Chicago Heights Students See Their Greenhouse Come to Life at Rhodia

A brand new greenhouse and terrace was unveiled this week, and a few of its designers took a field trip from school to attend the event.

It started back in February, when Rhodia, a Chicago Heights chemical company, partnered with School District 170, in a project that would allow fourth to eighth grade students from to design an indoor greenhouse and outside terrace for the company to build as part of a contest.

Wednesday, the winning students from Garfield, along with Principal Felix Sanchez, visited Rhodia and were elated to see the completed project.

"This is an example of what the leaders of tomorrow can do," Sanchez said.

One of the students gave an inspiring and sobering speech about the importance of moving toward a clean planet.

"If we don't start caring about the world now, as we get older, the Earth will slowly die," said K'Twaint Clark. "We need to tell our kids to pick up after themselves."

Plant Manager Sam Agle thanked the students for their commitment, explaining that the students had taken surveys and were honest about the workload that came with designing a greenhouse and terrace.

"There were a few surveys that said, 'I don't know . . . that was a lot of work," Agle said. "So there were some who definitely went above and beyond."

The other contest winners in attendance were Juanjose Lopez, Jorge Sanchez and Isidro Petroza. All of the students were allowed to put on hardhats and tour the Rhodia facility. 

Vice President and General Manager Mike Quinn told the kids he has big hopes for them.

"Hopefully, this will be embedded in your memories, and as you become engineers or chemists, Rhodia will be somewhere in your future," Quinn said to the students.

The unveiling of a student-designed greenhouse and terrace weren't the only big reveals for Rhodia though. The plant also announced an expansion in it's production of Silica by 16,000 tons, a 33 percent increase to the company's North American capacity for the product.

Representives for Chicago Heights Mayor David Gonzalez, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and the State Department of Commerce were all on hand to congratulate the students and celebrate the expansion's potential job creation.

Like us on Facebook