Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the greenhouse at MacArthur Middle School is budding forth into new life.
The greenhouse was the crown jewel of The Hiding Place, an environmental wildlife sanctuary established at MacArthur Junior High School in the mid- to late 1990s. The Lawton Board of Education approved the concept of the sanctuary, to be created on 5 acres in the northwest corner of the school property, in November 1993. By March 1999, local merchants had donated funds for the construction of a greenhouse.
The sanctuary and greenhouse were the brainchild of MacArthur Junior High School science teacher Jim Calaway, who oversaw the project until his departure in 2006. Afterward, the greenhouse fell into disrepair despite numerous fundraising efforts to restore it.
Colby Turner, Farm-to-Table teacher at MacArthur, applied for a $17,500 grant from the Lawton Public School Foundation to restore the greenhouse. The grant was awarded last year and LPS crews spent part of the summer upgrading utilities at the site. In July, crews reattached the plastic top and added polycarbonate panels to the sides.
Once the inside is cleaned — it needs to be sprayed for weeds and fresh gravel spread to level out the floor — Turner will bring in some tables and students will once again be ready to show off their green thumbs.
Turner said the greenhouse will provide ample space for students to do more hands-on projects.
“I’m excited about it,” Turner said as he looked over the greenhouse one hot summer morning. “It opens a whole lot of doors for us, no more window sill growings.”
Turner, who said he has never run a greenhouse before, has spent the summer doing research.
“It’s going to be another learning year,” he said.
Turner anticipates he and the students will have it cleaned out and ready to use by the first part of September. The timing is important because he plans to order mums for the Fall and poinsettias for Christmas. In the Spring, he wants to plant vegetables and flowers and have them ready for the annual FFA Plant Sale.
Not only will the greenhouse have flowers and vegetables, he plans to use the back fourth of the greenhouse for shrubs and trees that are not native to Oklahoma — he’s thinking of experimenting with lemon and orange trees.
He also plans to grow enough mini pumpkins this year so that each student can take one home to either carve for Halloween or use to decorate with for the holidays.
“We tried to have a mini pumpkin patch last year, but only four made it,” he said.
Once he gets the greenhouse in shape, he plans to turn his attention to the rest of the sanctuary. At one point, the sanctuary had more than 100 trees and a pond. Turner said some of the trees still have identifying labels on them, but the pond is being taken over by cattails. He would like to restore the pond and stock it with fish.
“I would like to have kids go fishing as a nice reward,” he said.
The Lawton Public School Foundation has been instrumental in helping restore The Hiding Place.
““The Foundation is making dreams come true. My whole thing out here is due to them,” Turner said as he surveyed the chicken coops and garden area of the Farm-to-Table space.
Turner can prove the Farm-to-Table program is successful. He tells the story of one student last year who asked for seeds and soil to take home because he wanted to garden with his dad.
“That’s the whole reason I come to work. You can’t beat that. The whole goal for me is to have kids do that,” Turner said.
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