Highlights from the 2017

Honorees

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents....................................................................................................... 2

Introduction ................................................................................................................ 7

Honorees at a Glance.............................................................................................. 13

2017 Director’s Award.............................................................................................. 14

2017 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools ................................... 15

Alabama..................................................................................................................... 15

Childersburg Elementary School, Childersburg, Ala................................................ 15

Sycamore School, Sycamore, Ala........................................................................... 16

University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala. ........................................ 18

California .................................................................................................................... 21

Yosemite High School, Merced, Calif...................................................................... 21

The Thacher School, Ojai, Calif............................................................................... 24

Culver City Unified School District, California.......................................................... 27

Montecito Union School District, Santa Barbara, Calif. ........................................... 30

Redondo Beach Unified School District, California.................................................. 32

Colorado..................................................................................................................... 34

Sedalia Elementary School, Sedalia, Colo. ............................................................. 34

Colorado Mountain College, Glenwood Springs, Colo. ........................................... 36

Connecticut ................................................................................................................ 39

Moriarty Environmental Sciences Magnet School, Norwich, Conn.......................... 39

Delaware .................................................................................................................... 42
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Forwood Elementary School, Wilmington, Del. ....................................................... 42

F. Neil Postlethwait Middle School, South Camden, Del. ........................................ 43

U.S. Department of Defense Education Agency ........................................................ 45

Tarawa Terrace Elementary School, Tarawa Terrace, N.C..................................... 45

Florida ........................................................................................................................ 46

Castle Creek Elementary School, Orlando, Fla....................................................... 46

Surfside Elementary School, Satellite Beach, Fla. .................................................. 48

Wilton Manors Elementary School, Wilton Manors, Fla........................................... 50

Air Base K-8 Center, Homestead, Fla. .................................................................... 53

Duval County Public Schools, Jacksonville, Florida ................................................ 55

Georgia ...................................................................................................................... 57

Gilbert Elementary School, La Fayette, Ga. ............................................................ 57

Kinchafoonee Primary School, Leesburg, Ga. ........................................................ 59

Morningside Elementary School, Atlanta, Ga.......................................................... 61

The University of Georgia, Athens, Ga.................................................................... 63

Illinois ......................................................................................................................... 66

Maercker Intermediate School, Westmont, Ill.......................................................... 66

Chiaravalle Montessori School, Evanston, Ill. ......................................................... 67

Indiana ....................................................................................................................... 69

Burris Laboratory School, Muncie, Ind. ................................................................... 69

Bethany Christian Schools, Goshen, Ind................................................................. 70

Iowa............................................................................................................................ 72
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Iowa Lakes Community College, Estherville, Ia....................................................... 72

Kentucky .................................................................................................................... 75

Morton Middle School, Lexington, Ky...................................................................... 75

Louisiana.................................................................................................................... 77

Belle Chasse Academy, Belle Chasse, La. ............................................................. 77

Mayfair Laboratory School, Baton Rouge, La.......................................................... 79

Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, La. ......................................................... 81

Maryland .................................................................................................................... 84

William Tyler Page Elementary School, Silver Spring, Md. ..................................... 84

John Poole Middle School, Poolesville, Md............................................................. 86

Minnesota................................................................................................................... 88

Edgewood Early Childhood & La ola del lago Spanish Immersion School, Prior 

Lake, Minn............................................................................................................... 88

Pilot Knob STEM Magnet School, Eagan, Minn. ..................................................... 91

Bemidji State University, Bemidji, Minn. .................................................................. 93

Missouri...................................................................................................................... 95

McKelvey Elementary School, Maryland Heights, Mo............................................. 95

Parkway North High School, St. Louis, Mo.............................................................. 97

Maplewood Richmond Heights Middle School, Maplewood, Mo. ............................ 99

Montana ................................................................................................................... 101

Whitefish School District, Montana........................................................................ 101

Nebraska.................................................................................................................. 105
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Chandler View Elementary School, Omaha, Neb.................................................. 105

Omaha Northwest High Magnet School, Omaha, Neb.......................................... 107

New Hampshire........................................................................................................ 109

