At Nauset Regional Middle School, Outdoor Education Has A Home

ORLEANS – Behind Nauset Regional Middle School, past the school buses and across the school track, sits a classroom without desks, dry erase boards and even walls.

A small, fenced area is home to a new garden. In front of it stands a traditional Wampanoag wetu, which come September will help house the middle school’s exploratory education program for students in grades six through eight.

“It’s exciting to have this outdoor classroom, this outdoor learning space for kids,” said Susannah Remillard, who leads the exploratory program for the middle school. “And there was a lot of hard work that went into this and a lot of people who came together to make this happen.”

Remillard teaches the school’s Earth Keepers and Change Makers classes for seventh and eighth grade students, respectively. The school also offers a greenhouse course for sixth graders. Remillard took over the program, then known as adventure ed, from John Simms upon his retirement at the end of the 2022-2023 school year.

When she started at the middle school in 2023, Remillard said, she quickly made a pitch to Peter Cohen, who also was starting his first year as school principal, about building a wetu as a venue for the exploratory education program, which is rooted in better connecting students with the natural world around them.

“We are deeply grateful for our partnership with the Wampanoag Tribe, whose guidance and expertise made the authentic construction of this space possible,” Cohen said in an email Monday. “This collaboration allows us to provide students with meaningful education about the Nauset people, Native American traditions, and the seasonal movements that were central to indigenous life in our region.”

Funding for the wetu was pulled together through a number of sources, including the Orleans Conservation Trust, the town of Orleans and the Sipson Island Trust, with which the school is partnering on a seasonal curriculum program. Remillard also received a $2,000 grant for the project through Voya Financial’s Unsung Heroes program last year.

The school contracted with Darius Coombs, a Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe member and the tribe’s cultural and outreach coordinator for education, to take the lead in building the wetu, a traditional Wampanoag dwelling. The dome-shaped structure is built from wooden posts and covered by tree bark.

Remillard said Coombs locally sourced the wood himself from White Cedar trees he found at select locations. Volunteers then assisted by stripping bark from the poles, she said.

“It’s really cool,” she said. “If the tree is fresh, the bark just peels right off and it has this beautiful cedar smell.”

Last month, Coombs and volunteers worked to dig holes in the ground and set the wetu’s frame. Last week, work began on covering the exterior with tree bark, which Remillard said Coombs sourced from lumberyards in Connecticut. 

Remillard said the wetu will be ready for use by her seventh and eighth grade students in the fall. The structure gives students yet another area for outdoor learning alongside the establishment of outdoor classroom spaces off nearby Boland Pond. 

In Earth Keepers, seventh grade students learn about the interconnectedness of the land that they live on, while Change Makers allows eighth graders the opportunity to use their skills and strengths to actively promote good stewardship of the land. Remillard said in both classes, having that direct connection to the outdoors is integral. 

“The best way to study the land is to be on the land,” she said.

“A lot of assignments that get us closer to nature are happening in that outdoor space. We do a lot of weaving. We do a lot of drawing and a lot of storytelling. That traditional ecological knowledge plays a lot into what we do.”

Alongside the wetu is an educational garden, which has been overseen by middle school teacher Rand Burkert. Cohen said the garden will feature traditional “three sisters” plantings of corn, squash and beans, connecting students to “agricultural  practices that sustained Native communities for generations.”

“We're particularly excited that the harvest from this garden will contribute to meals served in our school cafeteria, creating a true farm-to-table educational experience,” he said.

And use of the wetu and educational garden, the curriculum for which Remillard said is still being developed, won’t necessarily be limited to the middle school. She said she sees the potential for other community groups and organizations to make use of the space. After all, the planning and construction of the outdoor space was a community effort, she noted.

“The funding came from the community, the actual physical labor [came from the community]. Anytime we asked for anything, people were minimally willing to sit down and listen to our ideas. And the majority of the time people were either stepping up with a shovel or with a check.”

“This project exemplifies the strong partnerships between our school and the community, and demonstrates the incredible support we receive from the town of Orleans and local organizations,” Cohen added. “As we prepare for the fall roll-out, I'm proud of our team's accomplishment and grateful for everyone who made this amazing educational opportunity possible for our students.”