Anaheim’s Magnolia High shows off blooming agriculture program

Since branching out last year, the campus garden at Anaheim’s Magnolia High School has blossomed into a small farm featuring dozens of varieties of produce – carrots, cauliflower, snap peas, three kinds of lettuce, turnipps, cucumbers and more – and young trees that will bear figs, pomegranates, citrus fruits, apricots and plums.

It’s all part of a broader vision for Magnolia’s agriculture program, and it was showcased Saturday at the Anaheim Union High School District’s “STEAM-a-palooza” event, focused on science, math and arts related classes and projects.

A student from Jefferson Elementary School checks out the Kiowa Blackberries that are being grown at the Magnolia AgriScience Center at Magnolia High School in Anaheim on Saturday, April 23, 2022. The center had a soft opening for the public during the annual STEAM-A-PALOOZA. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

Snow Peas are just one type of vegetable and fruit that are being grown at the Magnolia AgriScience Community Center in Anaheim on Saturday, April 23, 2022. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

Students attending the STEAM-A-PALOOZA at Magnolia High School take a tour of the farm at the Magnolia AgriScience Community Center in Anaheim on Saturday, April 23, 2022. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

Blanca Islas, center, and Carlos Macias, right, both of Anaheim, learn about washing and disinfecting fruits and vegetables from Jackie Lemus, left, of Cal State Fullerton at the Magnolia AgriScience Community Center during the STEAM-A-PALOOZA held at Magnolia High School in Anaheim on Saturday, April 23, 2022. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

Fruits and vegetables are washed in a solution during a workshop at the Magnolia Agriscience Community Center during the STEAM-A-PALOOZA at Magnolia High School in Anaheim on Saturday, April 23, 2022. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

Fruits and vegetable are being grown at the Magnolia AgriScience Community Center at Magnolia High School in Anaheim on Saturday, April 23, 2022. Students and parents were welcome to tour the farm during the STEAM-A-PALOOZA at Magnolia High School. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

Kiowa Blackberries being grown at the Magnolia AgriScience Community Center at Magnolia High School in Anaheim on Saturday, April 23, 2022. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

Students from John Marshall Elementary School tour the farm at the Magnolia AgriScience Community Center during the STEAM-A-PALOOZA at Magnolia High School in Anaheim on Saturday, April 23, 2022. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

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The Magnolia campus had a small garden, but it’s been expanded in size and the variety of foods grown, and it’s being used to teach students about regenerative agriculture, how pollination works and other science lessons. Magnolia High biology teacher Sabina Giakoumis, who oversees the ag program, said in addition to her school, students from Katella High and South and Dale junior high schools come to the farm for learning labs created in cooperation with UC Irvine.

Some produce is almost ready to harvest, and this summer Giakoumis said they’ll test out supplying salad bar items for the district’s summer school sites, with the hope of making the ag program a regular source of students’ nourishment.

Giakoumis said as the agriculture program adds more facets, it will become a resource for the community that surrounds the campus, with plans for a farm stand and possibly cooking classes.

“It is a community space for not just for students, not just for farmers, not just teachers, not just parents,” she said, “it is a community space for everyone to come and learn about this idea of healthy regenerative farming.”

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