Photo Essay: Campus Greenery Club Empowers Students with Lancaster Specialty – Farming

By Logan Bare ‘27, Makai Pagan ‘27, and Max Pepe ‘27

When students think of their school clubs, most students picture a book club or an art club and mathematics club, but this club at Conestoga Valley High School focuses on farming. Campus Greenery is where everyone is included, from China to India and Pakistan, and anyone from book worms to artists and math nerds. Everyone is able to do their part, whether seeding, transporting, harvesting, or even farm maintenance and data collection. It’s a lot of work, but this diverse group of students is willing to do it with heart and teamwork. 

The farm began in 2024 when it was all made possible by a grant from the Conestoga Valley Education Foundation (CVEF) which funded the purchase of their Freight Farm. The goal was to create an inclusive, skills based learning environment where students could engage in authentic cross curricular work experiences from planting and maintenance to sales and customer service while building essential soft skills like teamwork, communication and responsibility. 

Since the launch of the farm, well over 200 students have contributed to the operation of the Campus Greenery, with some working semi-regularly or even weekly as part of their coursework or internships. Advisor Jay Grisafi recently launched the Campus Greenery Business Club to provide students with even more real-world experience.

Thu Trinh (9) is a dedicated worker in the farm. In this stage, it is harvesting time for these students so they work together to gather the plants for harvest.
Thu (front) and Selvin Trigueros (10) (back left) work together to complete the lettuce order of a staff member at the school, which is one of the many tasks they do on the farm at Conestoga Valley.
One of the more important steps is the cleaning after harvesting, sanitizing the black foam parts, and removing any roots that stayed on the foam. This really tests their hard work.
Jizelle Gadson (9) (left) and Samia Pratt (9) (right) are responsible together for the transporting of the plants going under the table.
“Seeing what all has been accomplished, the club is really true to its word; it includes just about everyone with all different talents and it’s amazing to see,” said Sam Matonti (12), who is a member of the Campus Greenery Business Club.
The unity in this picture shows students are willing to work together and complete any task thrown at them.
This picture shows Michael Burgos (far left) Jizelle (middle) and Samia (right) all working on the transportation of the plants.