Final LPOHS Teen Living class delivers plant starts to food bank
By Ben Olson Reader Staff
Lake Pend Oreille High School teacher Rand Rosecrans believes that learning to grow and preserve your own food isn’t just a hobby, it’s a way of life.
That’s been the focus of his Teen Living class at LPOHS, which is celebrating its final days by giving back to the community. Rosecrans’ class of 16 students donated flats of plant starts that they planted from seed to the Bonner Community Food Bank on June 2. The starts will be available to food bank clients to take home and plant in their own gardens.
The Teen Living class is one of the casualties after Lake Pend Oreille School District announced in February that the 117-year-old facility on North Boyer Avenue will close and — by the start of the 2027-’28 school year — LPOHS students will move to the portables behind Sandpoint Middle School. As part of the change, Teen Living will no longer be offered and LPOHS electives will be limited to options offered at Sandpoint High School.
LPOHS Teen Living students present donated plant starts to Bonner Community Food Bank Executive Director Debbie Love. Photo by Ben Olson
Though he’s out of a job after the school year, Rosecrans said it’s important that his students finish the class with their heads held high.
“There’s been a lot of controversy about the closing of the school,” Rosecrans told the Reader. “The way that I’m going out is I’m gonna go out with some dignity and honor and teach my kids what I’ve done.”
Rosecrans — affectionately called “Chef” by his students after decades of working in the food industry — is proud of the legacy left by the Teen Living class.
“This class has done a lot of things to serve back to the community,” he said. “The food bank is near and dear to me because I started out volunteering here 10 years ago and accidentally got a job at LPO … so it has kind of special significance to me.”
Rosecrans has always taught his students to give to their community and it will give back.
“That’s one of the main things I try to teach my kids; don’t be afraid to go out and help your neighbors,” he said.
Teen Living teacher Rand Rosecrans talks with sophomore Juliet Mercer. Photo by Ben Olson.
LPOHS has occupied the North Boyer facility for decades, serving “at-risk youth” such as students who are pregnant, failing classes, battling addiction and living through “serious personal, emotional or medical problems,” as laid out in the Idaho Administrative Procedure Act.
“We don’t have a ball team, we don’t have squad,” Rosecrans said. “We don’t have that kind of stuff and do things in real life. Things for people that might need our help. … My whole philosophy is to show up, be kind and work hard.”
The class grew watermelons, zucchinis, squash, amaranth, broccoli and kohlrabi from seed, which normally would have gone into the food bank garden; but, due to the organization’s impending move to a facility on Kootenai Cutoff Road this summer, the starts will be given out to clients of the food bank who want to add to their home gardens.
“All of these plants were grown by our students,” Rosecrans said. “It’s important to teach kids self-sufficiency … It’s not just growing the food, it’s storing it, too. … I don’t think students should get out of school without understanding how to germinate a seed, how to grow their own food, how to harvest it and how to use it.”
The Teen Living class has been one of sophomore Juliet Mercer’s favorites at LPOHS.
“Oh my gosh, this has changed my life,” Mercer told the Reader. “I love this class. We get to garden. We get to help people. Chef’s class is so fun.”
Junior Ash Lally started at LPOHS after Thanksgiving break, having heard about it from her older sister.
“She went here and they helped her out a lot, so she recommended it for me,” Lally told the Reader. “I’ve never actually cared for school. I was always thankful to head home by the end of the day, but since going to LPO, in the mornings I wake up and I’m like, ‘I want to go, I want to go,’ and when I have to leave, I’m like, ‘I don’t want to.’”
Lally said the Teen Living class opened a new pathway for her.
“I didn’t know anything about gardening,” she said. “I didn’t know how to plant a seed and keep it alive … but this class has showed me and helped me understand how. Last year I was able to actually do my own garden at home.”
When asked about the changes coming to LPOHS, Lally said she is trying to keep an open mind.
“I love the school, but I don’t know how much I love the changes,” she said.
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