When we look down at our plates we rarely consider where our food comes from. Most of us don’t think about what goes into making, producing, packing, and shipping all of our food.  Many of us eat with thought omitted. We don’t consider how far our food has travelled, who grew it, and the kind of labor that is involved with producing, shipping, and packaging food. Most of the food Americans eat travels, on average, 1,500 miles before it reaches the consumer. Mr. Michael Labella, a gym teacher at Massapequa High School, wants to change that.

Besides being a gym teacher, Mr. Labella also teaches the Go Green Class. The class is an “environmental health course aimed to bring awareness to both the environment and horticulture” Mr. Labella said. This year the class has grown a variety of vegetables including spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, and garlic all within their classroom.

In the classroom there are two grow walls that make it possible to efficiently grow plants indoors. The class doesn’t limit themselves to the classroom and has expanded into the courtyard across from the Al Bevilacqua Wrestling Room. In the courtyard the class planted tulips and daffodils.

This year the class was exclusively offered to CCC students and not to the general population. The class has been extended to all students and about sixty people will be taking the class next year.

Mr. Labella wants to expand by introducing new and innovative ways of growing crops by using hydro, aero, and aquaponics as well as doing more outdoor growing. The classes ultimate goal is to host a farmer’s market of sorts to sell the crops and raise money for the next school year.

His ultimate goal for the class is for it to become an accredited course through Adelphi University that would earn students three college credits.