Authentic Learning Takes Root at Perry Central

“Hey Payton, I had a salad today. It was great!” 

It’s not the kind of feedback most high school seniors are after. But Payton Park isn’t just another student eating lunch with her friends at Perry Central Jr.-Sr. High School. She helped grow it. 

The lettuce served across the district’s PK-12 campus travels only a few steps from greenhouse to cafeteria, grown by students through Perry Central Organics. But something much bigger is taking root.

Students are solving production problems, managing orders, communicating with customers, and discovering just how much they can do when the work—and the learning—are real. 

As part of CELL’s 25th anniversary, the Celebrate Your School Awards recognize schools across Indiana that are redefining what learning looks like for students. Perry Central earned the honor for pushing the possibilities of work-based learning while feeding the school and its community along the way.

Now the most important thing growing is students’ confidence in what they can do. 

Start With What You Have

Perry Central Organics began with a grow tower in agriculture teacher Carrie Guillaume’s classroom that could hold about 10 plants. 

Then came an early partnership with Anu™, an Indiana-based ag-tech startup that builds automated indoor aeroponic towers. Perry Central was one of the first schools to house the appliance. Functioning like a “Keurig for plants,” the technology gave students a chance to experiment with growing lettuce and other crops without soil. 

From there, the project kept expanding. 

The school secured grants to update its aging greenhouse and add several hydroponic systems. Students assembled the equipment, learning how each system worked and determining which methods were worth investing in. 

“We kept thinking, ‘How do we make this bigger and better?’” Guillaume said. “So, we just went for it.”

That meant giving students not just a crop to manage, but a business to run. 

Purdue Extension helped Perry Central bring the work from the greenhouse into the cafeteria, opening the door for students to sell the lettuce and feed their classmates. Now a greenhouse that frequently sat idle except for the occasional classroom project or annual FFA seedling sale is in use every day of the year. 

“We kept thinking, ‘How do we make this bigger and better?’ So, we just went for it.” - Carrie Guillaume, Agriculture Teacher, Perry Central Jr.-Sr. High School

When the Classroom Gets Real

For students in Perry Central’s agriculture science pathway, the greenhouse is where classwork starts looking a lot like real work. 

Students monitor nutrients, diagnose plant diseases, deal with pests, and troubleshoot systems when something goes wrong. The answers aren’t waiting at the back of a textbook. Students must figure things out as they go. 

“What I’ve learned most is through trial and error,” Park said. “Just jumping in to try new things. If they don’t work, then try something different.” 

The learning is so advanced that the University of Evansville invited Perry Central students to teach others how to use the equipment. And the work doesn’t stop when the school day does. Students maintain the greenhouse during holidays and breaks while experimenting with different vegetables and fertilizers on their own.

But growing a healthy crop is only half the assignment. 

Students also must produce enough lettuce to meet customer demand, set prices that work for client budgets, and track revenue and expenses.

For Park, that means adults now come directly to her. The cafeteria director emails about orders. The school secretary checks on invoices. Community partners contact her about sales. 

“She’s the one basically running the business,” Guillaume said. “It’s real life.” 

Growth Beyond the Greenhouse

Perry Central Organics isn’t just expanding what students can do today. It’s expanding what they envision themselves doing in the future. 

“I grew up on a family farm, so I see that traditional side of agriculture,” Park said. “Now I’m able to see the more sustainable, organic part of the business, and it’s helped me know what I want to do in the future.” 

She plans to study agronomy, soil science, or plant science in college—building on her family’s agricultural roots while advancing the next generation of farming. 

Alongside the technical know-how, students are building the career-ready skills that come from doing real work. 

Students presented the Perry Central Organics business plan at an Indiana FFA contest. They stood before a panel of judges fielding challenging questions on the operation and emerged on top, winning the competition.

Even a high-profile visit from Indiana Governor Mike Braun and his staff wasn’t enough to rattle Perry Central’s newest crop of young professionals.

“Two years ago, I would have been shaking trying to talk to him,” Park said. “But now I’m fine. We’ve done so many presentations that it’s become natural to just stand up and be a leader and talk to whoever wants to hear about it.” 

Breaking New Ground

What has taken shape inside the greenhouse is changing what school leaders believe can happen beyond it.

“Adult minds are often what limits what kids can do,” Jody French, director of CTE and work-based learning, said. “Kids can do anything that you ask of them. They’ll rise to any occasion and do it really well.” 

The proof is all around Perry Central. Students weld products for local manufacturers. Design shelving units for wholesalers. Assist with quality control and tool design. And they grow food to feed their community.

Teachers provide the guidance, but increasingly, students take the lead. 

“Our teachers do a lot, but they are really just there to mentor,” French said. “After it gets going, the kids take it and run with it.” 

The school’s commitment to authentic learning experiences has other organizations in the area taking notice. 

Perry County Grows, a local economic and wellness initiative, has become an Organics customer, distributing the student-grown lettuce across the community. Local companies are hiring Perry Central students. And now businesses are coming to the school with ideas of their own. 

“They are starting to be like, ‘Could Perry Central do that? Could your students do something like that?’” French said. “They are buying in that our kids can do lots of different things. It’s really brought our community together.” 

Perry Central plans to build on that momentum. The school has 14 career pathways, and French is looking for ways to create more opportunities for students to do work that extends across disciplines and beyond the classroom. 

“I think we’re starting to change high school because we used to teach in silos. This just shows that we don’t have to teach that way,” French said, “The skills they’re developing are important across pathways. Giving students a model for what that looks like is really powerful. They can do lots of things after they leave.” 

“Adult minds are often what limits what kids can do. Kids can do anything that you ask of them. They’ll rise to any occasion and do it really well.” - Jody French, Director of CTE and Work-Based Learning, Perry Central Jr.-Sr. High School

Just Keep Growing

French and Guillaume don’t evaluate Perry Central Organics by how big the greenhouse becomes or how much lettuce students sell. Their measure of success is how much students gain—technically, professionally, and in their confidence to take on what comes next. 

Getting there hasn’t been perfect. But the team at Perry Central was willing to start with what they had, try something new, and create the conditions for students to learn along the way. French says that is the blueprint for building authentic learning experiences with students, not simply for them.

“Anything is possible,” French said. “Have a dream and don’t stop growing it. Start small and keep going. Get the kids involved, and they’re the ones that help move it forward.”