Learning from Nature on the Hillsdale Campus

 The Cincinnati Nature Center? No, it’s the south end of the Hillsdale Campus!

A year or two ago, I accompanied the freshmen downtown to see the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company perform the comedy “As You Like It.” In this play, a virtuous duke and his retinue are banished from the royal court and must make new lives for themselves in the forest. Yet this banishment turns out to be a blessing in disguise. The duke says of their pastoral existence: “And this our life, exempt from public haunt, / Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, / Sermons in stones, and good in everything.” Like Shakespeare’s courtiers, all of us live in a busy and pressurized world, and we could learn much from putting down our devices and spending some time in nature.

Andre Braugher and the cast in the Shakespeare in the Park production of “As You Like It,” directed by Daniel Sullivan, running as part of The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park season celebrating 50 years at The Delacorte in Central Park, June 5 – June 30. Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

As we look ahead to major construction projects on the Hillsdale Campus, I therefore am finding myself thinking not just about floorplans and classrooms but about trees, stones, and running brooks. As a two-story structure that will replace several one-story buildings, our new Lower School is the rare building project that will create rather than consume greenspace. We have a unique opportunity to devote this freed-up space to trees, gardens, and play areas that would surround the new Lower School.

In doing so, we would be tapping into one of the deepest wellsprings of our legacy as a school. The Clifton Open-Air School, one of the three institutions that merged to form Seven Hills, was dedicated to the idea that children should be surrounded by nature. Mrs. Lotspeich, its founder, believed that her students could learn as much from a walk in Burnet Woods as they could from their time in the classroom. 

It was a concept that was decades ahead of its time; today, we know from scientific studies that spending time in nature reduces anxiety and increases cognition. One of the most beloved aspects of the Doherty Campus is likewise its bucolic setting. Old-growth trees, gardens, playgrounds, and fields are an integral part of the students’ experience. 

There are already so many spots on the Hillsdale Campus that offer us the chance to connect with the natural world. Last week at lunch (on one of those very cold days!), I took a walk around campus and snapped a few photos to share with everyone.

Toward the south end of the campus lies a stream system that is part of the Duck Creek watershed. It is a beautiful and ecologically fascinating spot, one that changes dramatically from season to season and that offers our science students an opportunity to study and steward an ecosystem. 

Our cross country course is familiar not just to student athletes but to the kindergartners who hike it as a part of their Fun Friday field trips. It wends its way through the north end of campus, offering chances not just for exercise but for spotting birds and watching the change of the seasons.

The Hillsdale cross country course

Last week, educators from the Cincinnati Nature Center visited Hillsdale to walk the campus with a team of our administrators and teachers. These naturalists are brainstorming with us ways that we could better integrate the natural features of the Hillsdale Campus into our educational program. There have been many grassroots (no pun intended) efforts to do so over the years, with teachers and students planting gardens, tapping maple trees, measuring water quality, and connecting with the natural world in many other ways. As we look ahead to unification and to our next strategic plan, I’d like to see us embrace and elevate these kinds of efforts as an institution and as a community.

A view from the retention pond, with the Middle School in the background

As I hiked our campus, I thought of the line with which Thoreau famously begins his book “Walden”: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately.” We have a chance in these next few years to live deliberately. Yes, we need new buildings and parking lots and paved pathways. But let’s think deliberately about ways in which we might also cultivate and celebrate the natural aspects of the campus. Can our students plant an orchard? Create a bird sanctuary? Seed a pollinator prairie? Integrating the natural world into our students’ educational experience will benefit them both now and in the future.

P.S. In the next issue of Buzzworthy, I’ll be writing about libraries, books, and literacy. Looking ahead to that article, I wanted to put in a plug for Books for Lunch. This is one of Seven Hills’ best events, and I’m particularly excited about this year’s author, Colm Tóibín. We’d love to see you there.