Keene State College, Keene, N.H......................................................................... 109

New Jersey .............................................................................................................. 112

George L. Catrambone Elementary School, Long Branch, N.J. ............................ 112

Long Branch Middle School, Long Branch, N.J..................................................... 114

New Mexico.............................................................................................................. 115

Sandia Vista Elementary School, Rio Rancho, N.M.............................................. 115

Ohio.......................................................................................................................... 117

Lakewood Catholic Academy, Lakewood, Ohio .................................................... 117

Oregon ..................................................................................................................... 119

Portland Waldorf School, Milwaukie, Ore. ............................................................. 119

Pennsylvania............................................................................................................ 121

Coebourn Elementary School, Brookhaven, Penn. ............................................... 121

The School District of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania................................................. 122

Rhode Island ............................................................................................................ 125

Moses Brown School, Providence, R.I. ................................................................. 125

Rhode Island College, Providence, R.I.................................................................. 128

Virginia ..................................................................................................................... 131

Centreville Elementary School, Centreville, Va. .................................................... 131

Discovery Elementary School, Arlington, Va. ........................................................ 133
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Albemarle County Public Schools, Virginia ........................................................... 135

Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia................................................................. 138

Washington .............................................................................................................. 141

Lakeridge Elementary School, Mercer Island, Wash............................................. 141

Green Gables Elementary School, Federal Way, Wash........................................ 143

Wisconsin................................................................................................................. 145

Houlton Elementary School, Houlton, Wisc........................................................... 145

Kromrey Middle School, Middleton, Wisc. ............................................................. 147

Washburn School District, Wisconsin.................................................................... 149

The University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, Stevens Point, Wisc. ..................... 151

Acknowledgements................................................................................................ 155
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Introduction

The Origins of ED-GRS

In 2011, key advocates from the Campaign for Environmental Literacy, the Center 

for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the National Wildlife 

Federation, and the Earth Day Network steered some 80 national and state-based 

nonprofits to request that the U.S. Department of Education (ED) honor schools for 

their sustainable facilities, health practices, and effective environmental education. 

The award that evolved from this petition, U.S. Department of Education Green 

Ribbon Schools (ED-GRS), has had a significant effect on the green schools 

movement and allowed ED an unprecedented platform to address school facilities, 

health, and environment.

These advocates and the federal family ultimately assisted ED in developing a 

consensus definition of a green school, featuring what came to be known as the 

three Pillars of the award:

1) reducing environmental impact, such as waste, water, energy, greenhouse 

gases, and transportation in the areas of facilities, grounds, and operations; 

2) improving health and wellness by promoting a healthy physical environment 

(including aspects such as air quality, contaminant control, acoustics, 

daylighting, and thermal comfort) and student and staff wellness practices 

(such as healthy school food and outdoors physical activity); and 

3) offering effective environmental and sustainability education, including civic 

learning, green careers, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and 

math) connections. 

How the ED-Green Ribbon Schools Recognition Award Functions

Going beyond the simple award requested by nonprofit stakeholders, ED-GRS has 

become the federal communications and outreach tool around specific areas that ED 

had, until its advent, infrequently addressed. The award has allowed the agency to 

use its bully pulpit to address matters of school facilities, health, and environment by 

highlighting innovative practices and sharing useful free resources in these areas, 

despite limited authority to run grant programs in these realms.

Annually, state education officials voluntarily participate by nominating their top 

schools, districts, and postsecondary institutions based on their achievement in ED’s 

three Pillars. Although ED provides some suggestions as to how state education 

agencies might document nominees’ work in the three Pillars, ultimately, states have 

flexibility in their selection and nomination, provided that they document progress for 

each nominee in all of the three Pillars. ED then uses the award to communicate
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honorees’ promising practices and the helpful resources they successfully employ to 

all of the nation’s schools. 

Growth of the Initiative’s Communications and Engagement Functions

Over time, ED has added several components to the initial school award, including 

the incorporation of school districts and postsecondary institutions, as well as a state 

education agency official’s award. The program’s outreach also has grown, along 

with its engagement and liaising functions, with a resource web site, 

www.greenstrides.org, and an annual Green Strides tour spotlighting clusters of 

honorees around an annual theme. Green Strides, the outreach and engagement 

arm of the award, uses its web site, a newsletter, and social media to get the word 

out about free resources, programs, grants, and webinars available to schools 

around the three Pillars, to the extent that ED’s limited federal resource commitment 

allows. 

