The reopening of Johnson Elementary after a complete overhaul in 2021 was certainly cause for quite a bit of hullabaloo (pun definitely intended). But while the students were displaced to trailers elsewhere in the city, who was thinking of the animals left in the wooded areas on the land as the new school was constructed?

As it turns out, the Johnson students themselves were in the process of devising a plan to figure out how the animals would thrive until their new digs returned. 

“When we were tearing down the old building, students got the vision of wanting to help the animals that were losing their homes during the demolition of the area,” says Johnson principal Ashley Dikeos, “and there were so many conversations when we were in the trailers about what they could do about it.”

A plan was put into place to sustain the displaced creatures until the school’s return, garnering the help of the community. The students pinpointed various animals they’d seen on trail cameras behind the school and enlisted the nearby residents and neighborhoods to plant foods for these animals. This would keep the foxes, birds, bats – and yes, even the skunks and deer – with an ecosystem in the trail’s absence.

Once the school was finished, dedicated and opened, the question then became how to bring these animals back to their homes around it. This is where the Johnson outdoor classroom was born.

“Like most great things, it starts with someone doing something inspiring, which gives someone else the idea to do something else inspiring,” says Johnson fourth grade teacher Jillian Booth. 

Johnson classes teamed with the landscaping design students of Highlands High School to rebuild the natural area behind the school. Students learned from the Fort Thomas Education Foundation how to write grants to ask for funding and enlisted the FTIS, Johnson PTO and even the Campbell County Conservation District to help.

“Landscapers came in and built it, which classes got to watch, and then it was up to the students to maintain it,” explains Booth. “They water the outdoor classroom, mulch, fertilize and weed it so it keeps growing. Benches were even made from the trees which were taken down to build the school, and behind it the students built a path to a garden and compost bins.”

Dikeos says that FTEF funding is made easier by a simple process of grant submission and the funds allow the students to put their great ideas into action.

 “It’s not just an outdoor classroom that looks pretty, there’s so much more to it than that,” adds Dikeos. “It’s so authentic. And when the learning is authentic, these students care. And they want to do things that make a difference.”