Your PTSA Dollars At Work: MEco Outdoor Classroom

If you have visited the MEco Outdoor Classroom, you know what an amazing asset it is to our school community. But maybe you don't know how our school community came together to make it a reality.

Now in it's seventh year, the idea for the MEco Outdoor Classroom got it's start when the housing development was built behind the school. Students were upset to see the  amount of forest that was cleared for that land and started circulating a petition to replant trees along the fence line.

Mrs. Idso sensed an opportunity for a bigger student leadership project, and contacted Ryan Williams at the Snohomish Conservation District. He visited ME for a meeting with Mrs. Idso, and suggested repurposing the parcel of land next to the campus, the eventual location of the MEco Outdoor Classroom.

At the time, there was a joint venture to create the Outdoor Classroom and reduce waste in the lunchroom, which the SOAR Senators at the time named the "MEco Challenge." And the name stuck!

Mrs. Idso tells us that "MEPTSA volunteers and Boy Scouts joined forces to conduct 13 work days in the first 15 months. After creating a trail system through the 2 acre parcel, Boy Scouts lined up to do Eagle rank projects. They built the amphitheater and stage, bat boxes and two bird blind observation areas, a picnic area, two bridges over the stream and by the retention pond, as well as erosion control and rain barrel irrigation on two hillsides. Here are a few photos showing the great results of the Boy Scouts' hard work!

Girl Scouts also joined in and made a rain garden to filter water going to the Puget Sound, and Mukilteo Police Department Park Ranger Bohan taught a Conservation Kids Club for two years and continues to help teach "Leave No Trace" principles when asked.

In addition, Julie Radeff-Huang led the effort to recruit outdoor science docents, our MEco Nature Guides, and helped developed curriculum for the guides to teach, based on known conservation curriculums like Learning Tree and Project Wild. 

 Mrs. Idso tells us that "the MEco Outdoor Classroom started with student ideas and grew to involve the the greater community. Olympic View Middle School uses the space for 8th grade science and for their Connections program. ME's MBSC program has created a pond that they observe, and that provides habitat for dragonfly nymphs to hatch. Each year, there are many hundreds of visits from K-5 classrooms, as well as weekly visits from the MEco Voice Group of 5th graders."

Our 21st district legislators, Washington State Senator Marko Liias, and Representatives Lillian Ortiz-Self and Strom Peterson have also visited the MEco Outdoor Classroom. They were able to see firsthand how much our students can accomplish when their efforts are supported.

MEPTSA provides funding for this valuable physical resource. Under the joint efforts of the ME Staff and MEPTSA leadership, we hope to be good stewards of this land and educational opportunities for years to come. ​​