A field trip to a garden kicked off the school year for Sterling High School’s horticulture students. The horticulture students visited Cantigny Park in Wheaton, Ill.
At the start of the summer, Cantigny Park held an event for educators in which Horticulture Teacher Megan Stanley took part. The quality and quantity of their gardens stunned her. A couple other educators there mentioned that they had previously taken their classes on field trips to Cantigny Park. Stanley loved that “they have a wide variety of plant species all manicured into beautiful spaces” and was eager for her incoming horticulture students to see this beautiful landscape.
Junior Cole Stumpenhorst was one of the sixteen students that attended the field trip. After walking around the entire garden on the hot sunny day, Stumpenhort says that his favorite part was “seeing all of the different plants and decorations around the park” after touring the entire garden on this hot, sunny day. He took a tour with his class in the greenhouse where he discovered how various kinds of plants are grown. He was surprised about the “variety of systems” the greenhouse uses to keep the plants strong and alive.
Junior Brynlee Martinez is another horticulture student that attended the field trip to Cantigny Park. Martinez enjoyed walking around and discovering all the gardens. She saw many types of plants she liked. Her favorites from the garden were “the marigolds and the hostas.” Martinez loves plants and was delighted to go to this garden and learn more about them.
The trip to the Cantigny Park was a great experience for new horticulture students to see a preview of what the rest of the year will bring.
