order to learn about the subject of botany and experiment with different types of plants last week on Thursday.

The main purpose of the trip was for greenhouse students to see a functional greenhouse and see how K-State uses it to educate and conduct research. This trip is a great benefit for anyone looking into plant sciences.

“The trip was a chance for our greenhouse students to see an operational greenhouse, and to see lots of different ways to grow plants,” Elissa Mullinix, sponsor of the trip and agricultural science teacher of MHS, said, “students also had a chance to meet faculty members at K-State who work in greenhouse management, and to see some of the things we learn in class in practice.”

There were many different activities the students got to do such as releasing parasitic wasp eggs into poinsettia plants and seeing the different stages in plant growth. The trip was led by Dr. Kimberly Williams, horticulturalist and professor at K-State.

“[Williams] took us to go and see different stages in production and growth so we saw their propagation room,” Mullinix said, “we just got to see a lot of different things that they do in the greenhouse,”

“I appreciated that Dr. Kimberly Williams made the trip interactive which meant that students had a chance to plant,” Mullinix said.

Students also got to work with pest management, watch plants grow in different types of media, look at current experiments K-State is working on and meet faculty members such as Nicole Martini, Ph-D student in horticulture. Special Education and Greenhouse teacher Cale Prater also took a visit the greenhouse Thursday morning.

“I enjoyed learning about the hydroponics systems, which grow plants in water without no soil at all,” Prater said, “we have a goal to take at least two field trips this year in Greenhouse class, so this was a nice, local destination we could go to early in the year. We hope to visit another commercial greenhouse later this year, and possibly work in another field trip as well.”

Overall, the trip seemed to be a great experience for greenhouse students. This was a great way for students who are interested in plant sciences and from the looks of it, it seems like a trip to the greenhouse will happen more often. Being able to work on different types of experiments and do things people normally don’t do on a daily basis was fun for the students.

“I’m thankful to have K-State in our backyard so that we can see and do so many industry relevant things with minimal travel time,” Mullinix said.