Covert Students Unveil Greenhouse

Students at are quickly "growing" what they know about eating healthy and sustainability thanks to a grant from the Rockville Centre Education Foundation.

Students and friends recently unveiled the Covert Elementary Greenhouse, and plants were started in the classrooms during the winter, then moved to the greenhouse. Beds were dug around the greenhouse and the vegetables were moved out to the beds in May.

Covert parents Matt Spinelli and Chris Coico built the greenhouse in early April.

The greenhouse was made possible by a Rockville Centre Education Foundation grant and was spearheaded by teacher-aides Lynn Woods and Patti Mullooly, along with the rest of the Greenhouse Committee. The grant was requested by Lynn Woods and second grade teacher, Marcia Richmond, last year and $4,000 was approved and used to cover the cost of the greenhouse and all supplies and materials.

“The hope was to get the kids who might not normally eat salad to at least try it because they were involved in planting it. Our focus has been to bring the vegetables from the Covert greenhouse to the Covert Garden to the Covert table!" Mullooly said.

According to Mullooly, the focus was on vegetables and herbs this year. Children also planted lettuce and on the day of the ribbon cutting, students shared in a salad bar lunch with lettuce from the garden. Next year, Covert will continue with planting and add composting into the curriculum.

This article was submitted by the Rockville Centre School District.