Ashley Freitas
STAFF WRITER
It’s the clear building that looks like a house near the new 1850 building. Both Karen Phil, a former professor at Las Positas College, and Nan Ho, a Biology professor at LPC, wanted the creation of the new science building and green house. Yes, the campus does already have one green house near the 800 building but this one is smaller, about 20 by 16 feet, and is closer to the science labs.
The green house near the 1850 building was part of the new additions that were created for the campus with the money that was granted to them by the Measure B funding. They are not just for show though, the uses of the green houses are for the teaching of students by giving them quick access to different specimens that they can study.
“It’s basically to have a living specimen to go in and study them,” Gerry Gire, the Science Education Technician on campus, said.
This in turn can help students with their studies without the hassle of having to go to many different locations just to find the specimen they were looking for, and then having to bring it back to the campus.
“It is used for the botany and biology lab programs so we can actually take specimens in, and I actually have about fifty different plant types in the green house,” Gire said. “We took some in recently for our class on spines, prickles and thorns. We had to try to figure out which plants had which.”
The green house is equipped with many new gadgets that help keep the specimens in it healthy and happy. There is a section in the roof that can lift up and help let air in, along with a fan that can blow air across the whole building, and when matched with the panel that drips water on the other side creates something similar to a swamp cooler to quickly cool the green house down.
Then there is the shade cover that is all electronic that helps block the incoming light so the plants do not burn, they even have tables with hoses that warm water can run through to heat them up so the plants don’t freeze.
With just a few years of being up and running, the new green house seems to be doing well and will continue to be a source of hands-on learning for students in the years to come.
