Southern Boone Learning Garden teacher Hope Sickmeier said Friday that the school’s outdoor classroom recently won a $600 grant and was competing for another, much larger, award.

The Learning Garden, SoBoCo’s popular outdoor classroom, is working to obtain grants to fund special programs as well as equipment.

The Learning Garden has entered the Follett Challenge, a national contest that gives educators an opportunity to help showcase their unique and innovative programs which teach students the 21st century skills they need to be prepared for life.

The Follett Challenge includes $200,000 in awards of products and services to 13 winning schools, including 10 “People’s Choice” awards.

“As part of our application, we are asked to submit a three-to-five-minute video,” Sickmeier said, “which gives an overview of our program and how it is positively impacting students, educators and our school.”

The 10 awards from the ‘People’s Choice’ category will be those schools which receive the highest number of votes for their videos on the Follett Challenge website: follettchallenge.com.

Sickmeier was enthusiastic about gaining support and votes for the SoBoCo video. Voting ends at midnight on Friday, Jan. 26, Sickmeier said.