A Natural Bill Resch shares zeal for nature

He’s at home in the New Albany schools’ 85acre wetlands preserve on the district’s 200acre learning campus – a place he helped envision 20 years ago.

Resch was a key player in planning the learning campus, and he remains a driving force.

“Basically, I’m the schools’ nature guy,” the 70-year-old New Albany resident says. “I have a passion for creating an oasis of nature in an urban setting to benefit future generations.”

He also is actively involved as an environmental consultant for the school district and a member of New Albany’s Parks and Trails Advisory Board.

Resch, who has lived in New Albany for 43 years and raised his three children here, has been influential in fostering the growth of the wetlands and nature preserve. Over the past 20 years, he has watched the school district expand from 720 students to more than 4,000. The nature preserve continues to grow, fueling Resch’s desire to uphold the district’s vision to reinvent education.

One of his specialties is encouraging students to participate in the outdoor classroom through student-led projects, specifically New Albany High School’s required senior seminar projects. Examples include an information kiosk constructed by an Eagle Scout using 100 percent recycled material and a duck pond where a student is breeding Wood Ducks.

“The nature preserve is an extension of the classroom,” says Resch, who taught in the Westerville City School District for 26 years prior to working with the New Albany-Plain Local School District. “Whatever their curriculum is, we’ll support them.”