The rededication of the Truelson-Hightower Fort Worth ISD Outdoor Learning Center on Monday, October 13, 2008, honored the past, celebrated the present and looked to the future.

Thirty-five years after Ross Perot, Julius Truelson, and Eugene Hightower joined forces with the Tarrant Regional Water District to transform more than 225 acres of Wise County into an outdoor classroom, educators returned to claim the acreage for Fort Worth ISD students.

Teachers, students and friends of the District gathered at the OLC, located on County Road 4869 in Azle, to recommit its use to the study of science and math. 

As attendees gathered, a musical prelude was provided by Ben Fain on the hammered dulcimer and Kerri Bruce who played the fiddle.

The ceremony began with the ringing of the old fashioned school bell and the presentation of colors by the Southwest High School Color Guard JROTC, as the Star-Spangled Banner was played by Ben Fain.

Fort Worth ISD’s Chief Academic Officer Michael Sorum welcomed all.  

“It’s appropriate that today’s ceremony begins with ringing of the bell,” Mr. Sorum said.  “In years gone by, the teacher of the one-room schoolhouse summoned his or her pupils by ringing a bell – and today, as we both honor the past and look to the future,  we are doing the same. 

“We also have a one-room schoolhouse – only our room is as big as all outdoors.”

Mr. Sorum thanked the District’s friends from the Tarrant Regional Water District and the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, as well as more than a dozen descendants of the Pope family, the original homesteaders of the land in the mid-1800s.

Kathy Cash, FWISD Exploratory Learning Specialist in the Science Department, shared a little history lesson with the audience.

“Before the Pope family came here from Tennessee, this land was the province of American Indians.

“The first known inhabitants of Wise County were probably Wichita Indians, a nomadic plains group that depended upon the buffalo for food and other necessities.  The Wichita period ended as various Caddo Indian groups migrated into the region.  Today we honor the history of this land by asking for a blessing on its use through two American Indian ceremonies.”

Alice Barrientes, in charge of American Indian Student Support Services for the District, introduced the Grass Dance, performed by Lipan-Apache Jared Barrientez, Muskogee-Creek John Garcia and Ogalla-Sioux Arron Munoz.  

The Grass Dance honored the three ages of people to utilize the facility: adults, adolescents and youth.  This dance is to stomp the grass down to symbolically make a path for others to follow.

Cathleen Richardson, Executive Director of Math, Science, Health and Physical Education, talked about the amazing opportunity the OLC presents to both educators and students in science and math.  

“This place also will inspire the written word and the hearts of many young poets.

“For that reason,” she told her listeners, “I’m going to read a poem by Robert Frost.  This poem was written nearly 100 years ago when Frost was still in his thirties.  It has been interpreted many ways.  But for some of us, myself included, it’s about summoning the courage to take a different path.”

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
I'm sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Superintendent Melody Johnson also had words of praise for the OLC, before declaring it officially rededicated.

“What an amazing morning this has been – the music, the poetry and the wonderful spiritual blessing invoked by the representatives of the American Indian tribes.”

She called it a very special event for a very special place.

“This is an extraordinary parcel of land – tended first by American Indians, then by hardy settlers, the Pope family, who prospered here for several generations.  We love hearing Kathy Cash’s amazing stories about both Native Americans and pioneers who called this home. 

The Superintendent also thanked Alice Barrientes and praised “the District’s program that celebrates the American Indian heritage of many of our students.”

With the Fort Worth ISD’s renewed emphasis on science and math, she said, the Outdoor Learning Center will be the perfect laboratory in which students can observe, grow and learn. 

The superintendent then called the audience’s attention to two banners that flanked the makeshift stage.   

“They were created especially for this event and they will remain here inside the central building as a reminder of this day and a permanent part of the OLC.”

One banner read: Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better.  Albert Einstein,

“That is certainly at the heart of what will happen here.  Great knowledge begins with the careful examination of what lies before us.  A trip to the OLC will be hands-on instruction in ecology, conservation, and pioneer life.  Lessons will literally come alive!  No longer will science be confined to the pages of a book or the four walls of a traditional classroom.  What our students discover at the OLC will be with them forever.”

Then, she noted, we have the Bard’s observation, “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”    

(The second banner read: One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. William Shakespeare.)

“How deeply we all feel that today,” said Dr. Johnson.  “Regardless of our circumstances in life, we feel a kinship under this canopy of trees and surrounded by the grasslands of the remnant prairie. There’s something deeply spiritual about coming to a place like this.”

The Superintendent said she watched others as Cathleen Richardson read the Robert Frost poem, The Road Not Taken.   

“Several of you nodded in recognition, perhaps reflecting on what those words have meant to you.  In that context, take just a moment and think about how our decision to reopen and rededicate this wonderful place will result in new paths for our students.  Under the leadership of skilled Fort Worth ISD educators, our kids will learn to look the world differently.   Certainly, it will influence their destinations.  And, quite possibly, as Robert Frost mused, it ‘will make all the difference.’” 

Then, as Kerri Bruce played the evocative “Ashokan Farewell,” Dr. Johnson invited all the participants to join her and Mrs. Jean McClung and Mr. Juan Rangel as they cut the “ribbon” of grapevine and officially welcomed the new era of the Fort Worth ISD Truelson-Hightower Learning Center.

This was followed by a blessing of the grounds by Cherokee Elder Eugene Brown.

Afterward all enjoyed a reception inside the main building, nibbling “natural” treats of apples, oranges, fresh veggies and mixed nuts, along with water and ginger ale.  A large sheet cake made by Melvin Walker, emblazoned with the new Outdoor Learning Center logo and trimmed in scenes from nature, was the centerpiece.  In keeping with the ecological theme of the event, all of the plates, cups and utensils used were “compostable” products made of a sugar cane-corn base, donated by Eco Dallas.