WESTON, Maine — East Grand School’s vision of providing unique educational experiences for its students through outdoor curriculum is one step closer to reality.
Thanks to $25,000 in support from The Conservation Fund, as part of a Healthy People Healthy Places grant from the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation, the school will construct an outdoor classroom adjacent to its main building for hands-on learning and exploration for students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.
Spearheaded by the Committee for Rural Education (CORE) and Physical Education Instructor Tammi Matula, this new teaching space will enable the school to offer hands on work in ecology, forestry, and weather; inspire students to write or create art; and serve as an additional venue for assemblies or other school gatherings in addition to the outdoor experiences, like the Outdoor Education Program and cross-country skiing, already offered at East Grand School.
School Principal Dawn Matthews is excited about the learning opportunities an outdoor classroom will bring to East Grand.
“Our teachers at all grade levels, and across disciplines, are very excited about the Outdoor Classroom concept. At a recent teachers’ meeting, their eagerness to teach students in the outdoors was evident in the amazing ideas they presented. We are very lucky to have both a school staff and greater community who love and support our kids,” she said.
School Board Chairman Dwayne Young expressed his support of the school’s vision.
“We, as a community, need to strive to provide the best education that we can to our children. I feel that the opportunity for students to participate in a hands-on educational experience in an outdoor environment has many benefits that have been proven globally,” he said.
The grant covers the cost of a legal land survey, the design and construction of the outdoor classroom, which East Grand School plans to complete before the end of 2016. Much of the labor will be provided by volunteers and members of the East Grand School community.
The grant was made possible as part of The Conservation Fund’s East Grand Lake Watershed Initiative — a landmark conservation project in eastern Maine that will ultimately protect 30 miles of undeveloped shoreline on five lakes and create new possibilities for local economic growth in the towns of Weston and Orient.
In 2011, the Fund purchased more than 12,000 acres of high-value working forestland that contributes to the local economy through recreation, clean water and timber production. The national nonprofit organization is working to raise funds for the permanent protection of this land and build economic development opportunities that benefit the local youth, health and well-being. Roughly 7,500 acres of this land in Orient was recently conserved through a conservation easement on some lands and a new state- owned deer wintering area near Monument Brook.
“The East Grand Lake Watershed Initiative presents a rare opportunity to realize a coordinated conservation vision embracing managed forestlands, wildlife conservation, community economic development and outdoor education,” said Tom Duffus, vice president and Northeast representative for The Conservation Fund. “It’s exciting to see residents so passionate about their community’s future. At The Conservation Fund, we are committed to finding conservation solutions that also enhance community vitality and health, and this initiative is a shining example of that.”
In addition to the outdoor classroom project, The Conservation Fund also provided resources through their Sewall Foundation grant for a project with the East Grand Health Center to help with business planning.
