South High teacher Mrs. Nicole Schumacher is a very busy teacher when it comes to running the Botany program at South. Over the course of the school year, she constantly works on making the school grounds look better with a touch of horticulture, as well as working with the community and special programs. The goal of all of this is to make the South High population be a very leading figure with flower and plant-based advancements all around Sheboygan.

During the fall, some of the main goals of Botany’s class and Schumacher are to maintain the courtyard and the pond that is inside of it. This is done by pulling weeds, draining the pond, and collecting garbage around the area. This is mostly done by students during class time, however, Mrs. Schumacher does a lot of work on her own free time with the help of some garden workers. Other than maintaining the courtyard in the middle of our school, the botany team also works on keeping the school grounds cleaner and looking neat, with areas including the football field, the ticket booth area, and the small plots in the front of the commons and near the main office. All of this is done so that South High can look more professional and well-kept.

During spring, Schumacher and the botany teamwork with a lot of different places and people to help other areas as well as keeping South High looking professional. One of the places that the botany team will work with is the non-profit organization, Meals on Wheels, to help grow vegetables for them and for those in need. The botany team will also be working with Nourish, which is an educational urban farm and center, which provides healthy, Sheboygan grown food to ensure that the people of Sheboygan are eating healthy. As a team, we help Nourish both in our classrooms, as well as at their own land plot, making an educational experience for the class as well as doing good in the community. Also off of our school campus, the team helps landscape at Wildwood Softball Complex. Which helps our softball teams and areas stay in pristine condition. While doing a lot of work off-campus and with many different organizations, Schumacher and the botany team also work around the school during the spring. During spring at South, the team plants flowers and other types of plants in the garden beds, in the courtyard and around the school, and travel to Roosevelt Park to clean up the area. These types of actions are taken in order to make South High look more appealing to be around, come to, and even to enroll in because of the creation of a very positive image. Something Schumacher is going to try to do this year is to incorporate compost building-wide in order to make the soils that we have at South High, richer and fertile to ensure plant success during summer.

Overall, the South High Botany Team as well as the advisor and teacher, Mrs. Schumacher, contribute a lot of hard work as well as brainpower to our outstanding areas that we have in Sheboygan, and at the school to ensure a brighter and cleaner community.