Panther Plants

by Makayla Williamson, Sixth grade, Heritage School

Sixth graders at Heritage School have been studying news writing. Here SCN is sharing a story by Makayla Williamson, which we are publishing as-is.

Heritage Schools proudly present Panther Plants! We got the name, Panther Plants, by brainstorming as a 6th grade class. Each student voted for the official title/name. We also solicited ideas on local Facebook groups.

My name is Makayla Williamson and I’m here to talk about how Mr Vince´s 6th grade classes came up with the plant business. The greenhouse projects have connected to our science lessons and studies such as reproduction, genetics, biology, and more. We have learned that succulents are wonderful for studying asexual reproduction because the new plants are identical to the adult/parent plants that we have cloned (because of asexual reproduction). We have also been researching a plentiful amount to make sure that our succulents are getting the resources they need and learning how to grow more of them (water, soil, pots, etc).

We have been propagating the succulents by taking the leaves that have fallen off to propagate and grow to get more plants. The propagating process is not easy but with a lot of hard work and experience you can do it! 6th graders have been working on preserving and problem solving all of the time. Me, myself and a couple of my friends have been going to the greenhouse ever since we started building the garden boxes. We still continue to do so to this day and we really enjoy help taking care of the plants!

Mr. Vince and 6th graders are very proud to announce that we will be selling succulents at the Stockbridge Open Air Market on March 11th from 11am-2pm. The location is 101 S. Center St. at the 1st Presbyterian Church Hall. Our business name is Panther Plants and all purchases/proceeds will go back into funding more and future greenhouse work and projects. In the future, some projects will be the gourds that we are working on growing and drying later so stay tuned for that for the future 6th graders!

Stockbridge 6th grader Lily holding succulent the class hopes to sell soon. Photo Credit: Addison Wright. Photo caption: Andre and Makenna

Just some of the succulents that Heritage hopes to sell at the Stockbridge Open Air Market. Photo Credit: Addison Wright. Photo caption: Andre and Makenna