Real-world learning for Massapequa students
 | | Shown in the photo is Massapequa High School - Main Campus Advanced Placement science teacher Greg Kwas, left, with students as they sample the corn in their "Food and Fuel" garden. |
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Massapequa High School Main Campus Advanced Placement students in Greg "Captain" Kwas' Environmental Science classes, who is well known by students and staff for his innovative teaching style, have produced an 80 by 25 foot "food and fuel" garden with the hopes of using the corn the garden has yielded to produce ethanol during their science classes. This real world, hands-on learning experience allowed students to create the garden, literally, from the ground up, with the help of Massapequa's ACE Hardware, who donated sprinklers and timers to keep the garden watered and fertile.
After finding a location on school grounds last spring, tilling and testing the soil, adding all organic fertilizers and peat moss, and researching the more than 1,000 types of corn available for planting to determine which was best to convert to ethanol, current AP students are ready to harvest the corn crop and begin the process of converting their food to fuel. In addition, students will maximize their resources, with no part of the garden going to waste. "We will be using the leftover corn stalks to create fall decorations for the high school's
 | | Massapequa High School Main Campus students in Greg Kwas' Advanced Placement Environmental Science classes are shown harvesting their corn crop, which they will use in their classes to create ethanol. |
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Safe Halloween' and we will also donate some to ACE Hardware to add to their stock of available fall decorations," stated Kwas. "This project has been a vehicle for teaching and learning on so many levels."
The garden will remain under the care of students for years to come so that future classes will also reap the benefits of this living laboratory right on the grounds of their own high school.
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