ED-GRS by the Numbers

With the 2017 cohort, the award has now honored some 340 schools, 56 districts, 

and 34 postsecondary institutions. In this case, larger numbers are not necessarily 

indicative of broader influence. ED-GRS was never intended to certify thousands of 

schools. Each year, state education agencies are invited to nominate up to five 

kindergarten through 12th grade school or district candidates and one 

postsecondary institution. This is because ED requires only a few examples to 

highlight innovative practices. For the same reason, institutions – whether school, 

district, or postsecondary – are eligible only once for this award, and always must 

state their designation with the year in which they were honored. Once ED has 

highlighted an institution’s practices, it is useful to move on to highlighting other, 

diverse examples. In fact, beginning with the 2017-2018 cycle, schools nominated 

from districts that already have won the award will need to demonstrate 

achievements above and beyond those previously honored in the district application. 

ED-GRS Honorees by Year and Type

Year Schools Districts* Post-secondary* Total

2012 78 N/A N/A 78

2013 64 14 N/A 78

2014 48 9 N/A 57

2015 58 9 14 81

2016 47 15 11 73

2017 45 9 9 63

Total 340 56 34 430

*The District Sustainability Award was added in 2013, and the Postsecondary Award in 2015.
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Number of Participating States

Despite the exciting efforts ED has highlighted with this recognition award, there is 

still work to be done to improve school facilities, health, and environment 

engagement. Roughly 30 states voluntarily nominate annually for this award. That 

means ED does not have a mechanism for highlighting the practices of green 

schools in the remaining 20 states, where state education agencies choose not to 

nominate. 

Side bar: Number of Nominating Authorities by Year

Year Number of Participating Nominating Authorities

2012 30

2013 32

2014 30

2015 30

2016 27

2017 29

 All states, territories, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense 

Education Activity, and the Bureau of Indian Education are invited to nominate. 

Contributing to the Development of a More Coherent Definition of a Green School

A key contribution of the award is believed to be that -- to some degree and for at 

least a time – it brought various agencies and organizations together around a 

common definition of a green school. Rather than one organization using the term 

“green school” to denote an energy efficient school, another using it to refer to 

institutions offering environmental and sustainability learning, and a third employing 

it to indicate environment health or wellness practices, there has been a 

convergence such that a green or sustainable school must encompass all three 

Pillars. There continue to be initiatives that focus squarely on one segment of this 

work; however, it usually is with the stated understanding that they form part of a 

broader three-Pillar effort.

A Bully Pulpit for School Facilities, Health, and Environment

In 2011, the term “green school” was a relatively unknown concept at ED and across 

much of the country. Today, there is a growing understanding of what this work 

entails, at least in small part because of ED’s efforts annually to illustrate this work 

with the concrete practices of its honorees. ED’s oversight of this award has offered 

the agency an opportunity to address and engage on school infrastructure and 

operational costs; environmental health and school wellness practices; nutritious, 
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local, and student-grown school food; and hands-on, outdoors, project- and/or placebased, authentic, environmental, civic, and sustainability learning, among other 

related topics. The award has also allowed ED to highlight unique local, state, and 

national partnerships and where sustainability efforts intersect with equity.

A Significant Effect with a Limited Budget and Innovative Collaboration

Despite the limited availability of funds, the award has facilitated collaborations and 

connections that have saved resources. For example, both ED-GRS and Green 

Strides have enabled ED to share the many programs for schools offered by 

counterparts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Interior, 

and Energy; and collaborators across the for- and nonprofit private sectors.

In the same way that ED works more effectively across a broader range of federal 

agencies as a result of the award, many state education agencies also are 

collaborating in new and exceptional ways with state health, environment, and 

energy agencies to select their nominees to ED. The private sector, both for- and 

nonprofit, also has gotten involved at federal, state, local, and school levels, working 

with schools and governments. Through this collaboration, ED’s recognition award 

has become a tool to get various parties working better together for the benefit of 

students across the nation.

