Greenhouse blossoms into $1M learning facility

What started five years ago as an idea to replace a dilapidated greenhouse at Whitefish High School has developed into a far more extensive project that is being touted as a learning tool that will benefit the entire school district.

The Whitefish School Board voted unanimously April 10 to move forward with the Center for Applied Sustainability. A contract with Montana Creative architecture + design was approved for design of the estimated $1.08 million facility. The entire project is to be paid for with privately donated funds.

About a year ago, students set out to raise $35,000 to build a new greenhouse under the guidance of science teacher Eric Sawtelle and English teacher Nikki Reed. The students reached that goal and those funds were matched by Whitefish resident Richard Atkinson, who mentored students on their fundraising efforts.

With $70,000 secured, the school started looking at their options.

“We looked at what we could possible do with a greenhouse of this scale,” said Whitefish School District Superintendent Heather Davis Schmidt.

A planning team approached Montana Creative, who donated some sketches and helped with the initial permit process.

The group soon realized $70,000 wasn’t quite enough money to do what was required with city code in regards to handicap access and other issues, Davis Schmidt explained.

So the greenhouse idea was taken to the local philanthropic community.

“One of the people they pitched to said it was a great idea, that it could be more than a greenhouse, and to think much broader,” David Schmidt said.

“We’ve expanded the concept from something that’s just for the high school to something that’s for the entire district.”

The proposed center would take up about 3 acres of open space on the north side of the school. Preliminary designs show an outdoor classroom space, an experimental forest zone, a wetland and native plant area, a vegetable garden, and the greenhouse and learning center.

The center is intended to be used for classes and could also be used to grow food for the school lunch program.

A variety of cutting-edge energy systems will power the entire facility. The greenhouse will be heated with a form of annualized geosolar. A geothermal heat pump will provide heat for the classroom space, and solar energy will power the electrical demand.

The district hopes to generate enough energy to earn some energy credits.

“A major component is for the center to be a net-zero facility,” Davis Schmidt said. “We’re taking a lot of time to design the systems to be just that.”

According to Davis Schmidt, the center fits well into the instructional vision for the district by offering opportunities to learn about agriculture, energy, natural resources and business.

Along with the $70,000 raised by students, the district already has a private investment of $40,000 to fund the investigation phase. Another $100,000 donation is secured for the design phase. The district will then look to the philanthropic community for the remainder of the funding.

If fundraising goes as anticipated, the center could open by Earth Day in April of 2017.