MORRISON — The pages of a textbook aren’t the only place students turn to for their lessons. Sometimes they find them beneath polycarbonate panels in a pot of dirt.

At least that’s where they are for Morrison High School students who are doing some ’house work (green, that is) along with their homework.

Through labs, learning and lessons, the school’s new greenhouse is helping students learn about seeds, soil and science — as well as patience, research skills and, perhaps most importantly, where their food comes from. Since the campus classroom opened in November 2024, students have grown flowers, vegetables and herbs – tomatoes, zucchini, green peppers, carrots, broccoli, kale, lettuce, and more.

Built to expand hands-on agricultural learning, the greenhouse hums daily with experiments, leadership, and even some trial and error. It’s what agriculture teacher Tonia Prombo hoped the space would become.

“The learning experience is that they not only learn the importance of growing their own food, but how the food, the soil and how everything goes together,” Prombo said. “Knowing how to fertilize and why we fertilize, how plants respond to different stimuli, and the different physiological processes of plants as well, and learning the scientific process.”

The idea for the greenhouse on the south end of Morrison High School’s property was planted back in 2023, pushed forward by the school’s FFA alumni. Since then, Prombo, now in her eighth year at Morrison High School, has watched the greenhouse evolve and grow into a living laboratory.

The 14-by-48-foot Educator Series greenhouse, purchased from FarmTek in Dyersville, Iowa, was designed with intention: polycarbonate panels for durability, eleven growing tables, adjustable hanging racks, a large sink, filtration, heating, ventilation and space to grow. A small single-gutter rainwater collection system is in place, with plans to expand it to two gutters in the near future.

“They kind of get to learn what it’s like maybe working at a research facility, so it goes beyond just being a greenhouse,” Prombo said. “They’re able to see what other careers may be available in the field of agriculture other than just growing plants. They’re learning that it’s not just as simple as growing something in some soil and watering, there are certain things that you have to do in that process to assure that you get a good crop.”

That broader view is intentional. Prombo has long argued that agriculture education is as much about purpose as it is production, particularly for students who may not initially see themselves in the field.

“Research shows that most students, as a general rule, learn better by doing and being able to apply what they are learning,” Prombo said. “It gives them a purpose. You get some students who go, ‘Why does it matter?’ I try my best to show them why this matters. We have a lot of students who didn’t think they’d really enjoy this type of stuff, and my hope is that over time they’ll enjoy getting into career areas like floriculture or landscape design.”

The greenhouse is student-run. Prombo oversees the curriculum, but daily operations are largely left to students, including sophomore Noah Icenogle, who is the greenhouse’s supervisor. His role inlcudes watering schedules, maintenance, systems checks and helping other students learn their way around the space.

“It’s a learning experience and it gives me a hands-on opportunity to let me see what all goes into a building of this size,” Icenogle said. “It’s learning about what it takes, and it’s a cool responsibility to have.”

For Icenogle, the greenhouse offers something classrooms cannot replicate: a real connection to food and what it takes to grow it, along with the responsibility that comes with it, and the consequences if they don’t live up to that responsibility.

“Out here, it gives them a hands-on experience,” Icenogle said. “It gives them a chance to work with their hands, and it gives them a connection. It’s different to learn from a book, and this gives them a connection to their food and what goes into it. It’s experience right here.”

Some things are trial-and-error: Students tried growing poinsettias last school year, but those were hard to get growing, Prombo said. Another lesson they learned — and quickly: Aphids really like mums.

What did grow well grew well in numbers. Last year, the greenhouse housed around a more-than-expected 1,000 plants, which they grew for the school’s first plant sale in May 2025. The sale generated about $2,400, a number the school hopes to surpass during this year’s sale, again in May. Combined with profit from foods grown in the greenhouse last year, the funds cycle directly back into the program.

“The spring sale went really well,” Prombo said. “We didn’t sell all of our plants, but were able to donate to the local nursing homes, Homestead and Resthave. Some of the plants we planted over in the community garden. The money that we raise allows us to buy plugs for certain flowers for them to do transplanting and learning that process, and to pay for soil for the next year. It’s eventually self-sustaining.”

The greenhouse has also become a point of outreach. During last year’s Ag Day in May, elementary students toured the facility and planted seeds to take home, extending the greenhouse’s reach in the community. This year’s Ag Day is scheduled for mid-April, Prombo said.

For Icenogle, the potential still feels wide open.

“It’s amazing just how much you can do in here,” Icenogle said. “It’s a smaller greenhouse, but you can grow a lot in here. It’s a learning experience figuring out what’s best and what’s not, but it’s amazing how much you can do in here.”

Prombo knows firsthand how important a greenhouse can be for students. At one of the schools she taught at before Morrison — Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, Iowa — there was no greenhouse when she was there and she would often hear students, many of whom lived in urban areas, tell her where they thought food came from

“So many kids, especially in urban areas, have no connection — unless they have family — to what agriculture is and what it entails," Prombo said. “Most of them, if I asked them where their food comes from, they literally tell me ‘Hy-Vee.’ Then I’m like, ‘Then where do they get it?’”

With a greenhouse, teachers can at least show them where stores get it — and hopefully students will get it, too, building an understanding that food, science and sustainability begin long before a grocery store aisle, she said.

It’s a first step that will become increasingly important in the coming years, Prombo said. Even schools far removed from farmland, she says, have something to gain by investing in a greenhouse and agriculture education.

“Nearly everywhere needs to consider themselves an agriculture community,” she said. “As we move forward to 2050 and a population of possibly 10 billion, those people are going to take up more space that we won’t be able to grow food on.”

Find Morrison FFA and Morrison CUSD Greenhouse on Facebook for projects, events and more regarding Morrison High School’s greenhouse and agriculture program.