By GINNY COOPER/Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA—Students at Shelby County College and Career Center have been busy growing a wide variety of vegetables and plants from seed, and they are now hosting the annual spring plant sale.

Agriscience teacher Phillip Riggsby said the school has tomato, jalapeno and bell pepper plants as well as citronella plants, ferns, bedding and house plants.

“We do this every year. We like to teach work ethics and are trying to teach them (the students) how to use their hands as well and their minds,” Riggsby said.

Money raised from the sale goes toward funding free field trips for the students, as well as buy needed supplies for the next year’s sale.

Riggsby said that though all of the students are encouraged to go to college, many of the students are interested in entering the work force after graduation, and programs like this give them valuable experience.

“We try to give them something they can take with them if they don’t go to college,” Riggsby said. “They can have something they’ll be able to do good at.”

The plant sale is located in the greenhouse of the Shelby County College and Career Center, and will continue until the plants are sold.