New Jersey Middle School Converts Campus Into Living Lab
The campus now features a greenhouse, food forest, pollinator garden, and a tree grown from seeds that circled the moon.
Students learn how to be global stewards by partnering with Sustainable Jersey for Schools to plant a food forest and strengthen community food security.
Image Courtesy NJEAHowell Township Middle School South in Monmouth County has turned its grounds into an outdoor learning space. The campus now features a greenhouse, food forest, pollinator garden, and a tree grown from seeds that circled the moon. Grants from the NJEA Frederick L. Hipp Foundation for Excellence in Education, Sustainable Jersey, and FirstEnergy paid for these changes.
A NASA Artemis I Moon Tree sapling grows on campus. It's one of just a few hundred given out across the United States. The sweet gum tree sprouted from seeds that flew around the moon aboard the Artemis I mission.
Students planted more than 30 fruit trees near the Moon Tree through a Sustainable Jersey grant that FirstEnergy funded. Apple, pear, plum, and peach trees now thrive there. Kids tend the food forest throughout the year and give fresh produce to local food pantries. The Howell Green Team worked with the Shade Tree Commission to make this happen.
Josh Langenberger teaches environmental science. He got $5,000 from the Hipp Foundation for Excellence in Education to build a greenhouse on campus. The Parent Teacher Organization helped pay for it too. Students now use this space all year to try plant propagation, study seasonal crop cycles, and practice composting.
"The greenhouse is not just a structure, it's a living classroom that cultivates curiosity and stewardship in every season," said Langenberger, according to NJEA.
Mason Weiss built a pollinator garden as his Eagle Scout project. He was a student at the school before. The garden contains milkweed, flowering plants, and herbs to help native pollinators. It's also a certified butterfly waystation.
Langenberger got another Hipp Foundation grant in April 2025. This one is called Seed to Sanctuary. It will expand the pollinator gardens. Andy Valdes works as a Monmouth County master gardener, and Lisa Doud chairs the Howell Green Team. Both have helped get more grant money.
The campus started a campaign in 2025 to plant 10,000 trees across the grounds. Danielle Gianelos teaches at the school and wrote the Sustainable Jersey for Schools grant that funded this work. Steve Milkowski leads the Eco-Action Club that's doing the planting.
