Mason City Schools OWL program expands outdoor learning to more students

MASON, Ohio (WXIX) - A new outdoor education program at Mason Elementary School is expanding this year, giving more students access to five acres of trails, gardens, and green space behind the building.

The program is called OWL — Outdoor Wellness and Leadership — and the land it uses has been in place since 1993. This school year, the program is getting a broader rollout under the direction of Tim King, a former Mason High School teacher with 43 years in the district.

From retirement plans to outdoor classroom

King said he had been considering retirement before pitching the program to the superintendent.

“I was feeling like I was ready to retire after 43 years of teaching at Mason High School,” King said. “I have always loved hiking and canoeing and fishing and actually got to teach a high school class related to that.”

After receiving approval, King developed a curriculum that has students hiking, mulching, planting trees, and tending gardens on the property. Students also read, write haiku, and keep nature journals on the trails.

King said the outdoor setting is intentional.

“We believe that just being in a beautiful space with trees and flowers and birds makes you feel good,” King said. “And Mason schools are really about student wellness.”

Program expansion includes sixth-grade zoo field trip

This year, a field trip to the Cincinnati Zoo’s Boyer Farm — previously available only to select classes — is opening to the entire sixth grade.

King said the long-term goal of the program goes beyond the school day.

“We want to instill a wonder about the natural world within our students,” King said. “The demand from parents and from students to get out into nature at their school — with just a short walk to a natural space — is something that’s going to give students positive self-esteem, positive well-being through their life.”

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