Kildare College students had much to celebrate at this year’s Royal Adelaide Show, winning several awards for their Orchids, propagated as part of the Kildare College Orchid Program.
Six plants were entered in the awards, with 3 firsts and 2 seconds awarded across; Class 65 Australian Native, Terrestrial; Cymbidium, less than 60mm; and Any Other Genera. Kildare also won the Richard Fishlock Trophy for Champion School Orchid and received a Certificate of Merit in Special Award Category.
These awards recognize months of hard work from the students, staff and volunteers that assist the College with the Orchid program. Margaret Rouggos, Principal, says “the students are winning awards for their hard work, and for what they love doing, and that’s exceptional”.
Kildare College has had much success in the past years at the Royal Adelaide Show, as well as winning monthly awards as part of the Orchid Society awards.
The Orchid Club at Kildare College is offered as an extra-curricular activity, to extend the students learning beyond the classroom. The students work with the Adelaide Botanical Gardens and the Orchid Club of South Australia Inc. to save local threatened orchids from extinction. 50% of native orchids in South Australia are endangered and the students meet every week to propagate new plants that can eventually be replanted in the wild.
Margaret Rouggos, says “it’s great for our students to gain real world opportunities and experience first-hand the science behind the orchid propagation. Some of the orchids are endangered and threatened of extinction, so it’s amazing the students can propagate these to plant back in the wild”.
