A natural appreciation
By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN
It was a long time coming.
But there now is a plaque honoring a Hays man on a limestone post on the Hays High School campus.
The average passerby might not notice anything special about the area behind a native limestone post fence connected with chain.
But the 16 acres on the south end of campus is more than just tall, native grass blowing in the wind.
It's an outdoor classroom.
Started in 1984 by the Ellis County Conservation District, the Natural Study Area now features prairie grassland, a wooded area with an arboretum, trails, weather station and a variety of wildlife habitats.
An amphitheater with limestone posts from along the old track at Lewis Field Stadium was added later, featuring seats and a podium to simulate a traditional classroom. The chain fence and limestone posts were also later additions.
Much like anyone who get things done behind the scenes without expecting anything in return, Bob Binder deflected credit from himself Tuesday at a ceremony commemorating his work.
"It's an honor, but I feel like there should be a lot of names on this plaque," he said. "I feel like the smallest thing crawling around on that grass."
Watching some humans make their way through some grass about 25 years ago is where the idea of an outdoor classroom came from.
Binder said he was driving along 13th Street one day when he saw Donna Cooper, an HHS science teacher, and some of her students walking in a ditch.
"I stopped and asked her what she was doing, and she said, 'Studying grasses, wildlife,' " Binder said.
"I asked her, 'Wouldn't it be nicer to have a classroom to do that?' " he said.
And so the idea of the outdoor classroom was born.
Binder, a dairy farmer at the time and longtime board member of the conservation district, got the ball rolling.
The proper people were notified.
Grass seed was donated and drilled, and an underground pipeline and hydrants were added to water trees and shrubs.
"A lot of times he would disappear all afternoon, and I didn't know where he was," said Mary, Binder's wife of 54 years. "When he would get back, he'd say he was at the classroom."
An official dedication of the classroom took place in 2006, but the plaque just recently was placed on the limestone post at the "door" of the classroom.
"We thought it was time to honor (Binder)," said Sandi Scott, district manager for the Ellis County Conservation District.
Other upgrades and additions during the years include some poles for the school's GLOBE program, a worldwide school-based science and education program that stands for Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment.
The poles, set 30 meters apart, are used for ground proofing research.
Cooper has taken full advantage of the classroom, using the area to increase students' appreciation of wildlife and natural areas.
"The purpose is to familiarize students with the diversity we have in western Kansas," Cooper said. "I hope to develop observation skills and make biology watchers out of the kids."
Does it work?
"I probably get more feedback on that class than any other," she said. "The opportunity to do some bird watching or identify trees ... it's easier than than just reading about it."
You will get no argument from Binder.
"It's something very valuable to the school, and I'm just pleased we have a facility of this nature that hopefully will continue for many, many years," said Binder, who had five children and three grandchildren graduate from Hays High.
A fourth grandchild, sophomore Zach Binder, is a student at HHS.
Bob Binder said the natural study area is just as much a classroom as one inside the nearby building.
"It may not be bricks and mortar," he said, "but it's a classroom."
Cooper, in her 40th year of teaching science at Hays High, agreed wholeheartedly.
"You can get out there and actually see things, do grassland surveys, identify grasses and wildflowers, hear frogs calling," Cooper said. "It's much more meaningful to hear it and see it than to just read about it."
Cooper stressed it's not just for biology classes, though.
"It's a natural area," she said. "English or art classes, or any class for that matter, could go out there to study."