SARANAC LAKE – Students and faculty from North Country Community College and Paul Smith’s College built an outdoor classroom on the NCCC campus Saturday morning.

About 15 people helped as NCCC professor and Saranac Lake resident Judy Steinberg coordinated the event and Paul Smith’s adjunct faculty members Dave Simmons and Bob Brehl led the construction effort. Six 9-foot benches, made out of boards of red pine cut from Paul Smith’s College property, were secured to the ground on cedar posts. The classroom, on a hill beside the college library, has a view of Scarface Mountain on a clear day.

“Up here there is us, as far as higher education institutions. It’s nice to be able to work together,” Simmons said. “You never know when one’s going to need the other for something else.”

The group worked with routers, sanders, levels and a sawdust-based wood adhesive to install the seating area, complete with one coat of polyurethane before rain hit the area Sunday.

Steinberg said the outdoor classroom is the first at NCCC’s campus. The idea for the classroom was hatched a couple of years ago by members of the college’s Environmental Club, three or four of whom graduate this year. Simmons said Paul Smith’s College has had an outdoor classroom of its own for more than a decade, but its condition has deteriorated due to a lack of sunlight. Recently students have proposed a renovation effort to allow more sun.

The Paul Smith’s site is larger in scope, and has desks, benches, a chalkboard and a large deck.

“What it means to me is being able to get students and faculty involved in building something that creates a connection with their school, or any institution,” Simmons said. “Everybody gets hands-on learning, and also it’s something they can be really proud of. It’s a legacy for them for their school here, and the students are also the stewards of the project. They oversee it.”

Steinberg, a biology professor for 12 years at NCCC, said classes will be able to use the site as early as this week.

“Next week is our last week of instruction, and then we have finals week, but next week I know a number of classes, including mine, are going to be out here to take advantage of it,” she said. “We’ll have to be in and out of the rain.”

Steinberg said the classroom will be available for any NCCC class to use, and she said she believes local community classes or groups may be able to use the facility with NCCC approval.

The classroom sits on a slight depression next to the college’s library building and behind a gazebo. Steinberg and Simmons said the group chose this site due to the natural contours of the ground, allowing for an amphitheater-type feel. The construction group also cut the cedar posts to different lengths to give the classroom a stadium-seating element.

The construction group plans to apply more coats of polyurethane to the site’s wood in subsequent weeks to complete phase one of the project. Steinberg said next year would include a second phase, where a small lean-to would be constructed at the head of the classroom to serve as a lectern or podium-like structure for instructors.