Waterville Junior High School’s Hoop House Garden Project recently was awarded a $1,872 Fast Track Grant. The directors of the Maine Community Foundation, at the recommendation of Dr. and Mrs. David Perloff, approved the middle school’s request for funding for the 2015-16 academic year to support the school’s Alternative Education Program. The expenditure of grant funds will be used to purchase garden supplies to help sustain the Hoop House extended classroom and to construct hydroponic and aquaponic grow systems, according to a news release from the foundation.

The school’s Katahdin neighborhood, a multi-grade level community for students who need alternative learning environments, offers the standards-based Common Core curriculum in smaller class sizes for academically referred students in seventh and eighth grades. Teachers Patrick Henyan and Deb Strout utilize existing classrooms for content area learning with access to the school garden to supplement educational lessons.

“We’re so excited to have the financial support to keep the program going. Students built the Hoop House in 2012 with funding made possible through STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), but we’ve relied on community support and agricultural groups to maintain the program’s operation. This money will continue to extend our classrooms for more learning options for students who learn in different ways and at different times,” Strout said in the release.

For more information on the Maine-based organization, visit www.mainecf.org.

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