Edina High students learning in the woods

Directly behind Edina High School lies a calm, wooded area western suburbanites recognize as an oasis full of the bugs, birds and plants that dominated the area long before schools, homes and cars arrived.

On Tuesday, seven Edina High seniors paid tribute to the Creek Valley woods by putting the final touches on benches for an outdoor classroom -- a site where teachers and students can enjoy nature rather than discussing it indoors.

The Edina High students worked with Sam West, an independent local contractor who helped them design the project from scratch. The students hauled bricks, eight tons of dirt and plastic to the site.

Several of the students who built the outdoor classroom participated in Project Earth, the high school's environmental club. They took advantage of the school's May Term program. It's an option to finish classes early and complete an independent study project during the final two weeks before graduation.

"For the rest of our lives we'll have jobs or other responsibilities," 17-year-old True Overholt said. "We would never have time to follow our passions and do something like this."

Rachael Pream Grenier is Edina High's youth development manager and advised the outdoor classroom group.

The 25- to 30-person seating area will have a lasting impact on "a school with very few windows," Pream Grenier said.

Burfeind's science classes and others at the school are likely to take advantage of the outdoor classroom area.

Project Earth paid for the classroom project with a $6,000 grant from the Edina Education Fund and a $1,000 grant from Dow FilmTec, said 18-year-old Anniessa Antar.

All of the group members graduate later this week and will head to colleges in St. Paul, Northfield, various other states and Canada. They said they'll remember working as a team on the project long after they've forgotten the final exams or the papers they turned in a few weeks ago.

"It was a lot more work than if we'd gone to school," True Overholt said.

Edina senior Molly Forbes joked that: "Now I can look down and say, 'Hey, that's class-six gravel.'"