FromGround Up Ground Up

By Will Graves

Horticulture students at George County High School (GCHS) are excited to be using their newly rebuilt growing facilities after Hurricane Zeta flattened the school greenhouses.

When Hurricane Zeta made landfall in late October 2020, George County and the City of Lucedale sustained widespread heavy damage.

GCHS received significant structural damage across its campus, and the horticulture program’s greenhouse facilities and plants were a near total loss.

“I was sitting out there at about 9:15 when it collapsed. There was a gust in excess of 100mph. They folded like a pancake,” Horticulture Teacher Rick McMullan told the GCHS Student Press.

The strength of Zeta packed a powerful punch — one that many coast residents simply were not prepared for. Experts described the storm as the most damaging hurricane to hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Combining the already existing COVID-19 pandemic with a powerful hurricane definitely made for a difficult year.

“I’m 61 years old this year [in 2022], and I’ve been through a lot of stuff in the nursery business in the last 40 years when I had my nursery and teaching here, and I’ve never seen a year where so many things happened,” McMullen said. “We won’t even know what to remember this year.”

Despite the severity of damage to school property and lengthy recovery for area residents, GCHS emerged out of the debris, rebuilding to be better than ever to continue serving the students of George County.

While waiting for insurance claims to be filed for the storm damage, McMullen started planning. Before long, students were out cleaning up debris and salvaging as many plants as possible. Then it was time to really get to work — rebuilding.

“We grazed the site down to the ground and started completely over; there was no saving anything,” McMullan said.

Despite a learning curve and facing several challenges along the way, his students stepped up to the plate to help rebuild from the ground-up.

“The gutters were really hard to get leveled,” said Grace Cumberland, a GCHS junior at the time of the rebuild. “We all had to help hold it together — putting the shade on — it was all really tough but we got it.”

McMullen told WLOX, a local news outlet serving the area, one of the most special aspects of the rebuild project was that it was 100% a student-driven effort.

Opposite page: Horticulture requires hard work and a lot of daily upkeep. Here, GCHS horticulture students collect fruit from a pear orchard in August 2022.

Top: The beginning of the school year is a busy time for horticulture programs like GCHS that sell plants to the community. These two GCHS students are taking care of daily greenhouse chores in preparation of their fall plant sale. Above: GCHS horticulture students enjoy an unseasonably cool day working in the greenhouses in August. Though large-scale horticultural production can be demanding work, students enjoy the opportunities they get to be outside together tending to plants.

(Photos by GCHS Horticulture) the greenhouses was a effort. As seen here, it was a project that taught basic building skills and encouraged critical thinking and collaboration among classmates. From laying the foundation to draping and securing the plastic coverings, each person contributed their part in the rebuild. Opposite page: GCHS horticulture has a long track record of being a high-achieving program, and their competitive edge in FFA has maintained their status as the state champion horticulture team for nearly 15 years. Students are involved in every aspect of production, and they get to see their hard work pay off by hosting wildly popular plant sales. High school FFA chapters and agriculture programs are a fantastic place to purchase plants that will in turn support student-centered learning. (Photos by GCHS Horticulture)

“Every bolt, every screw, clamp — everything in here — welds, everything was done by students,” McMullan explained to WLOX. “Everything under our feet all the way to the top is new. This facility should service this community for the next 30 to 40 years.”

Though the circumstances that led to the rebuilding of the greenhouses were not ideal, the students persevered, and two years later they are now enjoying the fruits of their labor by using the state-of-theart greenhouse facilities they built themselves.

The new facilities are comprised of three greenhouses, one pole barn and a new parking area for plant sale customers. The greenhouses serve as more than a horticultural classroom for these students. They also serve as a fully functioning small business where students grow and sell plants, ultimately allowing them to put profits back into the program to save for future projects and plant production.

With a nearly 15-year winning streak as the Mississippi FFA Horticulture Career Development Event state champion, GCHS horticulture means business and the hardworking students there went above and beyond to ensure longevity and great success for the generations of horticulture students yet to come.

McMullen told WLOX that the credit for GCHS’s tradition of excellence in its horticulture program goes to his late father. McMullen said his father, a former GCHS principal, encouraged him around 20 years ago to enter the classroom and lead the horticulture program.

“He thought education was a calling, like the ministry, and he was one of the smartest people I ever knew,” McMullan shared with WLOX. “He taught me so many lessons...I miss him every day. He was my inspiration.”

Now back at full production capacity, the GCHS horticulture program can continue providing locally-grown plants for their community while building on their long track record of success and making career and industry connections.