JM Students Grow Tomato Plants for Local Farmer

Pictured from left: Struggling Acres Farm owner Shawn Kinneer, JMHS students K. Phillips, Chris Truex, Eli Ward, Brooke Hunnell, Sarah Arnold, Michael Dornacker and JMHS Agriculture teacher Danielle King.

On Friday, December 1, 2023, John Marshall High School Agriculture students, under the supervision of their teacher Danielle King, began seeding nearly 1,000 tomato plants for Shawn Kinneer, owner of Struggling Acres Farm in Cameron.

For the past few months, the crops were stored in the school’s greenhouse. Students watered the plants three times during each school day. JMHS junior Eli Ward volunteered to tend to the vegetation every weekend and on holidays.

Kinneer, a 1982 JMHS graduate and former student of the school’s horticulture program, recently delivered a $500 donation check to the students to show his appreciation for their hard work and dedication to the project. He also picked up the plants and will finish growing them in his high tunnel.

When ready, Kinneer and his wife, Gatha, will sell the tomatoes at local farmers markets.