Staff photo / Bob Coupland Champion school students Piper Feathers, an eighth grader, left, and her sister, Allegra Feathers, a fifth grader, use microscopes at the Murduck Outdoor Environmental Education Laboratory behind the elementary school wing (next to the baseball field) in the Champion Local School District.

CHAMPION — An outdoor learning area will be added onto this year to enhance student opportunities.

David Murduck, a fifth-grade science teacher at Champion Middle School, said the lab is located behind the K-8 school complex.

He said hay bales are used in the gardens because, as they decompose, they help plant pumpkins and squash.

“As the hay bales decompose, they enhance the soil and many plants grow very, very well,” Murduck said.

He said the tabletop gardens for people in wheelchairs or who need to be seated have cucumbers planted in them.

Murduck said the United Way of Trumbull County provided funds to have a new trail in the land lab area called the “Borne Trail,” which allows people to read a book as they walk the trail.

He said there is a similar trail in Perkins Park in Warren.

“It focuses on health and physical education for children and also nature; that will be our third storybook trail,” Murduck said.

This is the third year since the land lab was completed and dedicated.

Murduck is in a contest to win $25,000, which will be used for additions to the outdoor lab and the school library for materials.

He said he should know by the end of June if he has won the contest.

If successful, an assembly will be held and the check presented by Bill Nye the Science Guy.

“What we would do with the money is get commercial instruments for our sensory trail. A commercial drum set would be $5,000. We want to also add to our fruit tree area. We want to keep the land lab going,” Murduck said.

He said often after school hours students will bring their parents to the land lab to see it.

“We welcome the public to visit after school hours.

Murduck said also planned is an overlook added over part of the land lab.

The five-acre land lab in addition to having the two storybook trails also has viewing areas, gardens, bridging nest boxes, bird and bat houses, chimney swift towers, and a solar-powered pavilion for classes with internet access.

There is handicapped access to the trails.

“It is important the students get to come back here but also getting their parents and families to come back here and see what we have and what we offer for their children and what we do to get the students outdoors,” Murduck said

He said he and other teachers want students to read books but also gain actual experience being in a land lab area.

“You can learn a lot more by experiencing something in addition to reading it in a book,” Murduck said.

Science teachers and instructors of other subject areas like to bring their classes to the land lab.

High school science teacher Rebecca Baxter has used the lab area for STEM activities for students.

Piper Feathers, an eighth grader, and her sister, Allegra Feathers, a fifth grader, said they like being able to come outside to the land lab and learn more about nature.

“I like to experience nature in person and get a break from being in the classroom,” said Piper.

Allegra said she likes to be able to go into the garden areas and learn.

Jake Schaffer of Champion walked one of the storybook trials with his daughter, Aubrey Schaffer, 8, first grade.

Murduck led them through parts of the outdoor area and noted more elementary classes are coming outside to the area to learn.

In October 2024, the Champion Board of Education named the outdoor science learning area in honor of Murduck, who secured funds and worked to make the project a reality.

It was officially named and dedicated as the Murduck Outdoor Environmental Education Laboratory.

“As you know, I am very passionate about science. My vision when they were building the new school was to have a science lab outside. I asked the students what they would want to have with an outdoor learning lab,” Murduck said.

School Superintendent John Grabowksi has said Murduck secured numerous grants for the district, including a $20,000 Martha Holden Jennings grant for the sensory trail.

He said other grants and funds have come from the Geauga-Trumbull Solid Waste Management District Go Green grant, Green Energy Machine grant and Ohio Department of Natural Resources grant.

“This is a legacy that Mr. Murduck created for science exploration in Champion that will live forever,” Grabowski has said.