Chadwick Schools Putting Finishing Touches on Outdoor Classroom and Herb Garden
Thursday, August 11th, 2011-
- The top level of the new outdoor classroom.
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- Chadwick Co-Superintendent Dr. Bill Wheeler shows off the new outdoor classroom.
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- A volunteer lays paving stones in Chadwick’s outdoor classroom and herb garden.
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- Chadwick student and FFA member Sydney Guardiola, 15, carries a bag of potting soil in the outdoor classroom.
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- Volunteers put the finishing touches on the outdoor classroom and herb garden at Chadwick schools.
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- Volunteers put the finishing touches on the outdoor classroom and herb garden at Chadwick schools.
There’s no denying that it has been a heat bomb of a summer in the Ozarks. The sweltering temperatures have made outdoor work miserable, and keeping living things alive has been something of a challenge.
With that in mind, students in the Chadwick R-1 School District should be doubly impressed by the transformation that awaits them when the new school year begins August 22. And a number of community volunteers, students and school staff from the small, rural town in eastern Christian County have put in the sweat equity to make sure it gets done.
With the help of a $19,989 Coover grant the Chadwick campus, instead of a hardscrabble space between school buildings, will now have a fully functional outdoor classroom and Ozark Mountain herb garden. With a little financial boost, students, volunteers and staffers from Lowe’s in nearby Ozark have turned a previously useless patch of gravel and grass into one of the most innovative classroom projects in southern Missouri.
With the additional help of a $5,000 Heroes Grant from Lowe’s–which included materials, plants, furnishings and expert advice–multi-tiered levels of decks and sitting space have been erected where previously there was limestone chat and scrub brush. Umbrellas, a shade awning and multiple access points make the space comfortable and useful for all students. (more…)
