Barbara Goleman Senior High students participated in The Million Orchid Challenge, a component of the Fairchild Challenge, an annual competition for Elementary, Middle and High Schools. The purpose of the Orchid Challenge is to reestablish one million orchid plants in South Florida, particularly in publicly accessible urban landscapes, within five years. Orchid seedlings are planted within bottles, moved to trays, and then when large enough moved onto trees.
Frederick Matter, Environmental Science and Biology teacher at Goleman attended a workshop to receive training and supplies to conduct the project with the students.
Orchid seedlings, which are tended to in the classroom on trays, are on on a light cycle and fertilized until they grow large enough for deflasking and are moved into larger growth chambers by Fairchild Gardens. Currently there are 235 surviving seedlings in Matter’s classroom.
“Participation for the students in the project is important because it teaches them responsibility and exposes them to real life scientific research. Many of the labs done at school are not as open ended. We know what the results should be going into the lab but in this case it is real science and no one knows the answers,” said Matter.
Matter’s Advanced Placement Environmental Science class is assuming most of the responsibility for the seedlings and are preparing the presentation for the competition. To date the following students have received special recognition from the Fairchild Challenge: Derlis Leyva, second place for Mayoral Speech; Nicholas Rose, Special Merit for Eloquent Presentation Environmental Debates on Biodiversity; Mariela Place, Special Merit for Strong Composition Plants and Their Pollinators; and Kaitlyn Kukurudza, Special Merit for Detail Plants and Their Pollinators.
For more information on The Fairchild Challenge visit www.fairchildchallenge.org.