Our flagship program. Starting in 2013, students at Cabarrus Youth Development Center have operated a small farm including a 1,000 square foot aquaponics greenhouse, 24 raised bed gardens, and an aeration windmill-powered sludge pond that creates organic fertilizer.

The aquaponics greenhouse produces 55 heads of lettuce per week that is used each Saturday to provide fresh salads to the students and staff. The students also raise 100 pounds of tilapia each year that is harvested and prepared with help from local chefs.

In 2019, Garinger High School upgraded to a new Aquaponics Lab after 3 years of successful aquaponics learning in an old renovated greenhouse. The Horticulture I & II classes operate the system that produces 132 heads of lettuce each week and 60 pounds of fresh tilapia every 6 weeks. The Aquaponics Lab is also utilized by Earth and Environmental Science, Biology, Math, Marketing, and Culinary classes. Each year, the students harvest over 100 pounds of channel catfish and host a fish fry fundraiser to sustain the program and to connect to the community.

Webb Street School is a public separate school that prepares special needs students for life after school. The students and staff run an aquaponics business within the school that sells 168 heads of premium lettuce to Webb Custom Kitchen in Gastonia, NC. Every 6 weeks, the school harvests 60 pounds of tilapia that are processed and frozen for an annual fish fry event.

Since 2015, Myers Park High School has operated a 30′ x 60′ Aquaponics Lab that produces between 100-150 heads of lettuce per week and 200 pounds of fish per year. The anchor of the program is the Culinary CTE classes that utilize the aquaponics system to sell fresh lettuce and salad greens to Myers Park Country Club and also to staff and students. In addition, the Greenhouse Biology classes assist with water chemistry, plant production, and standard operating procedures.

Oakhurst STEAM Academy is the first elementary school to implement our classroom aquaponics system and K-5 Aquaponics Curriculum. Since 2017, they have produced dozens of pounds of fresh leafy greens while learning the basics of water chemistry, cropping schedules, and animal husbandry. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools supports the program by bringing in local chefs to host tasting events for the students where they learn how to prepare delicious fresh meals.

Pine Lake Preparatory utilizes our classroom aquaponics system to produce 18 heads of lettuce every two weeks that students take home to their families. The anchor of the program is the Aquaponics Club consisting of middle and high school students that meet every two weeks to plant, harvest, create branding/sales strategies, t-shirt designs, and more. The daily maintenance is handled by the club members who rotate responsibilities.

In addition, the K-5 students at the school learn about aquaponics through our K-5 Aquaponics Curriculum.

Walter G. Byers School is the first 100 Gardens partner to install an Aquaponics Lab into its school cafeteria. The system is utilized by all grade levels K-8 using our K-5 Aquaponics Curriculum and STEM lesson plans developed by 100 Gardens and educators at Walter G. Byers School. See Walter G. Byers School Principal Anthony Calloway on WCCB Charlotte’s Wilson’s World.

Historic West Charlotte High School installed a 100 Gardens Classroom Aquaponics System in its science building in the fall of 2018. The funding was provided by a Charlotte Hornets grant written by teacher Kyle Ward. The system is maintained by students in the Aquaponics Club that meet every Friday.

Our first commercial-scale Aquaponics Lab is a collaborative effort between the Berkshire Education and Correction Services and 100 Gardens. Located at the Berkshire County Sheriff’s Office and House of Corrections, the Aquaponics Lab provides vocational training to inmates and provides over 1,000 heads of fresh lettuce every week to the facility cafeteria and 500 pounds of fresh fish every six weeks. In addition to vocational training, inmates pursuing their high school diplomas also utilize our high school aquaponics curriculum to enhance their STEM learning.