VIEDEO - USA: Connecticut - 'Green Thumbs' Program Students at New Haven's High School in the Community Grow and Sell Mushrooms
With teacher supervision, students enrolled in the high school's agriculture program launched the 'Harvest Scholars Company' to sell the mushrooms they grow.
Authors: Jamel Johnson, Dalton Zbierski
November 7, 2025
Students at a New Haven magnet school are learning more than just standard classroom lessons - they're getting hands-on business, science and agricultural experience through the Green Thumbs program at High School in the Community.
Lessons taught at the institution on Water Street enable students to grow more familiar with urban farming, gardening and environmental education, while becoming knowledgeable about sustainability practices and how to use problem-solving to tackle community issues.
It’s the first of its kind in the school district. What began as a humble idea has turned into a project that even a professional farmer would find impressive.
Students in science teacher Paul Jones' class even launched a small business to go along with the farm and call it the "Harvest Scholars Company."
“Yeah, this is pretty nuts,” Jones admitted. “I learned long ago that when good ideas come down the road, you have to just jump on them.”
The students' strategy involves growing mushrooms on one side of the container and lettuce on the other side.
"We’re taking mushrooms through a bunch of phases of growth,” Jones explained. “And, then, we have this whole leafy green side that gives us so much room to experiment and test things out.”
While the students involved in the program didn’t begin the school year as farmers, they are gaining respect for the profession and quickly learning about the industry.
Marbella Escobar Gonzalez, a high schooler participating in the program, believes that the students involved now have enough knowledge to start their own farm.
"I was never a science person,” said Escobar Gonzalez. “When we got this opportunity introduced, I thought this seemed really cool. We started harvesting our lettuce, and we eventually started harvesting mushrooms.”
So far, the program has produced approximately 200 pounds of harvested mushrooms. That’s more than the students can keep up with, so science supervisor Robert McCain is looking for other ways to distribute the goods.
"Paul and I actually took our samples and have been distributing them down 'Pizza Lane' on Wooster Street,” said McCain. “We’re giving it to pizza places to see if they’re interested in purchasing them. Hopefully, [we're] creating a New Haven school pizza.”
When asked how much profit the student-led farm could potentially produce, McCain said one pound of mushrooms can sell for as much as $20. So, this endeavor may help students like high school senior Mya Stetteinger more than they realized at first.
RELATED: North Hartford urban farm tackles food desert crisis in community
"It’s very hard senior year. You have to worry about colleges and where a lot of money goes,” said Stetteinger. “When we get to grow this and sell it and get the profit, we’ll pay off senior dues. It’s a lot off your shoulders to help with everything.”
While students say they are “all in” on the project because they can apply their new skills to pay their way through their senior year, Jones hopes their knowledge takes them further.
"I have kids that say, 'I want to work growing things,'" said Jones. “But, then, I have kids that say, 'I see how businesses works and I want to do something and make something.' That is just awesome.”
Business people who would like to invest in the students and their program by buying mushrooms can reach out to New Haven's High School in the Community at (475)220-6200 or contact Jones at paul.Jones@new-haven.K12.Ct.Us.
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Jamel Johnson is a Multi-Skilled Journalist for FOX61 News. He can be reached at jjohnson@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook and Instagram.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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