Courtney Hutchinson and Staci Gehling

Hutchinson and Gehling’s innovative teaching idea, “Beyond 4 Walls,” is focused on providing students, teachers, parents and community members with the opportunity to experience and feel ownership of a real-life outdoor learning space. Students will use and strengthen a number of skills to solve real world problems beyond the four walls of a traditional learning environment. Voya’s grant will provide the opportunity to develop the outdoor classroom space. Along with help from community members, students will use their scientific and engineering skills to create drafts and plans on mobile devices in order to construct the space. Students will be able to utilize the space for a number of objectives, projects and experiences with room to move and a peaceful environment. Some examples of the type of work in this space include learning about the weather's impact on ecosystems and the investigation and maintenance of a garden and greenhouses. The grant will also go toward mobile devices for the students to create videos, and collect and share data.