by Aozora Ito, Agnes Chang and Natalie Arreola, Staff Writers
On Wednesday March 2nd, the ceramics class planted succulents, otherwise known as “fat” plants that are thicker and more drought resistant, in the ceramics terrariums they’ve been working on since last semester.
In the previous year, JoAnna Jones, the ceramics teacher here at Fountain Valley High School, came up with a creative idea of building coil projects and succulent orders. The ceramics terrariums, which the students started working on last semester, was used to plant succulents during lunch.
“I wanted them to have a project that they can understand what they can do. Since we’re in a drought tolerant world, this is a great way to go for them to understand,” said Jones.
While she was on maternity leave, Jones got the idea for succulents while going on a walk with her baby. In the beginning of the school year, she was able to get a good deal from Succulent Source, the company she purchased the succulents from. She had been planning this project for three months, but the students have been working on the ceramics terrariums for only around two weeks.
Jones said her goal was to have her students understand the bigger picture of what they’re building. Through Jones’ classes, students have learned they can make a big difference through planting these small succulents.
“Hopefully they realize that there’s a bigger science element there,” said Jones.
Many students in the ceramics class enjoyed working on this long-term succulent project throughout the months.
Joseph Liu (‘17), a student who was working on this project, said, “I think it’s a really interesting experience. It’s really cool how you’re able to create something, plant and make it useful.”
Through this opportunity, students could make a ceramic pot whichever way they wanted to and freely express their artistic abilities.
“I like how we got to make our own pots to put in the plants and since the size didn’t matter, you had to plan if you wanted to hang it up or not, so it was nice to see our options,” said Lena Tran (‘17).
Jones was able to express her idea to her students that, over time, the succulents will grow into a great plant, and this project was a way for the students to see that for themselves.
Using this project, Jones hopes the students understand that ceramics isn’t just a class that has to be taken during high school to fill a one year requirement, but a class that is useful for all areas of life.
“Usually kids take ceramics because it’s a requirement. I want them to sometimes understand that you can do something useful or there’s something bigger from that,” Jones said.
