Cultivating Careers: District Transforms Garden Center Into Learning Hub

After teaching agriculture for more than 30 years, Dwayne Reiley was contemplating retirement and letting someone else take on his classes. “I think all teachers feel this way at a certain point in their career.”

Marion ISD Superintendent Don Beck had a different idea for Reiley, the district’s Career and Technical Education coordinator. Was Reiley interested in getting a new project off the ground, one involving a beloved local business also looking for its next chapter to begin?

Schulz Nursery had been a popular destination for gardening enthusiasts and landscapers for more than 60 years, but competition from big-box chain stores forced the family-run business to close in 2018. The sprawling vacant property, located across from Marion High School, was a reminder of what it once was — a gathering spot, a commercial hub, a community point of pride.

Reiley was interested. The nursery is now blossoming into a hub of CTE activity for Marion High School students who are learning and leading. Called Green SPACE (Students Participating in Authentic Career Experiences), the renovated nursery is a space that integrates horticulture, floral design, metal fabrication, business, and culinary arts to create an authentic career experience for students.

“When Dr. Beck proposed the idea of helping with Green SPACE, I felt it was a new challenge and a new opportunity for a fresh start with a project that had the potential to change lives,” Reiley said.

Students tend to vegetables, flowers, and landscape plants. They’ve held several public plant sales, giving the budding green-thumbers opportunities to polish their retail and customer service skills. Students have built and sold custom picnic tables, standing firepits, and benches. Others made greeting cards, artwork, and 3D printed items. Baked goods were sold at times, as well as floral arrangements. Through these endeavors, students also learn a range of business skills.

“The Green SPACE has helped me grow in ways I didn’t expect to grow,” said Marion High junior Kay Zook.

Getting involved in the program has helped her develop a strong work ethic, professional etiquette, customer service skills, and responsibility. Zook said she also has learned about financial literacy, sales techniques, professional communications, team building, and how to create meaningful connections with community members.

Beck said that’s the vision for the program — to give students opportunities to explore a range of skills in project-based learning while applying the knowledge they have gained in traditional classrooms. “It is a completely different approach for educating CTE students and provides opportunities for all of our different programs of study,” he said.

An Idea Takes Root

Located in Marion, a bedroom community about 35 miles east of San Antonio, the district serves some 1,700 students. But the once-rural district is growing, and leaders are always looking for ways to expand learning and career opportunities. The seeds for the nursery idea were planted during a school board discussion in fall 2024.

Caleb Rackley, Marion ISD’s board president, said he and a couple other trustees had been thinking about buying it as an investment property. “It’s right in the middle of town, has a lot of history behind it, and had real business potential,” Rackley explained.

“Then, at a board meeting, Dr. Beck asked whether it might make sense for the school district to purchase the land due to its location right across the street from the high school,” Rackley said. “And, at that point, it was like a switch flipped and almost immediately, the entire board started getting excited about the potential it held for our students.”

Beck pursued a purchase, and the official opening came about a year later.

“The school board was vital in getting this space created in the first place,” Beck said. “You can’t move that quickly unless you have a board, community, and district that buy into the vision.”

Getting the program started was a team effort. District maintenance and grounds crew staffers spent a summer cleaning and fixing up the property, while area businesses donated goods, and residents eagerly attended plants sales.

“Dr. Beck helped the board finetune the vision for using the space as a real-life learning center, and it was off to the races,” Rackley said. “Now, it’s fast becoming a huge asset for us and our students. It’s a student-run enterprise where students are learning real-world lessons about how to run a business, how to interact positively with others, how to approach authentic operational situations creatively, and how to take responsibility for something larger than themselves.”

Community Support Is Vital

While the main goal is to help students learn and develop skills they can use in the real world, both Beck and Reiley said building and maintaining community support is vital. District officials have been careful not to duplicate any local businesses.

“We looked for ways to provide new options and opportunities for the community that enhanced what we already have in our town,” Reiley said. “This also ties into another key goal, which is to have our students experience that sense of community involvement and feel the pride that comes with building a successful business in a community that supports and appreciates what you bring to the table.”

About a city-block in size, Green SPACE takes advantage of an already existing retail storefront to feature student-made goods. Floral design students use a multipurpose space connected to the storefront, but it can be reconfigured for food service operations for special events.

