Green education starts young

Published: February 1, 2010

Fox River Academy students nurture plants that will be transplanted into a community garden, area parks and the school grounds. Photos submitted by Omnni Associates Inc.

By Shelly Janke

Appleton’s Fox River Academy may focus on the environment, conservation and sustainability, but to call the students and teachers tree-huggers would be missing the point.

The school’s curriculum is focused on the environmental, historical, cultural, recreational and economic importance of the Fox River and its watershed. Despite its unique focus, the school for students grades three through eight meets state education requirements and must provide academic progress like any other learning institution, founder Sandy Vander Velden said.

“Some people unknowingly might think that we are a tree-hugger school,” she said. “We enjoy being outdoors and believe in conservation, which is different than preservation.

“We believe in using resources wisely, but definitely using them.”

Still, parents and community members have expressed uncertainty about the school’s values compared with those of standard learning institutions in the district.

To answer such concerns, Vander Velden said, the school educates parents and the public about the academy’s mission through community outreach and maintaining an open-door policy. Anyone is welcome to visit and tour the school and become involved during classroom activities, she said.

Students at Fox River Academy in Appleton work in one of the charter school’s many outdoor learning environments.

The school has plenty of supporters, too. Fox River Academy’s partnership with Omnni Associates Inc., an Appleton engineering, architecture and environmental consulting firm, resulted in the school’s popular Green Teaching Building.

The building is a former park and recreation structure that now has a 1,344-square-foot classroom and a bevy of sustainable construction elements used to educate the students and the community.

“The intent of the Green Teaching Building was not just to give them a green building,” said Brian Wayner, an environmental engineer with Omnni. “We wanted the building to be a research tool. We incorporated its sustainable features into the curriculum.”

The Green Teaching Building is on a site where storm water is managed with porous pavement, biofilters and rain gardens. The building has low-flow fixtures, recycled slate tile flooring and energy-efficient lighting.

Native vegetation provides ground cover, and a geothermal heating and cooling system is connected to radiant flooring.

The school’s Green Teaching Building is a former park and recreation structure that now has a 1,344-square-foot classroom and sustainable construction elements for use by students and the community.

Omnni supports the Green Teaching Building by providing time, donations and professional expertise, including assistance on the building’s initial environmental assessment, architectural design for renovations and the use of trucks and equipment.

The interactive building offers students a chance to learn in a new way the typical lessons of geography, history and economics, Vander Velden said. And the students’ knowledge and experiences have rippled through the community, Wayner said.

“It gives the community an awareness of environmental issues,” he said, “and how those issues can be resolved.”

Material is presented in an unbiased manner, Vander Velden said, letting students consider climate change from both sides of the issue.

A longtime educator, Vander Velden created the school with co-founder Julie Spalding in 2005.

Vander Velden said she thinks when students look back on their education, they remember their time outside the most, which is why it was important to her and Spalding to incorporate the environment so heavily into their curriculum.

Since its inception, Fox River Academy has had vital connections to Fox Valley Technical College and support from the city, local private companies and an enthusiastic community of parents that recognizes the school is much more than a bunch of tree-huggers, Vander Velden said.

“We have a very supportive parent body,” she said. “Parents are willing to help and contribute. It’s a school of choice, and they are invested in it.”