Horticulture program gets a green thumbs up
By Jenny Fisher
IVCCs Horticulture Program has been approved by the state, and a greenhouse should be constructed and ready for use during the spring semester.
The Illinois Community College Board has approved the one-year-old program that currently enrolls 40 students. Two 24-hour certificates are currently available: Landscape Management and Floriculture.
At its Nov. 20 meeting, the IVCC Board accepted a bid of $98,632 from International Greenhouse in Sidell for a greenhouse to be constructed on the East Campus. The greenhouse is being funded through a federal grant.
Agriculture instructor Lauri Carey said a greenhouse will serve many purposes for the students including hands-on experience through experiments, planting identification gardens, growing crops and learning about propagation.
"The greenhouse is used in almost every class," she said.
During the summer, students planted an identification garden on the East Campus. That garden is visible from Orlando Smith Road, heading toward Highway 351 and the Illinois River. The garden is a mix of perennials and shrubs. Carey said each semester, classes concentrate on one project that carries on throughout the semester.
Carey said the horticulture certificates give students a variety of career options including greenhouse crop production, florist, turf management, greenhouse management and teaching.
A graduate of the U of I, Carey joined the IVCC staff in the fall of 2000. She has a B. S. in ornamental horticulture and an M.S. in agriculture education. She has experience working in greenhouses, and teaching in Orlando, Fla., in the Quad Cities and at Joliet Junior College.