LOOK UP, LOOK AHEAD. Wildlands school, a six through 12th grade public charter school, celebrates its 20-year anniversary since opening in 2005. Wildlands follows a "teacher-led" model, where teachers and students directly shape the learning environments and outcomes of each academic term. (Submitted Photo)

Tucked away in a quiet corner of Fall Creek lies an educational sanctuary rooted in the natural landscapes which its curriculum has been shaped by for the past two decades.

Wildlands, a sixth through 12th grade public charter school (308 S.130th Ave., Fall Creek), will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year and, in turn, reflect on its mission to develop life-long learning skills and “inquire into the natural world around us.”

Rewinding the clock back to the early 2000s, Paul Tweed, one of three core Wildlands founders — alongside Liz Seubert and Jeff Hadorn — shared the story of how one of the few “teacher-led” schools in the United States came to be, right here in the Chippewa Valley.

Tweed, a high school science teacher in the Augusta school district at the time, began his own summer science research programs with students; working alongside the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Beaver Creek Reserve, and other partners in the Chippewa Valley area.

This program — in tandem with semesterly block courses at Augusta High School, taught by Tweed — invited kids out into the region’s lakes, forests, and rivers for hands-on-learning activities. As the numbers grew for his summertime programs, Tweed was encouraged by the active superintendent of the district to “turn your summer program into a dedicated school.”

"Wildlands School is a community not just saying, but living the powerful things that can happen when a small group of dynamic educators have the courage to dream a different vision for what education can look like."

Jake Fields

president, Wildlands School Governance Board

With the support of the district, and the state Department of Public Instruction (DPI) charter school grant program, Tweed was able to secure the funding to hire a selection of interns and instructors who would become the first wave of Wildlands’ educators.

“We knew that students were really capable of so much more than sitting and listening (in a classroom), doing worksheets and labs,” Tweed said. “Some students just need a different level of support, a different environment, or a change of scenery in their learning path.”

These values continue to shape the core of Wildlands’ cooperative education model today. Rather than staff being employed and directed under a school administration, teachers — and in many cases, the students themselves — directly shape the curriculum and outcomes of each academic term.

In the early years of Wildlands, students actively assisted staff by researching necessary supplies, tools, and activities for their project-based learning initiatives. “We built the school hand-in-hand with the student population over the first number of years; that just evolved into the way the school operates (now),” Tweed added.

The Wildlands school, located within Beaver Creek Reserve in Fall Creek, is one of four schools in the Augusta district. (Submitted photo)

The same is true today, as the teacher-led charter school encourages open collaboration between student and faculty, along with incorporating their interests into the day-to-day learning environment within Beaver Creek Reserve.

Former and current educators at the school were drawn by this intersectional learning method, including Andrew Johnson, the current lead teacher at Wildlands.

With a childhood spent enjoying the outdoors, Johnson found himself called to the Chippewa Valley from living and teaching in Minnesota. Nine years ago, a close friend (and former Wildlands lead teacher for seven years), Jake Fields, invited him to join the Wildlands community.

“Wildlands School is a community not just saying, but living the powerful things that can happen when a small group of dynamic educators have the courage to dream a different vision for what education can look like,” Fields said.

From the very beginning of his time with Wildlands, Johnson has been hooked on these testaments and potential for making a difference in students’ lives.

“I knew from even the first week of working at Wildlands, that my quality of life was going to improve immensely because the job itself was so good,” Johnson said. “Teachers are empowered to chase their own passions and pursue things they think are going to be great for kids.”

For Johnson — and other faculty alike — this looks like embedding experiential education opportunities within his coursework that also extend beyond the classroom walls. These opportunities include traveling across the state for National History Day projects or journeying to Utah to study flora, fauna, and human impact on national parks.

Students in Mr. Johnson's courses, pictured above, explored the environment and national parks in Utah for an "experiential education"  trip this year. Students at Wildlands have the opportunity to travel around the Chippewa Valley and beyond as a part of their curriculum, Johnson said. (Submitted photo)

Johnson said the school's curriculum offerings have expanded to include grades six through 12 — growing from its initial seventh, eighth, 11th, and 12th grades. This growth has seemingly continued after graduation, with Wildlands graudates pursuing a variety of paths.

Whether they pursue entrepreneurship and open their own business, continue their education path at a four-year university, or remain close to home on their family’s farm, Johnson noted “If a student were to come to Wildlands, they would have every opportunity to pursue what they are passionate about after Wildlands.”

Students at Wildlands school, pictured above, collaborate on a project rooted in the region's natural landscapes. (Submitted photo)

Although the Wildlands charter school falls within the Augusta school district, faculty and students continue to foster the deeply embedded relationships with both Beaver Creek Reserve — where the school is located — and the Fall Creek school district.

“The community relations component of our school is a really important part of our mission and vision — and something that we will certainly continue to emphasize into the next 20 years,” Johnson said.

As students and teachers embark on a new school year at Wildlands this fall, their sights are already set on next spring's “All Family Reunion.” This event will invite all — alumni, staff, and family members — who have been touched by Wildlands’ mission to celebrate.

The reunion will honor the school's unofficial motto, “Treating students like people since 2005,” a principle that continues to guide Wildlands’ work into the future.

“We have made it our business to build deep, meaningful relationships with our students, and treat them not like numbers on a standardized test roster — or placeholders on a seating chart — but thinking, feeling, caring human beings,” Fields said.

Wildlands charter school is located at Beaver Creek Reserve (308 S.130th Ave.) in Fall Creek. For more information on Wildlands’ charter school — or to learn more about enrollment period in the new year — visit the school’s webpage online.