Next to a large patio and outdoor stage is a commercial greenhouse where students in greenhouse production classes learn to maintain vegetables, flowers, and landscape plants that will be sold.

Stroll through the property and you’ll notice an outdoor garden and two large areas for vendor booths. Ten raised beds grow veggies that will be used to create tasty dishes in culinary classes. A nearby shop building may eventually house a small engine shop or a power lab for the agricultural mechanics program.

“The Green SPACE was an amazing opportunity for me to not only learn more about plants and plant care, but also how to manage a store and engage with customers. I also learned good soft skills that I can apply to my future careers,” said senior Fiona O’Neal, who participated in the program its first year.

“I worked in the greenhouse, made floral arrangements and [worked on] ag mechanics projects that supplied the retail store, as well as helped people shop. This opportunity also allowed me to get more involved with my community and learn more about myself,” O’Neal said. “I am very grateful that I was able to be a part of this journey and to help my school build an environment where kids can learn real world skills, have fun with friends, and be able to build a good resume for their futures.”

Nurturing Growth

During the program’s inaugural year, buildings were renovated, and procedures were put in place to foster additional growth.

“We were able to open the facility for business on about eight different occasions during April and May, including one Market Days event,” Reiley said.

Rackley was not only instrumental in getting the project off the ground; he and his wife have been customers.

“I get emotional thinking about it because we were so impressed by what we saw,” he said. “A young lady insightfully answered our questions in the greenhouse about various plants we ended up purchasing. Students busily took care of their workplace duties, and when several other students rang us up, their enthusiasm for additional products for sale at the checkout counter caused us to spend quite a bit more than we’d originally planned!”

However, Rackley was truly moved by the youth who helped him carry their purchases to the car.

“As a board member, I’m around the school quite a bit and have developed a working knowledge regarding many of our students. I knew this particular gentleman had likely already faced his fair share of challenges in his young life,” Rackley recalled. “But instead of discouragement or resentfulness, what I saw that day was a young man smiling, offering to help us, and taking pride in his work.”

Rackley said that’s when he knew Green SPACE was a sound investment as an innovative teaching lab — and so much more.

“It’s also a place where our students, regardless of their background and what they may have faced thus far in life, can begin to learn what it takes to be the best version of themselves in the real world,” he said. “And that is priceless.”

Plans for Additional Growth

Green SPACE reopened shortly after the 2026-27 school year began. Students can work and learn there every school day and on one Saturday a month for the rest of the school year, but the retail space is open to the public as well. Additionally, on the second Saturday of each month, there will be Market Days for student wares and community vendor booths.

“All-in-all, it has been a busy start to the school year,” Reiley said.

Looking ahead, plans are in the works to include other CTE programs, including audiovisual for developing advertising, marketing, commercial photography, and even engineering for product development.

Elementary students may help in the garden, and the stage may be the site for future drama department performances by junior high students. “Anytime we can include students from those grades as well, we feel that is a huge positive,” Reiley said.

The district also hopes to offer more services to the community, such as wedding and party events where students could provide culinary and floral design services, Beck said. The property also is used as a gathering spot for staff and students, including after two home football games this fall.

“The challenge is not thinking of new ideas to incorporate into the Green SPACE; the challenge is to focus on the right ones that will benefit the students and community the most,” Beck said.

As a district of innovation, Marion ISD has the flexibility to customize and design local initiatives tailored to specific community and campus needs, said Dr. Kevin “Bubba” Kunde, a trustee. “Green SPACE provides a point of sale/classroom/community engagement platform that creates a bidirectional opportunity for our students and stakeholders.”

Marion ISD and many other school districts across Texas understand that initiatives like Green SPACE are a vital part of preparing students for bright futures after they finish school. These districts continue to find innovative ways to provide a wide range of learning opportunities for them. Green SPACE is just getting started.

“Our community is excited about the greenhouses being active again,” Beck said. “From the floral, welding, horticulture, culinary, and business departments, all of these students were pleased with and took great pride in the work they produced. We made this space uniquely Marion.”

Photo: Marion ISD leaders, students, and other residents celebrated the opening of Green SPACE at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in September 2025. Photo courtesy of Marion ISD.

This story first appeared in the October/November 2026 issue of Texas Lone Star