Howard Grissom, Katernia Cole and Rep. Mike Millican accept the award for the Tharptown outdoor classroom during the recent RC&D meeting. | Melissa Cason/FCT

DOUBLE SPRINGS – Tharptown Elementary School received a grant from the Northwest Alabama Resource Conservation and Development Council that will allow the school to build an outdoor classroom on the school’s campus during the council’s quarterly meeting held in Double Springs  last week.

Heath King with RC&D said outdoor classrooms provide students with new ways of learning by seeing the world around them as it is instead of just learning from a textbook.

“Outdoor classrooms are very beneficial,” King told the group.“They provide students with different opportunities they might not have without the outdoor facility.”

King said an outdoor classroom is more than just a pavilion on the school property. It’s a chance for students to participate with hands-on training in a real life setting.

“They also provide students a way to provide a service to the school by helping to build flower beds or bird boxes for the classroom,” King said.

“This service learning helps instill pride in the school.”

The grant received will fund the outdoor classroom at Tharptown Elementary. Red Bay has an outdoor classroom at Cypress Cove Farm and Phil Campbell has an outdoor classroom on school property.

Other projects announced at the meeting included Hackleburg High School Technology, Phillips High School Football Lights, Town of Arley Baseball fields, Winston County Courthouse sound system, Winfield Park and Recreation baseball dugouts, Marion County Public Water Authority, Alabama A+ Marketing Product Demo, Art Mural Project Phase II, and Winston County Firefighter’s Association.

“So much of the projects announced here involve our youth,” Winston County District Judge Mike Newell said. “There’s no better investment for our future than our children.”