After more than a year of fundraising and planning, the Batesville Community Education Foundation (BCEF) has completed the construction of an outdoor learning complex at Batesville Primary School (BPS).
“Many people have asked how BCEF developed this outdoor educational idea,” said Anne Wilson, BCEF executive director. “Last year, our annual campaign committee wanted to raise money to bring a flexible learning space to BPS conducive to lessons for STEM—science, technology, engineering, and math. However, with classroom space inside the building at a premium due to a growing student population, there was no place to put it.”
Not to be deterred, BCEF board member Jama Linkel-Cleghorn was intrigued by an outdoor learning company she had read about. She approached Wilson with the idea of relocating the planned classroom concept outside. After discussing it with the full BCEF board of directors and getting approval from the school administration, the BCEF committee members dug in, researching everything they could about how to put together such a project.
“We were fortunate enough to have a local BCSC parent, Greg Wade, who is also a principal architect at the landscape architecture firm Context Design,” said Ashley Walls, annual campaign chair for BCEF. “The firm was willing to donate time toward developing a concept board for our project. With our idea now in visual form, our next goal was finding funding for a project of this magnitude. Up to this point, the most BCEF had raised from an annual campaign was about $30,000. Original cost estimates for this project were 10 times that amount.”
With most federal and state grants unavailable to BCEF, the foundation turned to private foundations and the city of Batesville to pitch the idea and kick-start the campaign. Wilson crafted a narrative that explained the academic, emotional, behavioral, and physical benefits that learning outside can provide to students and included detailed information about the projected costs. Grant funding was received from the John A. Hillenbrand Foundation, the William A. and Martha H. Hillenbrand Foundation, the Hillenbrand Partner with Possibility Grant through the Ripley County Community Foundation (RCCF), the City of Batesville, the Rising Sun Regional Foundation, Honda, and the Fred and Jolene Rockwood Family Foundation. BCEF also received overwhelming financial support from individual donors.
“We thought this would be a multi-year campaign but are thrilled at the support we received,” explained Linkel-Cleghorn, who managed the project construction on behalf of BCEF with another board member, Ryan Holcomb, and Wilson. “BCEF is always very intentional with its spending, so we were creative in finding ways to cut project costs without sacrificing quality. We want to extend special thanks to BCSC director of operations, Tim Hunter, who provided invaluable assistance, advice, and resources whenever we needed help.”
BPS students and teachers will now be able to enjoy features such as a custom-built covered classroom with a whiteboard, outdoor magnet walls for STEM learning, two patios with flexible seating, weather-resistant chalkboards, and educational artwork. Landscaping and a decorative fence finish off the space. Vendors involved in the project were School Specialty, Oak Roots, Iron Timbers, Amberger Concrete, W&W Landscaping, Huffman Metal Works, and Rowland Graphics. The two Batesville High School art teachers, Andrea Grimsley and Kyle Hunteman, developed the art pieces.
“As far as we know, no other school corporation nearby—perhaps in the entire state—has an outdoor learning space of this magnitude,” Wilson concluded. “We would love to see the entire community come out on August 3 to learn more about this special project for our littlest learners. It’s our biggest gift yet to BCSC.”