BCEF Donates $54,000 to Batesville Middle School

The funding will support an outdoor learning area.

Celebrating the BCEF donation are BMS principal Dave Strouse, BMS STEM teacher Timmi Jones, BMS science teacher Tara Mills, BCEF executive director Anne Wilson, BMS science teacher Jennifer Russell, BCEF board members Tricia Jennewein, Sammie Hardebeck, and Jama Linkel-Cleghorn, and BMS assistant principal Austin Glaub. Photo provided.

(Batesville, Ind) - The Batesville Community Education Foundation (BCEF) has exceeded its annual campaign goal of $50,000 to support an outdoor learning area at Batesville Middle School (BMS). Correlated with the 50th anniversary of the school’s grand opening in 1975, the foundation’s fundraising drive this fall netted $54,000, which was recently donated to the Batesville Community School Corporation (BCSC) for the project.

“When BMS first opened in 1975, it featured an outdoor learning area, which eventually had to be removed when the building’s footprint expanded,” said Anne Wilson, BCEF executive director. “The BCEF board thought it was fitting to bring back fresh-air learning 50 years later, providing teachers with a dedicated space to take classwork outside and students with a break from the four walls of a traditional learning space.”

Funds donated by BCEF will be managed by BMS principal Dave Strouse and a committee of teachers, who are finalizing plans for the new space. Possible uses for the money are tiered outdoor seating, a classroom pergola, an outdoor whiteboard, solar ovens, raised garden beds, and hydroponic gardening kits.

“We are grateful to BCEF for spearheading the fundraising for this project,” Strouse said. “We are looking at possible collaborative efforts within the school system to build some of the items on our wish list to make the money go as far as it possibly can. By creatively using our resources, we’re sure that we can provide an exceptional new outdoor space for our students that enhances learning at BMS.”