the greene school [ri]
2020 giving while living regional grant: $2,200

The Foundation’s timely $2,200 Regional Grant, which arrived at the onset of the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, helped The Greene School, in West Greenwich, RI, purchase materials and realize plans that were already underway (on paper) to create socially distanced, outdoor “classrooms”. The support of Woodard and Curran Foundation allowed the school to move from inspiration to action and take a community approach toward environmental education and nature-based learning.

Inspiration for the design comes from a 2018 student-and-staff research trip where they explored and studied social constructs in Scandanavia (see banner image - the basis for the Greene School project),

During the summer of 2020, 20 Greene School students, along with a faculty advisor, participated in an annual work program to construct the outdoor classroom by the start of the 2020-2021 academic year. The new outdoor learning center is sited adjacent to the school’s pond ecosystem, easily accessible for teaching and learning across classes and grade levels. The school hopes the new learning center will be a model for what it will construct across 70 acres of specifically identified natural habitat.

Thank you to RJ Dowling, in Woodard & Curran, Inc.’s Providence, RI office, who nominated The Greene School for a Foundation Giving While Living Regional Grant.