Brent and Nancy McClish were honored by the Miami Trace Local Schools’ Board of Education on Monday evening.
Miami Trace Superintendent Kim Pittser introduced the couple at the regularly-scheduled board meeting and explained they are the owners of McClish’s Plants Plus Greenhouses LLC, just across the street.
“Our ‘Work Experience’ students from the Miami Trace High School were blessed with the opportunity to go over to the McClish Greenhouse and they have learned so much,” Pittser said. “We just want to sincerely thank you for giving our students the support and opportunity that you have. In the Miami Trace Panther Spotlight, the board of education would like to recognize Brent and Nancy McClish for allowing the work experience class to gain employment skills and broaden their knowledge of greenhouse management.”
Rebekah Milstead, an intervention specialist at Miami Trace High School, also thanked the couple for the opportunity and said the students really enjoyed it.
“My students were used to working every Friday at four locations around the community and because of COVID we couldn’t, so Nancy opened her greenhouse to us where we learned to count, stack and to actually plant,” Milstead said. “If you purchased plants this year, we probably planted it — and (Nancy and Brent) helped them grow despite our planting. We are super appreciative of the opportunity. We take greenhouse management at the high school as part of one of our classes and now we have a real hands-on experience.”
Miami Trace High School Principal Bryan Sheets also thanked the greenhouse owners for their support and said the students would always come back excited after working with the McClish couple.
“The students were super excited to share their experience with us,” Sheets said. “Brent said it best, the students got to see the process from beginning to the end and gain that experience. Also working with other people in the workforce out there and seeing what other individuals do. They gained experience and knowledge of the job and that is important for our students, so we truly appreciate that.”
Board member Charlie Andrews also took time to thank Nancy and Brent McClish and also mentioned the couple has a long history of helping the students of Miami Trace.
“You’ve been great neighbors to us,” Andrews said. “Not only did they help these students, they help the FFA every year with their Operation Christmas Child. Nancy, her mom and daughter and others serve refreshments and they have a nice program about where the shoeboxes for that program go and they let the FFA students come over to the greenhouse to stuff the shoeboxes. They help the schools in a lot of ways.”
The McClishs both expressed their appreciation of the school district, with Brent saying the district has been a great neighbor.
“We just appreciate Rebekah contacting us to allow them to come over because it was quite an experience for us,” Nancy said. “Before that first day we wondered, ‘Will we be just watching the students or what?’ But after that first day I asked, ‘When will they be back?’ They were wonderful. The glasshouse when they were starting stuff was completely empty. We usually get one huge pallet of the pots and that one pallet has maybe, 5,000 pots. So the kids got to see that pile get lower and lower and they did a lot of the planting and got to watch the glasshouse fill up. The students were a tremendous help and we appreciate you allowing them to come to the greenhouse.”
Stay with the Record-Herald this week for more coverage of the Miami Trace Local Schools Board of Education.
Reach Martin Graham at (740) 463-9684 or on Twitter @MartiTheNewsGuy.
