A single donor has committed $2 million toward the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont's second campus, moving the nonprofit one step closer to an expansion that will allow more people to interact with the region's stunning natural landscape.
For more than 50 years, Tremont has been helping folks get out into nature. Through a partnership with Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tremont offers school trips, summer camps and arts programming inside the park at its original Walker Valley campus. That site is equipped with facilities including a visitor center, activity center and dining hall, dorm, council house and pavilion.
In 2019, Tremont acquired 194 acres just outside the park's boundary, where the institute is working to create another
campus that will increase the outdoor education opportunities it's able to offer, both in type and number. Tremont staff envision that with the addition, students will have the option to visit for a day instead of the current overnight field trip structure, companies will be able to bring employees for workforce training and nonprofits will be able to host board meetings in a unique setting.
With Amy Buckner Chowdhry's $2 million donation, the next step is construction. The hope is for an early 2027 groundbreaking, contingent on raising the remaining necessary funds. Tremont President and CEO Catey McClary said an estimated additional $4 million is still needed for construction costs.
What to expect from the Tremont expansion
Knox News reported in 2023 that the new campus would feature dorms, a dining hall and a commercial kitchen, but due to changes in federal funding opportunities, the project has been scaled back, at least for the initial phase.
Tremont opted to focus its efforts on one building - a learning center - that eventually will become the new campus' central hub as it continues to grow. The learning center will be a pavilion that also has interior space featuring a conference area, kitchen and bathrooms.
Despite changes to the initial plans, the nonprofit is still moving ahead with its pursuit of Living Building Challenge certification. The distinguished status is awarded to structures that give back to the environment more than they take from it, achieved with sustainable features such as solar panels or building with responsible materials. If Tremont is successful, the learning center will be the first Living Building Challenge-certified building in the state.
It would also mark one more way visitors can learn from the Tremont landscape.
The Great Smoky Mountains are 'for everybody'
Helping more kids access the great outdoors − especially in this increasingly online, post-pandemic age − was a driving factor in donor Chowdhry's decision to give so generously to Tremont.
“Children today are growing up with pressures that previous generations simply didn’t face, from social media and online bullying to the constant distraction of the digital world," Knoxville-native Chowdhry said in an email. "Now more than ever, I believe they need the healing and grounding power of nature." With the expansion, she hopes more children will have a chance to find that − and return to it again and again as they grow older.
There's clear evidence that as a practice, getting outside is good for you. It can boost your immune system, improve cognitive function, lower your blood pressure and reduce stress, according to UCLA Health. The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia even cites benefits specific to kids: reducing screen time, promoting an active lifestyle and strengthening social skills.
Tremont Development Director Megan Womack said the vision of the second campus resonated with Chowdhry almost immediately. "One of the things that really struck me when we were talking to her is that she was like, 'I want these kids to know that they can always come back home here in the Smoky Mountains,'" Womack said.
And the Smokies are a remarkable asset, not just to the state, but to the country, said Tremont board chair Brandon Bruce. They're a resource everyone deserves to have access to, and with Chowdhry's gift, more people will. In addition to the pledged $2 million, she also has given $500,000 to help Blount County students specifically access programming that's right in their backyard. "It's helping to unlock for more people this resource that is like, classically American," Bruce told Knox News. "It's for everybody, definitionally, right?"
The expansion still needs more funding to bring it to life. To give, visit tremontfuture.org/donate.
Hayden Dunbar Evans is the storyteller reporter. Email: hayden.dunbar@knoxnews.com. Instagram: @knoxstoryteller.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Second Tremont campus in Smokies gets $2M and a new plan | Exclusive
