The Aquaculture and Aquaponics class serving 11th and 12th grade students at Jonesport Beals High School and surrounding high schools, started in 2020 and is part of the Career and Technical Education (CTE) program through Coastal Washington County Institute of Technology (CWCIT). CTE provides Maine students with an opportunity for relevant and challenging applied learning to enhance their occupational, personal, and academic success as well as helps to prepare them to meet the needs of the Maine workforce.
Recently the program expanded their space with the purchase of a second larger 19’ x 59’ greenhouse from Maine Garden Products. The program was able to purchase the original smaller greenhouse with a State of Maine Equipment grant for CTE schools and then the larger greenhouse through Rethinking Responsive Education Ventures (RREV) grant from the Maine Department of Education.
The students use their greenhouse spaces from March through November for starting their seeds and their tilapia during the summer. The class has also expanded their outdoor raised bed garden, growing native plants and vegetables to distribute within their community. This spring, they are partnering with their local Jonesport-Beals garden club to provide seedlings for their free community garden.
Indoors, they have moved the majority of their tanks and aquaponics systems into the space that was previously used as the wood shop to reduce the greenhouse heating cost. They have from 2 tanks to 6 tanks. While indoor growing has been a challenge, they are learning and improving every day!
In addition, the class also benefits from collaboration opportunities with two very unique places in their local community: Kingfish Maine and the Downeast Institute.
- Kingfish Maine is a proprietary land-based aquaculture facility that believes sustainability and respect to the fish and environment are at the core of their values, and inform their design, operations, and technology decisions.
- Downeast Institute, a Marine Research Laboratory and Education Center, features a large shellfish research and production hatchery. Their goal is that future lobstermen, clammers, aquaculturists, and others who will make their livelihood from the ocean possess an understanding of the ecology of the marine environment and the tools to think critically about challenges they may encounter.
Students in the class have the opportunity to work directly with these organizations. These opportunities may not only lead to job opportunities but also provide a chance for them to see first hand the different perspectives and opportunities they could have in their futures if they decide to pursue marine research and aquaculture themselves.
This summer the program will host a School Garden Summer Tour in August in coordination with Maine Agriculture in the Classroom’s Summer Teachers Institute. The summer garden tours are open to the public and offer a chance to unwind and relax with fellow school garden coordinators, teachers and volunteers. Each new location offers a chance to see school gardens in full bloom, learn different growing tips, techniques and exchange ideas.
Want to know more?!
- Email Robin Monini, Jonesport Beals HS, at monini@union103.org
- Career and Technical Education (CTE)
- Innovation Research and Design: RREV Grants
- CWCIT Coastal Washington County Institute of Technology
- RREV Learning Tour Video (1:04 start) Jonesport Beals High School
- MAITC Summer Teachers Institute 2026 at the Downeast Institute
- School Garden Summer Tours
- Maine Garden Products
- Garden Club Federation of Maine
- Kingfish Maine
- Downeast Institute
