MONROE COUNTY, Ga. — A Monroe County School has some new additions for their green thumb students, thanks to community partnerships.
Monroe County's K.B. Sutton Elementary School teacher Johnnie Skelton can help her 5th grade garden club plant year round, now that they have a greenhouse.
"They have been just so excited about the greenhouse. It really has activated the garden club throughout the colder months because there's a very limited amount that we could do without the greenhouse facility in the winter," Skelton said.
The greenhouse, and the pavilion behind it, were donated and built by Georgia Power workers. Ella Kemper and Laryah Shannon say it's made all the difference.
"We keep lots of our plants inside of it because when it's winter time we can't really keep our plants safe and healthy so we keep them in there so it can stay warm and have a nice area to stay in," Shannon said.
"There's lots of varieties of plants. Some include like boxwoods, strawberries, pineapple sage. We have some elephant ears in there," Kemper said.
The club meets every morning. Skelton says her students haven't wanted to stop gardening since the greenhouse opened.
"They are just so enthusiastic about the jobs that are hard jobs and dirty jobs. They just love getting their hands in it and it's just very inspiring to see," Skelton said.
"My favorite part about gardening club is mostly like planting the plants and seeing them grow a lot. They started off so small and got so big," Shannon said.
The club is open to 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students.
Right now, they have eight 5th graders. They're keeping it small to follow social distancing guidelines.
They are required to wear masks inside the greenhouse.