Every Friday during Alexa Martinez’s sophomore year of high school, she’d hop on a school bus. But this wasn’t your average school bus. This one was a sterile environment designed to save orchid plants. Called the STEMLab, the bus brought a full botany lab to the parking lot of BioTECH High School in Miami, Florida.
Two years later, Alexa, now 17, is still involved in STEMLab and saving orchids. All of her hard work is for the Million Orchid Project. Started by the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, Florida, the project’s goal is to plant 1 million orchids in urban areas across South Florida.
Hopefully this project will save Florida’s six endangered species of orchids from extinction. Since the project started in 2013, more than 83,000 orchids have been planted.
Fairchild’s botanists created the scientific school bus so students across South Florida could participate in the Million Orchid Project. BioTech High is one of 100 schools in the Miami-Dade school district that have partnered with Fairchild to give students the opportunity to work in the STEMLab.
When Alexa Martinez was a sophomore in high school, she hopped on a school bus every Friday. But this wasn't your average school bus. This one was an extremely clean environment. It was designed to save orchid plants. The bus was called the STEMLab. It brought a full botany lab to the parking lot of BioTECH High School in Miami, Florida.
Two years later, Alexa is still involved in STEMLab and saving orchids. All of the 17-year-old’s hard work is for the Million Orchid Project. The project was started by the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, Florida. Their goal is to plant 1 million orchids in urban areas across South Florida.
Florida has six endangered species of orchid. Hopefully, this project will save them form extinction. More than 83,000 orchids have been planted since the project began in 2013.
Fairchild's botanists created the scientific school bus to have students help with the project. The bus visits high schools across South Florida. BioTECH High is one of 100 schools in the Miami-Dade school district that the STEMLab visits regularly.