They started the program and have nurtured it like a tiny seedling, watching it take root and grow. In Camden, a federal grant originally paid for the hands-on math and science program, and soon schools in the suburbs asked to participate. Devlin and Rowe-Jewett spend three days a week visiting schools with Grow Labs. They visit each school for about an hour every two weeks. And every school adds its own touch.
Some schools run experiments on how plants react to different kinds of fertilizers.
Some have grown gourds and made them into musical instruments, one school sewed a Grow Lab quilt, and one father wrote a poem about how much his son loved his plant from the Grow Lab and missed it after it was harvested. The program's learning possibilities are endless, Devlin said. Rowe-Jewett is working for NASA writing a curriculum for hydroponics in space and has a couple of schools piloting the program. Originally, the Camden schools received the labs with the federal grant money. Monday morning was salad day at St. Rose, with about 50 parents turning out to celebrate their children's bounty.