DNR Receives Funding To Build Outdoor Classrooms For Indianapolis School

Wendell Phillips School 63 in Indianapolis will receive new outdoor classrooms from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

DNR’s Director of education and outreach Angie Haywood says that the classrooms will be an addition to the school’s project-based learning circular.

“So, it’s just an extension of their classroom and getting them to learn about what wildflowers do,” Haywood says. “What native plants do, the benefits they provide, the adaptation’s they have to survive here in Indiana and it’s just an opportunity to take their learning further.”

A $14,000 grant is paying for the new gardens. The school will receive three garden areas: a monarch garden, a sensory garden and a wildflower garden.

Through the school’s project-based curriculum, the student will be working in the gardens every Friday.

The DNR is able to acquire more material and supplies for the gardens with the additional funding. The school will be able to keep some of the materials to maintain the gardens.

The DNR expects to begin planting installations with the students this Friday.

In addition, the DNR is working in collaboration with Groundwork Indy to educate the underemployed youth about careers in natural resources such as positions with the DNR, or other conservation organizations.

In July, the DNR and Groundwork Indy will host a professional development opportunity at Atterbury Fish and Wildlife Area to show how these areas are managed and offer a chance meet with professionals to discuss how they got to their positions and look at potential career paths.

In September, there will be the Culminating Community Festival to showcase of all the work that has been done by the school and department. It will be held at Wendell Phillips and Mozel Sanders Park.

“We’ll be doing nature hikes and bird watching and fishing casting,” Haywood says. “Maybe doing some archery shooting, and so it’s really going to be a fun day to really celebrate conservation, celebrate natural resources and show the community what they have now in their backyard.”