By Hub City Times staff

MARSHFIELD – A new literacy garden is officially complete at the Marshfield Middle School. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held May 24 for the new outdoor learning sanctuary.

Middle School Principal Mike Nicksic said the project was modeled after an outdoor learning center at Washington Elementary.

Middle School Principal Mike Nicksic speaks during the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Literacy Garden. Hub City Times photo

Former Real Pizza owner Carol Berg-Kappel, a 1993 graduate of Marshfield’s first “Leadership Marshfield” class, took on fundraising after she retired from her custodial position at the middle school.

Carol recruited the help of a group of people from the 2017-18 Leadership Marshfield class.  One of those members was John Tertin, who spoke on behalf of the group.

The literacy garden is a space where instructors may host a class or students could earn the privilege to read and relax in the open air.

The design includes a walkway, an amphitheater with boulder seats and a handicap accessible area, a podium for an instructor or student presentations, seating areas, picnic tables, planters, and landscaping.

No tax dollars were used to fund any portion of the Literacy Garden project, with much of the labor donated by Marshfield School District staff members.

The project began last Memorial Day weekend.