Grants Allow Riverwood Teacher To Create Aquaponic, Hydroponic Tanks

From Riverwood International Charter School:

Thanks to two mini-grants provided by the Riverwood PTSA, AP Environment and Earth Systems, teacher Patti Lawrimore is able to continue her quest to explore and examine means to bring sustainable agriculture to the urban environment. Not only does she get to live her passion, she is able to engage her students in the process.

Lawrimore’s quest began during the 2015-2016 school year with the purchase of a 55-gallon tank for her classroom, funded by a PTSA mini-grant. Her students grew trout in the tank and released the live fish into the Chattahoochee River. This year, the students converted the tank to an Aquaponic system - a system that grow plants organically using fish waste to feed young plants, while the roots of the plants feed the fish! This completely organic system produces food without soil and uses 80 percent less water than traditional systems.

The 2016-2017 mini-grant funded the addition of a hydroponic tank to the classroom, an inorganic system where synthetic fertilizers are added to the water to feed the plants. This system cycles water across the plant roots, but fertilizer provides the food for the plants. There is still low impact on the soil and the water use is the same as with the aquaponic system.

Having both the aquaponic and hydroponic tanks in the classroom enables the students to compare the value of the indoor inorganic and inorganic systems while identifying some of the environmental impacts. Topics for comparison to a traditional outside garden include water use, land space, and soil quality. It is a qualitative study and the students will get to eat some of their work and will also compare it to the traditional garden outside for water use, land space and soil quality.

Lawrimore stated, “I am so grateful to the PTSA for these grants and the kids love the program.”

The PTSA Mini-Grant program considers proposals from teachers each semester to fund special projects and extraordinary classroom needs. During the 2015-16 school year, the PTSA provided more than $30,000 directly to classrooms through the mini-grant process.

Photos courtesy of Riverwood International Charter School