The alpine house project will provide a hands-on classroom environment like no other.

Tessa Macaulay took a few years in between high school and university to get some job experience, but always knew she wanted to go back to school. One of her jobs during that time was at a veterinarian’s office working with animals. Around that time, she also discovered that her true passion was working with plants.

“I like to say that animals are my hobby but plants are my life,” she laughs, adding “plants are so cool.”

A vibrant new space

Now in the fourth year of the horticulture program in Dalhousie’s Faculty of Agriculture, Macaulay is learning things like how to design gardens, and work with the landscape from an environmentally-safe perspective.

She is excited about a new outdoor classroom initiative that is being planned as a way to recognize Dalhousie’s 200th anniversary and celebrate the successful merger. It will also leave a lasting legacy on the Agricultural Campus for students.

The project also includes the construction of the alpine house, which will provide a specific and unique environment for the study of rare plants. It will be a vibrant space where landscape architecture, engineering and horticulture students can learn, collaborate and get hands-on experience.

Macaulay will not only benefit from taking classes in the outdoor classroom, but she is also helping with the design of the structure. “It is great practice for me, in terms of working on a real-world project. It is giving me a good grounding on the practical side of the things I am learning in the classroom.”

Putting learning in perspective

Located just outside Truro in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, the Faculty of Agriculture is home to a working farm, almost 1,000 acres of research fields, and gardens and greenhouses. Although the faculty’s programs use the entire campus as a learning environment, there is tremendous benefit to a permanent, outdoor classroom. The space will also be open to the public.

Macaulay is thrilled with the prospect of taking hands-on learning to the next level. “In our profession, we will be working primarily outdoors. Not only will this classroom benefit us academically, it will give us a better perspective on what we’re learning, and prepare us for our future careers.”

Truly a unique opportunity

“I was extremely excited to learn of this opportunity for students,” says Karen A. Smith, Senior Instructor in Department of Plant, Food and Environmental Sciences. “I teach several plant identification courses, and we study plants devoted to the alpine landscape. As part of these courses, we take weekly plant identification walks, even in the dead of winter. It will be such an asset to be able to show the students these plants in an alpine house setting, even in winter,” she says.

“I can’t fully express what a unique opportunity and resource for our students this will be. To be able to work hands-on in alpine house alongside the botanical garden staff will be a one-of-a-kind learning experience.”

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