Construction is underway for an outdoor classroom at Fond Du Lac Tribal and Community College. The new space is called The Megwayakk Classroom, and the translation means “into the woods”.

The outdoor learning space will include a partially covered structure as well as outdoor seating and internet access. The outdoor spot is projected to hold around forty students at a time. All types of classes can be held in this classroom, however the Environmental Institute portion of campus has plans for demonstrative courses such as cooking or making birch bark baskets. This provides space for getting messy and being loud, something an indoor classroom is not able to offer.

“Getting students out here to actually breathe in the fresh air, be surrounded, you can smell the pine needles. It’s just a whole experience that pulls you deeper into it and helps teach about that in a way that they can actually feel as they’re out here”, Courtney Kowalczak, the Director of the Environmental Institue, told us.

Fond Du Lac Tribal and Community College has been planning this project for about two years. An estimated completion date is this September. Organizers are hoping the classroom will be ready for the fall semester students.

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