“Learning laboratory” is born in Bellingham school’s new outdoor field campus
Students in Bellingham’s Explorations Academy now have access to a new wetland field campus for outdoor education.
The outdoor field campus had always been a vision of the independent school system, Executive Director and Head of School Jennifer Dowd told The Bellingham Herald in an interview.
“It was the imagination of having an urban downtown campus and having a satellite field campus where kids could go out into the community, and out into nature, and use it as a learning laboratory for experiential learning and making meaningful impacts on our community and the land now. There is no need to wait until you are an adult to do things that matter in the world,” Dowd said.
The Explorations Academy teaches about 30 students from 6th through 12th grade.
The 13-acre field campus, known as the Kinney Creek property, is in a wetland north of Everson, about 30 minutes outside of Bellingham. Dowd said she first started looking at the space in September 2024. It was fully acquired by Explorations Academy in May 2025, allowing students to begin utilizing the outdoor space at the start of this school year in September.
The school is currently using the space twice a week, providing students with a unique way of learning about outdoor education, Dowd said.
Dowd said they are using the motto, “In nature, with nature, from nature,” to describe the experience.
In addition to learning about the natural environment, students are developing physical skills, such as hands-on tool experience. This week, students were split into two groups, one to make trails and the other to remove invasive blackberry bushes.
“Being out here is a natural space that breeds empathy,” Dowd said. “This is exactly the kind of mentality that is needed in the world today.”
The field acquisition became possible through a collaboration of community partners and the Jay Family, the former owners of the land.
Mary and Burton Jay purchased the land about 20 years ago and began restoration work on it. Michael Jay, the son of Mary and Burton, currently works as a science teacher at the academy, Dowd said.
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“When [Mary and Burton Jay] passed, the family wanted to honor them and their tradition, and the land was sold to the Exploration Academy, which was able to purchase the land with help from the Whatcom Land Trust, the Whatcom Million Trees Project and the Whatcom Transit Authority.
On Wednesday, Oct. 15, donors and volunteers with the Whatcom Land Trust visited the field campus to familiarize themselves with what they were actively giving toward, according to Land Trust Development Director Jodi Broughton.
“I am still learning about this, but I think children being exposed to the natural world… helps them understand at a personal level, and they remain invested in keeping the land healthy, more so than if they just read it in a book,” said Whatcom Land Trust donor Jan Wilson.
Suzanne Glick, a teacher of food science and chemistry at Explorations Academy, and parent to a middle school student, said this kind of education makes sense for her child.
“My son was homeschooled for many years. We were looking for a middle school option for him going into high school and this checks a lot of boxes for meeting his needs of being outside all day. He loves being in an outdoor environment, but also having the freedom to explore,” Glick said.
This story was originally published October 16, 2025 at 1:50 PM.
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