Olive Peirce Middle School dedicates Dan Langhoff Garden to honor former teacher

May 15, 2023

Friends, family, co-workers and students gathered June 1 at the dedication for a garden named for Dan Langhoff, an eighth grade science teacher at Olive Peirce Middle School who died last year.

Myles Vandegrift, a seventh and eighth grade science teacher at Olive Peirce, started a gofundme in August 2022 to help raise funds to build the garden. Vandegrift said the garden was no more than a few planters in September when the teachers held a memorial for Langhoff, who had passed away in his sleep on July 26 at the age of 61.

"My goal was to honor Dan and his family with continuing the work of the garden, by creating the space," Vandegrift said. "We need to honor Dan and his family and be a little more intentional."

Thus began the students’ work on the garden.

With the help of the San Diego Naturalist Society and Brymal Plants in San Marcos, students at Olive Peirce completed the work on the garden. The number of plant boxes doubled, and the remaining space was populated with San Diego native plants, many of which were pollinators or aromatic, stress-reducing plants, according to Malia Lozano, a former student at Olive Peirce and co-founder of Brymal Plants.

Vegetation had been a part of Langhoff's life since one of his first jobs, genetically modifying vegetables, after graduating college and pursuing a career in science. Sharlene Langhoff, his widow, said he worked to insert DNA into tomatoes to delay the ripening process.

She said tomatoes used to be picked when they were green and then gassed to make them look red, which her husband hated. He developed the tests and DNA strains that were used in strawberries and tomatoes.

"With the DNA modification, you could wait until the tomato was ripe until you picked it and then they could stay in the truck a long time to get to the stores and stay ripe," Sharlene Langhoff said.

A school garden full of edible crops like broccoli, corn, beans and squash just made sense for a teacher like Langhoff. He would make "Healthy Snack Minute" videos that he would upload to YouTube and share with his students, Vandegrift said. In these videos Langhoff would destroy unhealthy snacks and foods like Captain Crunch cereal by lighting them on fire, smashing them with hammers or running them over with his lawn mower, before recommending healthy options.

"It wasn't just something that was great for the kids, he loved it. He was so in his element there," Sharlene Langhoff said. "Middle school mentality, silliness and food and gardening and teaching in a way that really related to kids."

The garden dedication began in Vandegrift's classroom, where a video was played that highlighted aspects of Langhoff's life, such as his passion for healthy snacks and playing rock ‘n’ roll.

Michael Pelchat, an eighth grade math teacher at the school, got to know Langhoff when he started out as a special ed teacher in Pelchat's class. Pelchat said they instantly bonded over their shared love for movie quotes and rock ‘n’ roll and went on to form a band at Olive Peirce.

The band started at the school talent show when Pelchat was in an act performing a Queen song and Langhoff had his own act. They decided to instead play together and to cover Kiss songs.

"We spent an hour or so in his room putting on face paint," Pelchat recalled. "We did the exact Kiss makeup and all of it, costumes and everything."

They went on stage to perform and lip sync the songs, but the power went out in the middle of the act.

"I’m like, ‘Dan what do we do?’" Pelchat remembered saying during the performance.

"I don't know, just fake it, keep going, we didn't come this far to quit now," Langhoff replied.

So they did. Eventually the power came back on and they finished the act.

From there the band covered more rock bands like AC/DC and went on to perform concerts on the roof of Olive Peirce, around the school, even playing in the back of a truck while driving around the school during lunch.

"The kids loved it and they loved the energy, and that's what this school is about, having fun and just doing whatever it took to make kids want to come back," Pelchat said.

At the dedication, teachers and students alike shared how Langhoff brought this same energy into the classroom during his seven years at the school.

Rayne Myers, a sophomore at Ramona High School, said they had Langhoff as their science teacher in 2021. Myers remembered how Langhoff would make the classroom fun for his students while encouraging them to get out of their comfort zones.

"He just made the class so comforting and just easy to be in, just a really good atmosphere," Myers said. "Very energetic and chill at the same time. You could feel his presence with his energy but he would make everything calm in a way."

Langhoff described his style as "teaching like a pirate," meaning being passionate, immersive and having good rapport with the students, Vandegrift said.

During a unit on man's impact on biodiversity, Langhoff wanted to illustrate how sharks are misrepresented and how few people they actually kill in a year, Vandegrift recalled. He spent a week building a vending machine out of cardboard, five feet high, two feet wide. He made sure to spray paint it, put boxes inside with snacks, a place to put in money, even an electronic device that would make noise when a button was pressed.

All this came together on the day of the lesson. Langhoff walked into class and up to the vending machine he’d built, Vandegrift said.

"He would put money in there and would act it out, and he would actually get a couple items, then all of a sudden the vending machine would topple and land on top of him and he would fall to the ground," Vandegrift said.

The lesson ultimately tied into the fact a person is more likely to be killed by a vending machine than in a shark attack.

From Vandegrift's classroom, the garden dedication moved outside in front of the newly finished garden, where school staff and family shared their memories of Langhoff.

Julia Doria, a seventh grade language arts teacher, shared two poems she had written in honor of Langhoff, one titled "Garden Garden Garden" and the other "The Monarch Butterfly."

A butterfly interlude is untouchable and unforgettable

You leave all wanting, yearning, desiring

Just one more glimpse of the beauty

The royal curves, so defined, so delicious

There one moment, gone the next

Langhoff's daughters, Sam and Olivia Langhoff, completed one of the final touches of the garden by drilling in a wood sign commemorating the Dan Langhoff Science Garden at the entrance. After that, those in attendance were invited to step inside.

"It is amazing, we would drive past and see little bits and pieces come together until this time," Sam Langhoff said. "It was just amazing to watch it grow, because this was just plain grass and I’m glad that they wanted to expand it and create this thing together."

After the dedication, Jake Graham, a seventh grade science teacher, shared his experience of knowing Langhoff for a year, starting when Graham was first hired as a teacher.

"Just a spirited guy, he was so kind, man. He’ll looks straight in your eyes and you’ll just know that he's a good human," Graham said. "There was never a doubt in my mind that I wanted to work with him, I was excited to get on board and start learning from him, about him, it was pure positivity."

Once inside the garden, those at the event released painted lady butterflies in honor of Langhoff. Butterflies fluttered around, some lingering on the hands of those releasing, others finding plants to settle on.

Sharlene Langhoff stood in the middle of it all with a knowing smile.

"He would love it, this is very much Dan," she said.