Educators hope new Boone County Nature School will enhance CPS curriculum

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia Public Schools and the Missouri Department of Conservation cut the ribbon to officially open the Boone County Nature School on Friday. 

 The new school will serve fifth-grade students from all six Boone County school districts through unique “place-based” education as well as the public through special conservation-related programming. 

According to CPS Science Coordinator Ragan Webb, the school will help enhance some of the district's current curriculum. 

“They learn about ecosystems all through elementary school. So out here at the nature school, they're going to actually see those ecosystems. They're not going to read about them in a book. They're going to actually go out and they're going to see a forest, they're going to see a pond they’re going to see a prairie.  They're going to interact in those spaces. We're going to see how they're different and it's just going to be I feel it's more powerful when they're here in the place than just looking at a picture of it or reading about it,” Webb explained. “Some of our students live in a more urban area and they don't have a part of the backyard."

As you walk inside the Nature School you are greeted by two taxidermy deer looking down on you from each side of the lobby. The walls are filled with other displays of nature scenes and animals along with depictions of some of Missouri’s conservation heroes.

The 8,000-square-foot building hosts four classrooms representing Missouri’s four ecosystems (prairie, aquatic, forest, karst) a wet lab to give students hands-on learning experiences and a kitchen. 

The Nature School is part of a 111-acre campus that features gardens, an outdoor pavilion, a 360-degree council house surrounding a fire pit that includes three tiers of stadium seating that can fit up to 140 students, an elderberry field and an archery range. 

The $7 million construction project has been brewing for over a decade after former Board of Education President Jan Mees and her husband Bill came up with the concept in 2013. The land, which sits on the Waters Russell Unit of Three Creeks Conservation Area, was donated by the Waters family. 

Several grants and donations were required to fund the project including a fundraising campaign led by former Superintendent Peter Stiepleman and an agreement with the city of Columbia for $200,000 in ARPA money for “public safety.” 

After speaking with several officials at the ribbon-cutting ceremony how exactly this campus will make Columbia safer remains unclear. Jenna Stiek, a Conservation Educator from the Missouri Department of Conservation believes it will help mold students who care for the area. 

“Being able to plant pollinator plots to reduce mowing and being able to have a vegetable garden right in their backyard,  just knowing about the safety aspects as well as, you know, harmful plants or what species they should be planned out in their yards or playgrounds.” 

“We’re raising our future citizens and they're going to be the people that are the stewards of our land when they get older,” Webb added. “By letting them see it they're more likely to take care of it.” 

Stiek also believes the school will help keep children more active. 

“We feel that families most days are not getting their children outside as much if they don't have the outdoor experience themselves or aren't comfortable going out,” Stiek said. “We want to provide those outdoor experiences, hands-on activities that students feel comfortable going outside and performing themselves when not at the nature school.” 

Over 2,000 fifth graders from across Boone County will visit the campus. Each student will have seven days at the Nature Academy throughout the year which are divided into three sessions. The first session in the Fall is three consecutive days where students will learn about the history of the area and explore its ecosystems. 

Session two in the winter is two consecutive days that focus on cycles and changes in the area. This includes looking at migration data for birds and butterflies and discovering how humans change ecosystems. 

The final session is two consecutive days in the spring that looks at change. Students will learn about endangered species and present sustainability projects they have worked on throughout the year. Each session will also include learning outdoor skills such as archery, fishing and kayaking. 

“This will give everybody an experience with the outdoors in a safe environment,” Webb said,”with people that are really passionate about it  and really showing their love of it.”