From the animals to the ecosystems to the wildlife, the SMESL, or “Shawnee Mission Educational Science Laboratory”, has  served as a natural classroom, playing a vital role in connecting students with nature.

SMESL here at Shawnee Mission South really displays a wide variety of wildlife and shows off the natural environment here in Kansas. The lab spans about 22.7 acres of woods, prairie, along with a pond and streams.

“It has a lot of the little ecosystems you’d find here in the natural parts of Johnson County,” said Science Teacher David Wright, who oversees the SMESL and uses it to teach students about biology.  “We have wild critters, plants that we don’t do anything to except for invasive species.”

The SMESL has been around for over 50 years and has helped shape the way decades of biology teachers teach students.

“It was started in 1968 and at the time, biology was … really big and it was really popular to teach about the cell and molecular biology,” Wright said.

Over the years, as environmental education became more popular and important, it has been used to teach about that.

“We now have environmental ed classes, where the students learn about the environment, learn about all the plants and animals and ecosystems and so forth,” Wright said.

The SMESL has also provided a place for younger kids to learn about the environment.

“I don’t know how many 10s of 1000s of students from Johnson County and Missouri in the surrounding area have come here to go through those little classes,” he said. “I mean at one time we had like over 6,000, 7,000 people coming.” 

The SMESL has endured many changes since its original assembly.

“Not only have trees gotten bigger, but you get this turnover of trees,” he said. “We used to have a lot more elm and locust trees, and those are dying out and other things are coming in now, so you get this turnover in the ecosystem.”

A typical class period in the SMESL can consist of observing wildlife and animals.

“We usually go out there and walk around and watch the animals and sometimes he has us take notes,” 9th grade biology student Jackson Senatore said.

Overall, the SMESL has helped expose many students and kids to nature.

“Especially the little kids with the environmental ed program, some of them never had a pet, never had experience with animals at all,” Wright said. “We have a disconnect, even though we’re outdoor creatures of the environment – and trying to break that disconnect gets more people connected to their natural world, which they depend upon.”