Gurnee fifth-grader is an orchid expert
By Beth Kramer ekramer@stmedianetwork.com February 10, 2012 4:54PM
Gurnee 2/9/12 Fifth-grader, Clara Lodesky, 11, holds a live orchid, after giving a presentation on orchids, to her class at O'Plaine School in Gurnee, on Thursday, February 9, 2012. Lodesky is the youngest member of an orchid society in Illinois and Wisconsin. | Ruthie Hauge ~ Sun-Times Media
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Updated: April 11, 2012 1:43AM
GURNEE — Think about a hot day. Visualize eating cool, vanilla ice cream.
Did you know that vanilla is harvested from an orchid?
This is how Clara Lodesky, 11, began a presentation to her fellow fifth-grade students at O’Plaine School. Lodesky of Gurnee is a local orchid expert and the confirmed youngest of about 200 members of the Illinois Orchid Society, according to IOS membership director George Titterton of Chicago.
“I’m thrilled that we have such a young member who is getting the word out to her friends about orchids ... many of them (orchids) have threatened habitats that have been destroyed. Sharing that with young people is the best way in the world to get people aware of what they are and how special they are,” Titterton said.
The median age for IOS members is 30s to 40s, he said.
Lodesky is also a member of the Wisconsin Orchid Society and American Orchid Society.
“We really, really need new members. No offense to orchid people, but most of them are old ladies,” Lodesky said. “We can’t let these beautiful plants die out because nobody is growing them.”
Many of the 30,000 orchid species are threatened, she said. She has about 30 orchids at home and said she needs a greenhouse to grow more.
Lodesky’s interest in orchids came about after a book about the plants grabbed her attention two years ago “for some reason.” She started reading up on the subject and growing orchids.
Now she attends monthly meetings and orchid shows, educates her peers and continues to cultivate her own orchid crop.
She inspired fellow fifth-grade student Elizabeth Ochoa, 10, of Gurnee, to start growing an orchid.
Ochoa tried caring for her own orchid last year, but it died. She got plastic plants as a replacement because she likes the way they look.
“I think maybe I would like growing one again,” Ochoa said.
Lodesky’s teacher Patrick Goodwin said she taught him quite a bit about orchids.
“Clara is very unique and an outstanding student,” Goodwin said.
In addition to cultivating her orchids and reading about them in her spare time, Lodesky recently landed the role of evil Miss Hannigan in a school production of “Annie.”
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