Growing some green thumbs

BUFFALO — When Hillary Young started at Gritt's Midway Greenhouse four years ago, she didn't have much of a horticulture background.

Aside from helping her mother grow the jungle of plants at her house when she lived in Poca, Young didn't have any chances to work with plants, gardening or any agriculture, for that matter, because Poca High School didn't offer such programs.

"They didn't have anything, so I never considered horticulture because they pushed computers and technology so hard," Young said.

It has been four years since she landed her job at Gritt's, and she has become an assistant grower. Her husband, Chris, got a job at the greenhouse about a year ago as a spray technician after working odd jobs for years and even pursuing an accounting degree at Marshall University.

But being in front of a computer isn't the pair's cup of tea. Roaming around the greenhouses among the rows of poinsettias in the winter and the hanging baskets in the spring and summer is much more satisfying for both Youngs.

They both just wish they could have had some kind of training opportunities before graduating high school.

"I wouldn't have spent almost 10 years looking for a job I liked," Chris Young said.

By attempting to engage in the New Tech Network, his alma mater, Buffalo High School, aims to do something to help people like the Youngs.

Cindy Daniel, the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in Putnam County schools, says the New Tech Network is a new way of presenting a school's curriculum and changing its culture.