Chris Regini is a New York State Master Teacher that holds a degree in physics from the University of Connecticut. He has spent 20 years in the Half Hollow Hills school district, where he uses hydroponic farming to teach students about horticulture, AgTech, and engineering. We recently spoke with Chris to learn about his journey with CEA and his experiences bringing AgTech into the classroom.
Hi Chris, thanks for making some time to speak. To start off, would you tell me a little about your journey into CEA growing?
Absolutely. I’ve been teaching middle and high school for twenty years, but about ten years ago, I got a bug to bring my physics and engineering background into the classroom in a more engaging way. I realized that the easiest way to do this while really engaging students was to work with plants. I built a simple DIY hydroponics setup in the back of the classroom, then guided my students as they applied engineering to improve the operation. You know, how can we reduce the footprint? How can we automate this? How can we increase production?
This started out as a very small vertical hydroponic farm, and part of what made it so engaging was that we were growing real food out of practically nothing. The kids would take some home to their parents, the faculty would take some. It was a common space that brought people together, and we really wanted to scale it up so that even more kids could get involved.
So the district invested in a space in the High School. They demoed a classroom, rewired it, and rebuilt it from scratch to be a dedicated AgTech research space. We run engineering classes, pull in research students, and now we’re actually producing enough food to donate to the community.
Why were you drawn to AgTech specifically as an avenue for teaching?
I think it came from my experience helping my Grandfather in traditional farming while I was growing up. Out there with him and the plants, I remember having a sense of playing and learning at the same time. By building an actual farm in the classroom, we’re not just administering a short-term object lesson, we’re creating a real experience.
So even though you had these fond memories, you were also really learning how to grow plants hydroponically alongside your students. Is that right?
Yes, absolutely. And I think that’s a really good model for kids to see anyways. It’s good to see that a teacher isn’t just a type of person who has all the answers. Sometimes in order to learn you need to go on a journey together. So I never felt compelled to get it perfect. On a given day, it’s just as likely that my students will teach me something.
In administering a teaching farm, you deal with a number of different challenges from a farmer who is primarily growing for profit. What sort of stresses or challenges do you find yourself dealing with in your operation?
The biggest challenge comes from the nature of the school calendar. We have long weekends, holiday weeks, and of course summer vacation. How do we maintain the space when no one is present? On the other hand, this challenge is something that has driven a lot of our projects related to automation and remote monitoring.
How did you come to start working with AmHydro equipment?
I just went down a real rabbit hole when I was looking for equipment for the full lab build out. We knew we wanted to be vertical and to maximize the number of planting sites. We landed on the “Get Growing Up” system from AmHydro. It was just perfect for us because it fit the space and offered a fairly modular ability to scale up and add our own tech.
What has your experience with AmHydro been like?
During that initial purchase, my rep, Shaun, was fantastic. He helped me come up with a plan for what to do with all the tiers, do we want lights, how to space the rows; all of it. And the equipment itself has been awesome. Whenever I’ve reached out with questions or issues, I’ve gotten exactly the help I’ve needed. It’s really great. I think AmHydro even put together a package of seeds to get us started. It was all very plug and play.
Is there any CEA lesson that you wish you had learned before you started?
I think it would have been helpful to have a better understanding of the capabilities. For instance, NFT grows herbs and lettuce like nobody’s business, but other field crops really just don’t work as well. That said, learning was intentionally part of the experience.
It’s really cool to see CEA being used to make learning fun. What sorts of impact do you see this program having on your students?
When a student walks into a learning space that is warm, green, interestingly-lit, and fragrant, it immediately draws them in. And that’s before they even see the technology involved. Students are really into technology, computers, and programming, but in a lot of other spaces in their lives, they interact with technology only in terms of devices; going on the internet or using programs. It makes a deep impact for them to see the power of integrating technology into something that is normally a hands-on process.
So I’ve seen a lot of students deploy research they’ve done in the CEA space to get into engineering programs in college or to acquire internships. We’ve been invited to share our work at NASA-based and agricultural conferences. It’s very rewarding.
Thank you so much for your time. Any final thoughts?
I guess I’d only just re-emphasize that the way we’ve been able to personalize the AmHydro equipment to meet our needs is really neat. We’re monitoring water levels in the reservoirs below; monitoring chemical balances. We’ve plugged in all sorts of our own sensors and controls and it all works.
Thank you again.
Absolutely, have a great day.
