The Blog

Students Learn About Plants in New Class

Botany is a new class at Nebraska Christian this year. I wanted to take the class because it provides me a great chance to explore all kinds of knowledge about plants. As part of the class, we go on field trips to know plants better in a real environment.

Mrs. Dee Flynn, Grace Wu, and Gladys Choi listen intently as Prairie Creek Vineyards owner Nicholas Ryan talks about tending vines.

On the first field trip, we went to Prairie Creek Vineyards north of Central City. The owner, Nicholas Ryan, led students around the vineyard and introduced a variety of knowledge about grape culture from planting to harvesting. In early October, we traveled to Griffith Prairie west of Marquette, where we learned about the importance of having a wide diversity of plants when managing and restoring prairie sites. After gaining general concepts about plants’ seeds, we spent an hour and a half in the field collecting seeds which we will grow in our greenhouse for use in restoration projects.

Experiences like these are essential for us to understand the life of plants. Mrs. Dee Flynn, the botany teacher, explained why she takes us on field trips: “These ‘immersion’ experiences are wonderful opportunities for us to take a look at botany as a career, using it to help protect the few remnants of our disappearing prairie.”

Our experiences are not only important but also interesting. As Hailee Broman said, “These trips were so fun. Hands-on learning experiences like these get me excited about botany and all the things we will do in the class. My favorite part was going out and collecting the prairie seeds to bring back to school and study. I would love to go back again.”

Above: Harry Nguyen and Morgan Schulze collect plants at Griffith Prairie.
Photos by Hailee Broman