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Connecting with the Outdoors

9/18/2025

The Steward School

This year's school theme will grow student learning

Walking across campus this year, you might notice students working in the Bryan Innovation Lab gardens, a choir practicing outside, or a poetry walk featuring student work. That’s because Steward has chosen Nature as its academic theme, and it’s already taking root across all three divisions.

The theme was proposed by Bryan Innovation Lab Specialist Megan Young and a group working on sustainability initiatives. Each year, the Program Steering Committee (PSC) selects an academic theme that is implemented schoolwide. PSC is made up of a team of cross-divisional school academic leaders, and ideas for themes are submitted by faculty. “Nature” was a natural fit, aligning with commitments in our strategic plan, Compass 2028, to “hands-on learning, sustainability, and student well-being.”

“We ask our JK-12 faculty to find natural ways to integrate the theme into their plans,” Ms. Young said. “And the response has been incredible.”

The theme will come to life through a wide range of activities:

Visiting Innovators: Students will hear from experts who have found inspiration and innovation in the natural world. On October 7, Jennifer Pharr Davis, an author and world-record-setting long-distance hiker, will speak to the community about resilience and exploration. She will also lead an after-school hike for families. In March, Richard James MacCowan, founder of the Biomimicry Innovation Lab, will share how nature’s design principles can solve modern-day problems.
Professional Development for Faculty: All Lower School teachers read “Balanced and Barefoot” over the summer, and the book’s author will visit the school this winter for talks with teachers and parents. This new curriculum is designed to encourage outdoor play and learning. Nature was also the theme of several professional development opportunities over the summer.
Project-Based Learning: Teachers are finding creative ways to embed the theme into their daily lessons.

Here’s a closer look at how students are engaging with the theme across divisions. These examples are just the beginning; nature curriculum will thrive throughout the school year.

In the Lab and on the Land: Grade 6 science students are understanding the ecosystem of the Bryan Innovation Lab pond. Middle School social studies students are doing a Paleolithic project in the Bryan Lab woods, and Grade 8 students are completing service work in the gardens. JK engages daily in their signature outdoor learning workshop, Nature Play, while students in kindergarten through third grade engage in nature play in the playscape behind the Bryan Lab once per eight-day rotation. Across divisions, field trips (including overnights) allow students to embrace nature, from Wilderness Adventure Week for Grade 8 to Lower School trips to local parks.
Creative Expression: Upper School art students are sketching, singing, photographing, acting, and filming in the Bryan Lab gardens. A cross-divisional poetry walk on the Lab grounds will feature both student and famous works.
Connecting Concepts: Grade 3 students are embarking on a year-long study of ecosystems, connecting directly to our local environment within the James River watershed. Grade 11 AP U.S. History students are bringing nature to their classroom by highlighting a location that is environmentally or geographically significant to American history. The Middle and Upper School choir is working on several nature-related songs while practicing outside. Upper School math, English, and seminar teachers are pursuing conversation topics outside that relate to the peace, energy, and trust found in the outdoors. Upper School psychology students are building models of neurons entirely out of materials found in nature. And this year’s Upper School student-led symposium on January 16 will focus on nature and belonging.

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