Ciara Parizek/MDN John Hoeven Elementary School science teacher Tracy Nissen examines the long roots of a lettuce plant on Monday in her classroom.

John Hoeven Elementary School science teacher Tracy Nissen partnered with the other fifth-grade teachers to make their new botany club a success.

Nissen, math teacher Brooke Johnson and language arts teacher Sarah Hochhalter thought the botany club would be a great opportunity for their students to learn about how plants grow and how to start and run their own little business.

The high-tech hydroponic Lettuce Grow plant stand was obtained by applying for a grant through Enbridge in October 2022, which was later approved the following April.

It has five rows, each of which has six holes for a total of 30 seedlings at a time.The seedlings take roughly another two to three weeks to be fully grown. Water is put into the base and a pump sends the water to the top. Every 45 minutes, it is programmed to make water rain down from the top to water the plants. The stand also came with a container of Jack’s Nutrients plant food and a container of Jack’s Nutrients calcium and nitrogen to put in the soil.

To begin with, Nissen was using money out of her own pocket to order the seedlings. It cost her roughly around $100 each time to completely fill the plant stand.

As a trial run, Nissen grew several different types of lettuce. By the time they reached the end of their growing cycle, she decided the kids could use that with their snack one day, so they had chicken patties and salads to go with them. She still had about 24 leftover plants that she did not know what to do with. She decided to inquire if the kitchen would be able to use the fresh vegetables. Thankfully, they were able to wash and cut up the fresh greens to serve to the other students and staff for school lunch.

The stand came standard without a dolly with wheels, so Nissen had to unplug everything to be able to move it, which made putting water in the base a real chore. A dolly cart for the plant stand would cost an additional $60.

To raise money, the students went around the school and asked the teachers and other staff if they wanted to buy any of their self-grown food. When all was said and done, the John Hoeven Botany Club had the money they needed and then some.

They were able to get their dolly and use whatever money they had left on whatever they wanted for the Lettuce Grow stand.

So far, Nissen checked the inventory and said they are currently growing baby lettuce, classic butter lettuce, arugula, different strains of romaine, green onion, purple bunching onions, dill, cilantro, parsley and kale. About 15 of those plants will be nearing the end of the growing cycle in the next couple of weeks and they will be replaced by newly ordered seedlings.

The Botany Club has four committees: growing, finance, marketing and distribution.

The growing committee is responsible for the maintenance and making sure that each plant is healthy.

The finance committee is in charge of the funds and collecting the money, keeping track of how close they are to their financial goals.

The marketing committee packs their plant products once they have finished their growing cycle to be sold to customers.

Finally, the distribution committee does just what their name implies. These students take their packaged products and go around the school to sell their produce to teachers and other staff.

At first, the marketing committee students did not have much to work with as far as packaging went for the produce, so they had to use what they could find and make it work. Now that they have extra funds, they can order supplies to more properly and securely package their vegetables for sale.

Nissen, Hochhalter and Johnson all agreed that opening the club would also fall into place with teaching standards for science, math and language arts.

“One of our fifth-grade standards is to understand the concept that plants mostly need sunlight and water to grow,” Nissen said.

Photosynthesis, cell anatomy, how plants reproduce and many other scientific plant studies fall under the science umbrella, while dealing with the money side of things gives them extra practice with decimals. Language arts comes into play with their selling strategies, whether that is in the form of flyers, brochures or even just going door to door with a selling speech prepared.

The Botany Club currently has 24 student members, all of which are fifth graders. Nissen said it was easier for planning that way, but she is hoping to add students from other grades in the future. She said she has been asked several times by other students to join the Botany Club, but she wanted to give this group an honest go to see how much they can make the club thrive.

Overall, the botany club not only gives non-athletic students a place to belong, but also has several teaching moments involved. Some students may be more interested in caring for the plants, and others might be more interested in the business side. Regardless of the motivations, the Botany Club seems to be a success for the students.

“They have completely taken ownership and everything. They organize things,” Nissen said. “They all have these really great ideas and we kind of let them run with that.”