For years, agriculture classes at Whitefish High School have been lauded by students who are on the verge of dropping out as well as students who are college-bound.  

The hands-on nature of the classes appeals to students and provides them with opportunities they don’t get in other, more traditional course work. 

I should have known that writing about a club at the Center for Sustainability and Entrepreneurship would be an empirical assignment. I’d only been in the greenhouse about two minutes before I was given scissors and a flat of radish microgreens, along with harvesting instructions. 

“We try to get as little dirt in the bin as possible. Cut them off there,” senior Charlotte Wallace said as she pointed to the bottom of the stems. “And then check them.”   

When I'd finished gathering all the greens from the flat, I thought my hands-on experience for the day would be over, but she cheerfully directed me to the rack where more tiny plants awaited my clean, sharp scissors and keen eye. 

Growing microgreens is about a 10-day process, from seeding and germination, to growing and harvesting.  

“The seeds need to be evenly spread otherwise they grow funny,” Wallace told me. “There are a lot of variables. Microgreens are kind of moody sometimes. They're easy to grow but they definitely react to things around them quite a bit.” 

She encouraged me to try one of the mini plants and said some of the radish microgreens have a little kick. She called them a snazzy sprinkle to add to savory food. 

While I toiled away on my second flat, the work crew grew from two, to a robust team of about a dozen students, each dedicated to a specific task. 

“Maybe you guys could help with the stickers while Brigid is packaging,” Wallace suggested to the newcomers. “Would you like to do that?” 

She left her station to demonstrate how to make the composable packages ready for delivery. I excused myself from the work and she thanked me for the visit. 

“It gives you a taste of why this whole program is so cool,” she said. “This is just a bunch of students getting to take a break from math homework.” 

BEFORE HE retired, Chris Bickford, Whitefish High School science teacher, started the program at the Center for Sustainability and Entrepreneurship that helped students grow and market microgreens as part of the regenerative agriculture class.  

Teacher Mark Casazza also helped with the formation of the business before he, too, left WHS. 

In the wake of the staff shortage, a trio of energetic seniors, Wallace, Witney Workman and Lauren Rossi, kept the business going as a club, enlisting help from classmates, friends and others interested in agriculture. 

“Lauren is the brains behind the scenes. I'm here, hands on,” Wallace said. “Witney has been doing this program for three years, so she is our base of knowledge.” 

Last year, as juniors, they learned what they needed to know to run the business. 

“We know how to manage our money, we know what the growing process is. We communicate with our businesses ourselves,” Wallace said. “We do everything.” 

The business is called 4th and Pine, a nod to the high school’s location on East Fourth Street and Pine Avenue. The business’s charming logo, a cow munching greens, was designed by a student.  

The students sell microgreens to a dozen local businesses, including The Farmers’ Stand, Third Street Market, Buffalo Cafe, Herb & Omni, and Swift Creek Cafe. 

“All the businesses we deal with are some of the nicest people,” Wallace said. “Honestly, they all deserve a gold star.” 

WHEN SHE learned Bickford and Casazza were leaving, Rossi said she went into panic mode. 

“I wasn’t sure what was going to happen to the regenerative agriculture class, but I knew I couldn’t just stand by and watch it disappear,” she said. “We decided that a club may be the most effective way to keep the business going and maintain the CSE itself.” 

Rossi said that without a dedicated class period to meet, the schedule for planting, harvesting and delivering is spaced out across the week in 30-minute intervals.  

“We went from having a 90-minute period to do all of this and have committed people, to then trying to keep this business, that’s been running since 2020, alive by making it into a club,” Wallace said. “We needed two staff members to make this happen.” 

Science teacher Annie Gustafson and Brigid Fray, stepped up to help. 

Fray began working with the club in January after she was hired as the facilities and grounds maintenance and operations specialist for the Center for Sustainability and Entrepreneurship, but Wallace simply calls Fray “the queen of the greens.” 

“It is such a cool thing for students to see how things grow, where the food comes from, how we keep it healthy, and we can integrate regenerative farming into our system,” Fray said. “The CSE is a great resource for the students and for the community.” 

Running a business as a club is a lot of work, even for three exemplary seniors. Since it’s a club, the students involved do not earn school credit although the commitment of time is substantial. 

“It's exhausting,” Wallace said. “We are here because we want this to still be here.” 

The senior trio had several brainstorming sessions about ways the business could continue. 

“My idea was to introduce the microgreens business as an internship and offer it through our school’s educational internship program,” Rossi said. “This way, students would have the dedicated class period to meet without needing to reintroduce a whole new class." 

Whitefish High School Principal Kerry Drown said the plan for the next school year is to have a student or a group of students continue to run the microgreens business as part of the school’s internship program. Students will have dedicated time each week for the work and will receive credit. 

"Kudos to these seniors for keeping that project alive and well,” Drown said. “It's called the Center for Sustainability and Entrepreneurship for a reason.” 

Drown said the purpose of the center is to get students to think like entrepreneurs and utilize the center’s resources. He said while the microgreen business is not one to make a giant profit, it gets students to think about the possibilities. 

“I’m 18 and I’m literally running a business,” Wallace said. “These are skills that encourage me to go to school for what I want.” 

After graduation, Wallace is considering studying soils science, sustainable food studies or agriculture education. Rossi is heading to college next year to study environmental science. 

“The work that can be done at the CSE is so special and it fosters communication and outreach to the whole community,” Rossi said. “I am stoked to see how the regenerative agriculture class comes back in its own way, and I hope nothing but the best for the next generation of microgreen team members.”  

Junior Ella Idleman and freshman Luca Gignoux represent hope for the future of the business. Gignoux is excited about agriculture and Idleman grew up on a farm in West Virginia. 

"Since coming here, we haven't had much of an opportunity to do our own gardening and growing so through microgreens and working out in the CSE, I can get my hands dirty and make a little more profit for the CSE,” she said.

 

    A package of 4th and Pine microgreens with a student-designed sticker. (Julie Engler/Whitefish Pilot)