Streamwood High class grows plants for national green contest
An earlier version of this story should have stated that Greg Reiva's classroom project is one of the entries in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest, not a finalist.
A group of Streamwood High School students are growing organic vegetables and producing their own organic fertilizer using fish and worms for a class project as part of the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest.
The program encourages teachers and students to solve real-world issues using classroom skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Streamwood physical science teacher Greg Reiva is heading up the school's Earth stewardship project. He said the idea is to grow crops with a small carbon footprint and more sustainably using low amounts of energy.
Solar panels outside the school produce more than 1,000 watts of electricity daily, powering artificial light for growing plants inside Reiva's classroom.
More than 200 Streamwood students in 10th through 12th grades are participating in the project. Students started growing the plants at the beginning of the school year and will continue tending their crops through June.
"It's cutting-edge," Reiva said. "The kids are really enthused about it. It's exciting stuff. We're getting more into hydroponic and aquaponic systems."
Crops grown hydroponically are fertilized by organic compost. Aquaponic systems use organic nutrients from aquariums to fertilize plants.
"We also have worm farms in the classroom, which produce compost," Reiva said. "The solid waste can be turned into worm tea. The plants drink it. It has high concentrations of the macro nutrients."
Brewing worm tea involves harvesting one to two pounds of worm compost, stuffing it into a steel cylinder (infuser) and dipping it into a five-gallon bucket of water. The "tea bag" is then connected to an air pump to aerate.
"We brew this stuff up for at least three days," said Reiva, adding that his special recipe includes a touch of molasses and fish gut emulsion.
"As it brews, the nutrients will diffuse into the liquid and the good bacteria starts growing inside. It's almost like an antibiotic," he said.
Reiva received a $40,000 grant from BP three years ago to create a sustainable living project. He started worm farming and growing crops then.
Streamwood environmental science teacher Marty Baker has a 150-gallon aquarium with 60 tilapia in his classroom that helps feed some of the plants.
"We use the fish waste as a fertilizer ... and you can also eat the fish," Reiva said.
Reiva said he collaborated with teachers in Pakistan, India and Iran on the project, which could be extended into next school year.
Five Illinois schools, including Streamwood High, are among 255 state winners of the Samsung contest, though Reiva's project didn't make the cut.
The state finalists win $20,000 in classroom technology and will be further pared down to 15 national finalists, who then will pitch their ideas to a panel of live judges. Members of the public will be able to vote on their favorite ideas.
Five national winners will then be selected and honored at an awards ceremony in April in Washington, D.C. All five winners will receive $120,000 in prizes from Samsung and its promotional partners.
State finalists also will receive professional development from PBS TeacherLine for the teacher who entered the competition. Teachers have to create and submit lesson plans putting their ideas into action.