By Christine Garcia
At Fountain Valley High School (FVHS), most students know Joe Pendergrass as the media tech specialist or the “textbook guy.” But, when you step into his office, it becomes clear that there’s more to Pendergrass’ personality. His room is alive with small creatures; from bins crawling with isopods and lizards to tanks with thriving ecosystems, Pendergrass has it all.
“Watching a life come to life from nothing is pretty exciting,” Pendergrass said.
Pendergrass cares for isopods (both rollie pollies and pill bugs), guppies, gold fish, koi Fish and dubia roaches. He is also growing dragon fruit through aquaponics—a system of growing plants in water used to cultivate plants—which is notoriously known to be challenging to cultivate in a tank. The reason for keeping these animals is for the yearly science laboratory dissections that help save the science department save money per year.
According to Pendergrass, science isn’t just something to read about in textbooks. He encourages people to learn through hands-on experiences. After he discovered that traditional methods of learning didn’t work for him because of his ADHD, he began to immerse himself through real-life expertise. He grew his interest in permaculture by researching on what he calls “YouTube University.” Over time, he began teaching himself about self-sustaining systems.
“Just because I’m not ‘book smart’ doesn’t mean I’m not smart … My ADHD mind always lets me dive really deep into things that interest me,” Pendergrass said. “So at different times, I’ve learned water filtration, aquaponics, hydroponics, bioponics and then off to permaculture.”
The heart of Pendergrass’ philosophy is letting life take care of itself. He proudly showed off his self-sustaining tanks and terrariums.
“Permaculture is basically the world taking care of itself. You leave it alone. So I love going back to that,” Pendergrass said.
Outside of FVHS, Pendergrass is very passionate about his faith, even working towards a Master’s in Theology. He teaches at two churches, and he is involved in recovery ministries at one of them. For him, faith and science are not different from one another—he sees the natural world as an intricate system designed with care by God.
“Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior … He’s been my strength … I’m a better person behind Christ,” Pendergrass said. “Through biblical knowledge, you can see how the world takes care of itself … [Jesus is] an engineer, designer … [who] had all these things take care of themselves. All we have to do is sit back and let him do His thing.”
What truly makes Pendergrass special is his character. Students who talk to him quickly realize that he’s full of fun facts, whether it’s about the different types of isopods or the habitat of each animal he owns. He lights up when he gets to explain the science of it all and his enthusiasm is contagious, making him one of the most unique staff members of FVHS.
