School to build greenhouse to help children learn about environment

A new greenhouse is to be built at a school in New Jersey as part of an effort to educate children about the environment and encourage them to get involved in outdoor pursuits such as gardening.

Funds donated by Learn and Serve America will be put towards the $14,000 greenhouse, which will be sited in the courtyard of Memorial School.

An old greenhouse has already been removed from the courtyard and replaced with shrubs as part of a general spruce-up, Atlanticville News reports.

However, the school’s science teacher Jill Wetzel has much bigger plans for the area once the new greenhouse has been put in place.

"The ultimate goal is to have a garden for the school, for the kids to plant what we start in the greenhouse in the garden," she told the news provider.

Any fruits and vegetables grown in the garden and greenhouse would be donated to the Eatontown Food Bank.

In an article for the Associated Press, Susan Zevon noted that a number of things need to be considered before a greenhouse is built, including how big it is going to be and whether it should be attached to a house or freestanding.