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Growing the students with Freeport Intermediate's aquaponics garden

By CORINNA RICHARDSON corinna.richardson@thefacts.com
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Feb 12, 2020
Feb 12, 2020 Updated Feb 14, 2020
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Students Joshua Diaz, Amaya Ramos and Toric Goins Jr. inspect strawberry plants growing in the water bed Friday at Freeport Intermediate’s aquaponic garden.

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In addition to the aquaponic garden at Freeport Intermediate, there are several other plants in the courtyard area, including potted strawberries and aloe vera.

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Freeport Intermediate Principal Ian White moves a raft on which strawberries are growing to reveal the water culture beds, where crustaceans such as clams, crawfish and freshwater prawns and other organisms live.

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Eighth-grader Debbie Miller, talks about the Tabasco pepper plant, saying her mom likes to use the peppers for cooking. The aquaponic garden at Freeport Intermediate has many herbs and plants including lavender, sweet basil, parsley, mint, tomatoes, collard greens, broccoli and kale.

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Several generations of Egyptian Nile tilapia produce waste that cycles through the system, pumping into the garden beds and naturally breaking down nitrates that help the plants grow. The aquaponic garden at Freeport Intermediate was made possible through a We Are Innovators grant from Dow.

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Jalapeño peppers grow in the media beds at Freeport Intermediate’s aquaponic garden. The media consists of clay pebbles which produce a ground-type situation that retain and release moisture to plant roots as needed.

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FREEPORT

F reeport Intermediate School students kind of consider themselves high-performing underdogs, Principal Ian White said. Their successes could remove that tag, however, with programs such as the implementation of an aquaponics garden right on campus showing what the sixth- and seventh-graders can accomplish.