Partnership Takes Root at CAST Lead

What started as an idea from a group of CAST Lead students is taking root in a new way.

Students, families, school staff, and H-E-B Partners recently came together at CAST Lead High School to begin building a new greenhouse that will transform an underused outdoor space into a hands-on learning environment for students. The project grew out of CAST Lead’s student-led Garden Club, whose members first envisioned creating a community garden at their school.

“The idea was presented by our community garden members here at CAST Lead, so this is all student-led—student ideas,” said Garden Club sponsor and CAST Lead teacher Lucas Lovelace. “We came up with the idea first for a community garden, and then it became a greenhouse sponsored by H-E-B. It’s pretty phenomenal to see it come to life today.”

H-E-B’s support will allow students to grow plants throughout the year while creating new opportunities to learn about science, sustainability, agriculture, and where food comes from.

“At H-E-B Environmental Affairs, one of the efforts we support is environmental education and nature access,” said Lainey Riebesehl, Environmental Affairs Manager at H-E-B. “When Mr. Lovelace told us that his Garden Club was going to be building a greenhouse so he could educate students about growing plants year-round, there was no question that we wanted to support this.”

“We hope that, for today and years to come, students are growing in their interest and knowledge of what it takes to feed Texans,” she added.

For CAST Lead Principal Erica Jackson, the greenhouse represents more than a new structure on campus. It creates another place where students can connect what they learn in school with real-world experiences.

“H-E-B’s support of our greenhouse and garden project is going to help us transform an underutilized outdoor space into an innovative learning environment where students can apply science, explore agribusiness and sustainability, develop entrepreneurial skills, and build a stronger connection to our community,” Jackson said. “At CAST Lead, we believe powerful learning happens beyond the classroom.”

Students have already begun imagining where the project could lead. Junior Taylor Ortiz said Garden Club members have grown tomatoes, fruit, and watermelon and have experimented with sharing what they harvest with fellow students.

“We’ll try donating what we grow to kids here who need it,” Ortiz said. “It’s kind of like our own little food pantry idea, so people who need it can come and get it.”

But on build day, students were also seeing another kind of growth. For sophomore, and Garden Club Vice President, Kimora Hamic, working alongside H-E-B Partners and members of the CAST Lead community demonstrated how a student idea can bring people together.

“It brings tons of people together,” Hamic said. “We get to meet new people, we get to meet H-E-B Partners, we get to meet new kids. It brings the community together.”

That experience is also helping Hamic see herself differently as a leader.

“It’s helped me build my leadership skills a lot. I’m actually learning how to lead people, which I didn’t know before,” she said. “I’m learning how to help people and bring people together.”

As the greenhouse takes shape, so does a larger vision for what began as a student club: a place for learning, service, partnership, and community that students themselves helped create.

“I do, of course, love gardening. I love planting. I love seeing my plants grow,” Hamic said. “But most of all, I love seeing people come together. I want to see the community grow more, and I want this to be the beginning of something new.”

For Jackson, that is what partnership with H-E-B has made possible: taking an idea from students and giving it room to grow.

“With partners like H-E-B, we can turn a vision into a space where students learn by doing, grow through opportunity, and lead with purpose,” Jackson said.