CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY - Impact of Mastery High School’s New Classroom Extends Beyond its Walls
Classroom Contains Hydroponics Lab Where Students Will Help Grow Food That Will Feed Others
By JANEL "JAYCEE" MILLER
May 6, 2025
CAMDEN – The high school biology curriculum has changed significantly from what Charles Cooper said he was taught roughly 15 years ago.
“It was pretty much plants, matter and fossils,” Cooper, who is on the verge of finishing the Mastery Charter School’s teaching residency program, told TAPinto Camden. “We never even expanded or talked about growing, farming, or anything of that sort.“
Cooper said a new classroom within Mastery High School of Camden that includes a hydroponics lab, propagation racks for breeding specimens and vertical hydroponic farms for growing plants in sand, gravel, or liquid will be his workspace in the 2025-26 school year and will expand on the ‘that sort.’ The classroom and its components, which also include a double sink, moisture-resistant ceiling tiles, new lighting fixtures, prep tables and workstations, were unveiled to the public during a ribbon cutting on Monday.
The curriculum taught in the classroom and lab will be Agricultural Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (AgSTEM)-based. Courses include “What is Hydroponics?”, “The pH of Water,” “What is Harvesting?” and “Completing the Life Cycle with Composting,” a Mastery Charter School official said.
The classroom cost approximately $1 million and was funded by a Feeding America grant awarded to the Camden Dream Center, according to Lavinia Awosanya, the chief development officer for South Jersey Food Bank.
The impact of the new space will be felt far beyond the classroom, Keith Davis, president and CEO of the Camden Dream Center, said.
“Each of those farms produces up to 30 pounds of vegetables a month. We have 280 pods in each farm, and we have seven farms. Do the math, and you will find that we are producing a huge amount of food in this environment every month that will supply this community,” Davis said. In addition, “the science, the technology, the engineering and the mathematics (students) who will learn as a result of this is going to be so profound, it also will tie them to post-secondary careers for jobs that is beyond your traditional agriculture.”
Ibrahim Branham, CEO of IJB Electric, a company that helped construct the classroom and lab, noted it will also help show students other skills needed for a lifetime, such as reducing energy consumption and becoming good stewards of the environment.
“Today is a great day for the city of Camden and for the future of students here,” Branham added. “I'm excited.”
Photos:
Charles Cooper (second from right), who will teach courses in Mastery High School of Camden's new classroom during the 2025-26 school year, talks about the project with Lavinia Awosanya, the chief development officer for South Jersey Food Bank. (Photo Credit: Janel “Jaycee” Miller)Photo Credit: Janel "Jaycee" Miller
A row of hydroponic farms stands in front of one of the walls within Mastery High School of Camden’s new classroom.Photo Credit: Janel "Jaycee" Miller
A look at what one of the hydroponic farms within Mastery High School of Camden’s new classroom looks like from above. Photo Credit: Janel "Jaycee" Miller
Charles Cooper (second from right), who will teach courses in Mastery High School of Camden's new classroom during the 2025-26 school year, talks about the project with Lavinia Awosanya, the chief development officer for South Jersey Food Bank. (Photo Credit: Janel “Jaycee” Miller)Photo Credit: Janel "Jaycee" Miller
A row of hydroponic farms stands in front of one of the walls within Mastery High School of Camden’s new classroom.Photo Credit: Janel "Jaycee" Miller
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