Outdoor Learning Center

Remember those days sitting in a high school class wondering how can you apply what you were learning to everyday life? Today we have an opportunity to make that a reality to hundreds of Johnston High School students every year with the development of an Outdoor Learning Center.

Check out the infographic below for more details!

The Johnston High School science department would like to convert a large retention pond area on the new high school property into an Outdoor Learning Center.

The outdoor learning area will provide students with hands-on experiences in natural systems and provide an area where students can engage in testing hypotheses, collecting and analyzing data, and engaging in an ongoing design process related to water quality, marine biology and environmental diversity. Plus, students will be involved in the design and development of the outdoor area.

Your donation will help with the following:

·Establish a native prairie around the pond encompassing approximately three acres of the property.

·Create a wooded area to provide a windbreak and animal habitat.

·Construct an open-air education center with storage and restroom facilities, and developing a water access point. 

·Create a path through the prairie with educational pause points designed by students.

Partners

·John Deere Financial has provided a lead gift for the project.  A BIG Dragon THANK YOU to them for their leadership!

·Iowa Department of Natural Resources – donating trees and scrubs for the wildlife area, and fish for the pond

·Neil Smith Refuge – providing prairie seed for the three-acre site

·Students and areas businesses will help provide labor to establish the Outdoor Learning Center