OTC, SAD 1 collaborate to educate students
with hands-on horticulture
PRESQUE ISLE — The Opportunity Training Center and SAD 1 have collaborated for the past five years in order to allow OTC students to benefit by being involved in a hands-on horticultural experience as part of their educational programming.
As one of the eight programs housed by Central Aroostook ARC, a non-profit organization dedicated to serving those with developmental disabilities, the Opportunity Training Center is able to offer children a varied and individualized curriculum due to their low student-to-teacher ratio, and programs focus on activities and skills to promote students’ integration into the community. The collaborative project between the school farm and OTC is a great way for students to develop academically in a dynamic that’s not typically found in a classroom, administrators say.
Photo courtesy of the Opportunity Training Center
OTC STUDENT Carter Cyr fills the crate with apples he picked from the SAD 1 apple orchard. Each student gathers several baskets in one visit to the farm’s orchard.
Every week during the school year, two OTC classes with students as young as age 8, visit the SAD 1 Educational Farm on State Street in Presque Isle to learn hands-on horticultural skills. Classes spend about an hour at the orchard each visit and learn all the processes of plant and vegetable care; they work both outside in the orchards, as well as in the farm’s greenhouse. Students even learn about hydroponics, which is the cultivation of plants using a nutrient solution instead of soil.
The program is set up to include everything from preparing soil and packing pots to harvesting the vegetables. Milford Helton, an OTC student who has gone to horticulture class since its inception, said, “What I like about horticulture is picking tomatoes off the vine and picking apples. That’s my favorite thing to do … I also don’t mind cleaning up after we get done.”
Initiation of this collaborative project came about when an OTC class took a field trip to the farm in the fall of 2006 and it was mentioned to Farm Manager Aaron Buzza that the students would love doing some hands-on learning on-site. From there, Steve Richard, executive director of Central Aroostook ARC, spoke with SAD1 Superintendent Dr. Gehrig Johnson and Larry Fox, director of the Presque Isle Regional Career and Technical Center, and the rest is history.
Photo courtesy of the Opportunity Training Center 
PICKING APPLES FOR CIDER — OTC students help one another carry a basket of apples back to the farm tractor where a large crate waits to be filled.
“The firsthand knowledge gained from our horticulture classes at the School Farm has been invaluable to our students,” said OTC educational technician Tracy LeVasseur, who serves as the liaison between OTC teachers and Buzza. “Being able to be fully immersed in the subject area has made all the difference in the world for some of the participants. Concepts and processes that the students have only read about become clarified through this enriching experience. This is a unique program, and we are very grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with Mr. Buzza and his staff each week.”
When asked his thoughts on the collaboration, Buzza’s initial response was, “Those kids are awesome!”
As the farm manager, Buzza is proud to see the farm operate as a learning lab for students of all ages and said it has been a rewarding process to see the students gain knowledge of plant and vegetable care through hands-on learning.
“OTC students understand they are welcome and needed at the farm, and are always more than happy to be here,” said Buzza. “Oftentimes the class will be broken up into four or five groups, each with their own task to do while here. They stay on task well, need minimal redirection and truly do a great job.”
He also commented how great it is to see the students learn the value of teamwork by helping out one another with tasks, proving how often they think beyond themselves.
The Educational Farm opened in 1991 and has been a field of opportunity for the students and the community. Originally with only seven students employed, the farm now employs approximately 40 students.
