HHS outdoor classroom offers new learning opportunities

Homewood High School’s science teachers started off this school year with a new way to bring lessons to life: an outdoor classroom.

The classroom, located on the eastern end of the high school, was built as part of HHS junior Luke Sartor’s Eagle Scout project. It includes picnic tables, rows of benches and space to add plants or even a small stage for a speaker in the future.

“As science teachers, we wanted somewhere to easily take our kids … just somewhere to get them outside and moving and not sitting in desks all the time,” HHS science teacher Kelly Roth said. “It’s nice to have the environment around you for discussions.”

The idea for the classroom came from Roth and fellow science teacher Melonie McBrayer, who also leads the HHS Environmental Club. In her application for grant funding for the classroom, Roth wrote that getting outside, no matter the setting, has always been more engaging for her students than any posters or diagrams she can put in her classroom.

“One thing I notice no matter what situation I come up with, is that the students are ecstatic to get outside. … The benefits of being in an outdoor environment can be useful to all subject areas in the high school,” Roth wrote in her grant application.

Sartor said they needed some help bringing the project into existence and he decided to help as a show of support for his school.

Roth and McBrayer said the classroom has obvious applications for teaching biology and earth sciences in a more hands-on way. Previously, HHS science classes could use part of a nearby nature trail on South Lakeshore Drive, but it required a 10-minute walk each way and was not as easily accessible.

In addition to science, Roth said the outdoor classroom could be used by other teachers for anything from creative writing exercises and art projects to foreign language vocabulary lessons. They are interested in having speakers come to talk to classes or hold collaborative projects across classrooms by using the outdoor space.

“This is more stimulating, to be outside,” McBrayer said.

Roth and McBrayer said they’re hoping some landscaping and shade will be added to the site as part of ongoing construction around the school, but they’re also considering some planting as a class project in the future. They also said the school has been supportive of the project.

Sartor has been a Scout in Troop 97, based at Trinity United Methodist Church, for about four years. He also plays trumpet in the Patriot band. Sartor said one of his previous projects was constructing a fence at the Sims Ecoscape in Edgewood, as part of the requirements to earn the rank of Life Scout.

“This outdoor classroom is, like, much bigger scale than that,” Sartor said.

Building the outdoor classroom involved about 25 hours of labor from Sartor, friends, fellow Scouts and adults, including Roth and McBrayer, before its completion on May 19. Sartor said building the gravel path was one of the most difficult parts because it took “a lot of hard labor” with pickaxes and laying rebar, but planning out the project was also more challenging than previous projects.

 “I think it’s probably the best, in my opinion, Eagle Scout project you can do because it helps the school, the community and plus that way the kids have somewhere to go outside and learn,” Sartor said.