Building Better Schools: Local partnership helps students bloom into a career

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - A partnership between Sylvania Schools and Toledo Memorial Park is helping students bloom into a career by gaining real world experience before heading off to college.

Mak Johnson is a Northview High School senior who loves getting her hands dirty.

“I’ve been pulling a lot of weeds, I’ve been trimming bushes, I get to drive the little carts around and that’s cool,” said Johnson. “But yeah, just a lot of hands-on stuff and then I was digging around in a bed to plant some daisies, so we haven’t finish that yet but that’s a project we’re working on.”

Johnson is a Sylvania Schools Horticulture Intern at Toledo Memorial Park.

“She’s a hands in the dirt kind of person, so yeah she’s been out planting flowers, trimming trees,” said Jeff Clegg, President and CEO of Toledo Memorial Park. “I’ll see her outside my office trimming the bushes outside of my office so I know she’s working.”

Clegg says the partnership with Sylvania Schools has been going on for decades.

“Thousands of trees, we plant thousands of flowers every year, and as you can see behind me, there’s a lot of beautiful plantings, and we really need people to help us especially in the summer time,” said Clegg.

The two-year program allows Johnson to take core classes at Northview while taking horticulture at Southview. Students earn state certification and can also earn up to 13 college credits through the program.

“I’ve always liked plants and nature and it’s just something that I’ve always been drawn to,” said Johnson. “And so horticulture, my mom originally introduced me to it and we were talking about career tech and she thought that this would be something that’s up my alley.”

Johnson will take what she learns to Bowling Green State University next fall where she will study Environmental Science.

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