The Alexander II Math and Science Magnet School, located a block from Mercer's campus, opened a new outdoor classroom on Thursday, Oct. 30. The space was put together in part with help from volunteers from the University's community service board, MerServe.
The elementary school held a ribbon cutting ceremony to open the new space and introduce it to the students and the community. Students and teachers were able to take a short break from classes to come outside during the ceremony, where PTA members and school administrators cut the ribbon. The school is one of Bibb County's leading public elementary schools, and was recognized by the Georgia Department of Education as a Title I Distinguished School in 2023. Their mission statement is to use STEM to support the community and their students.
“The primary goal of the outdoor classroom is to support students who may struggle to sit still in a conventional indoor environment,” PTA President Rocio Garcia wrote in an email. “By offering a change of setting, we provide these students with an opportunity to thrive in a calm, open atmosphere that helps them focus, self-regulate and engage more deeply in their learning experiences.”
The new outdoor space will serve as an area for students to learn without being confined to the walls of the classroom, Pollyana Roe, a fifth-grade teacher at the school, said at the opening ceremony. Roe touted the "benefits to having an outdoor classroom" like positive effects on students' "mental health and students being happier when outside."
"I am so excited to see all the things our students will do in this space,” she added.
The school partnered with Mercer during MerServe's annual "Be A Good Neighbear" event on Sept. 20.
“We cleared out the entire space and cleaned up all the trash that was around," Lou Borja ‘28, one of MerServe's volunteers at Alex II, said. "We also planted some of these flower beds and laid out the stones and everything.”
Garcia said she has been pursuing this idea for about two years, which was sparked by her "own child's struggles to sit still and focus indoors throughout the school day."
“This beautiful new space provides our students and teachers with the opportunity to learn, explore and grow in a peaceful outdoor environment designed to support every learner’s needs,” she said. A study conducted in 2022 found that for elementary school-aged students, "social and academic learning outcomes" were significantly supported by learning "in school garden and curricular outdoor learning settings."
Garcia credited the PTA’s fundraising efforts in a speech she gave at the ribbon cutting, and acknowledged the volunteer hours that Mercer students and parents like Sean Bewick, whose children go to the school, put in. While Mercer students did much of the landscaping, Garcia said Bewick constructed the raised garden beds that MerServe planted in.
Alex II Principal Donna Cline thanked the community for making this possible at the end of the ceremony before directing students, eager to explore their new outdoor classroom, to look around their new space outside.
Geetanjali Angara ‘29 is an International Affairs major at Mercer University and a staff writer at The Cluster. Her hobbies are reading, writing and playing piano. You can typically either find her with a good book or singing a Taylor Swift song.
