Some students at Saline High School will get a chance to develop their green thumbs this school year.

Science teacher Dave Mellor is leading effort to build and use a greenhouse at the high school to teach students about plants and farming, supply the school with food and flowers, and even power it with green energy if possible.

Volunteers will build it this fall and by winter students will be getting hands-on lessons in plant and agricultural science. Mellor and Assistant Superintendent Steve Laatsch are also vying for a Pepsi Refresh grant to provide wind power for the greenhouse. Winning that that will require the support of the community in the form of website votes.

Science teacher Dave Mellor hopes the greenhouse will produce flowers that can be used as decorations around the school, as well as food.

The greenhouse will offer learning opportunities not only for Saline students, but also for students across Washtenaw County through the South and West Washtenaw Consortium. The consortium allows high school students from Chelsea, Dexter, Manchester and Milan to take elective courses in trade skills offered at other high schools. For example, students from Dexter and Chelsea are bused to Saline High School for the agricultural science program. The goal of the SWWC is to prepare students for entry-level positions and post-secondary training in a variety of trade skills, such as culinary arts and cosmetology.

Students in the agricultural science program can take any of the classes offered as an elective. After graduating, many of the students get two- or four-year degrees in agriculture management and science, Mellor said.

Mellor, who has taught classes in biology, botany, agricultural science and earth science at the high school for 15 years, said the greenhouse will also help supply the high school with some of its necessities. “We’ll be growing flowers and things for around the campus,” he said. Some of those flowers could be use for decorating for the school’s graduation ceremony, for example.

The greenhouse will also benefit The Hive, a restaurant at Saline High School. Students in the culinary arts program, also a part of the SWWC, staff The Hive. They serve lunch to teachers and members of the public, and coffee to students and teachers in the morning. Students cook food, serve patrons, and bus tables for class credit.

Mellor already grows a few herbs for The Hive at the school, but the greenhouse will greatly expand what he and the students can grow for the restaurant. Eventually they might also be able to grow things for the school cafeteria he said.

Mellor also plans for the greenhouse to be self-sustaining, so that it’s not a budget drain. "So part of the greenhouse is going to be used to raise plants for a spring plant sale. And the profits from that will go to the running of the greenhouse," Mellor said.

Right now, “ it’s not costing the school anything to put this greenhouse up. It’s all grant money and donations,” Mellor said.

Saline High School PTO president Ann Dowling said the organization started saving money for the greenhouse four years ago and was able to donate $12,000.

Dowling thinks of the greenhouse as a kind of “curriculum enhancement program” that could also give students with special needs and nearby Harvest Elementary students hands-on learning in science and agriculture. Mellor said he hopes to start a mentorship program to pair high school with elementary students at the greenhouse.

Mellor and Steve Laatsch, Saline’s assistant superintendent for instructional services, are teaming compete for a Pepsi Refresh Grant of $50,000 to make use of green energy for the greenhouse. The grant could pay for a wind turbine, equipment needed to turn leftover cafeteria oil into biodiesel, and gutters to catch rainwater.

Saline schools already won a Pepsi Refresh Grant of $25,000 in July to provide the national science, math and technology program Project Lead the Way to its seventh-grade students.

Pepsi selects 1,000 ideas to be voted on each month, in categories such as “Food and Shelter,” “Arts and Culture,” “Neighborhoods,” and “Education.” Pepsi picks 32 winners a month to receive $5,000, $25,000, $50,000, or $250,000. The winners are chosen if their ideas are voted as most popular on Pepsi’s website.