Green Schools Are Successfully Serving Disadvantaged Populations 

Some fifty percent of ED-GRS honorees have served majority disadvantaged 

student populations, as measured by free and reduced-price lunch. While this is in 

part due to award criteria design, which asks states to ensure at least one of their 

nominees is disadvantaged, state nominations have exceeded this minimum 

requirement. With ED-GRS designated schools, districts, and post-secondary 

institutions providing better education to traditionally underserved students, green 

schools may be another tool to advance equal access to a quality education for all 

students.

A Green School Need Not Be Newly Constructed

To ensure that the award highlighted diverse examples of sustainability, it always 

has assessed candidates based on resources available to them, rather than in 

comparison to each other. For this reason, the award has, over the years, 

highlighted many older school constructions that are engaging in low-cost, but highly 

effective retrofits and behavioral change. All of these are steps that any school 

community can undertake, without a new construction that is designed specifically to 

be resource efficient and environmentally healthy. In this way, the award has helped 
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to educate the public about the broad applicability of green school practices, in old 

buildings and new.

Creating Incentives for Multiple Pipelines for Sustainability Improvements by All 

Schools

Another important consequence of the award has been the refinement of various 

national and state-specific green schools programs that it has spurred. Many states 

have realigned pre-existing state green schools programs, built new ones, and now 

recognize runners-up beyond those they nominate to ED, in order to create 

pathways to the national award, broaden recognition within individual states, and 

incentivize more change. 

The 2017 Cohort

This year’s selectees were confirmed from a pool of candidates voluntarily 

nominated and exhaustively reviewed by 29 state education authority 

implementation teams, including 28 states and the Department of Defense 

Education Activity. While selection processes vary from state to state, members of 

several state agencies as well as outside experts generally comprise selection 

committees. At the federal level, we have selected 45 schools, nine districts, and 

nine postsecondary institutions that demonstrate promising practices to cut costs, 

improve health, and ensure that students learn through the most hands-on, 

engaging means possible.

The U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools, District Sustainability 

Awardees, and Postsecondary Sustainability Awardees prove that any school, 

district, or postsecondary institution can take steps to improve the sustainability, 

health, and safety of school facilities; ensure nutrition and fitness practices for a 

lifetime of wellness and productivity; and engage students in authentic, real-world 

learning. 

Schools use sustainability in context to teach important civic values and skills that 

encourage students to grow into responsible, compassionate, and contributing 

citizens. Furthermore, working with dynamic environmental, social, and economic 

systems from an early age nurtures precisely the type of thinking, collaboration, and 

problem-solving skills that careers of the future require, whether these students 

graduate from green career and technical programs, green college preparatory 

schools, community colleges, or liberal arts colleges. 

It is with tremendous pleasure that we present the 2017 U.S. Department of 

Education Green Ribbon Schools, District Sustainability Awardees, and 

Postsecondary Sustainability Awardees. These honorees are ensuring that their 
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students learn to live, work, and play with sustainability and health in mind, not as an 

afterthought, but as an integral part of everything they undertake, from cradle to 

career. 

The 2017 Green Ribbons are here. Prepare to be amazed! When you recover, go 

to our http://www.greenstrides.org page and get started using some of the same 

tools these awardees employ.

Andrea Suarez Falken

Director, U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools and Facilities, 

Health, and Environment Liaison
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Honorees at a Glance

 45 schools, including 1 charter, 6 nonpublic, and 5 magnet schools

 Nine school districts

 Nine institutions of higher education, including three career and technical and 

community colleges

 28 disadvantaged (44 percent)

 Nine rural (14 percent)

 63 honorees total, from 28 nominating authorities
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2017 Director’s Award

The Director’s Award recognizes a state education official’s 

exemplary efforts to administer the U.S. Department of 

Education Green Ribbon Schools (ED-GRS) recognition award. 

The ED-GRS Director’s Award is given annually to the state 

education agency official who does the most to advance green 

schools in his or her state, by running a robust competition and 

nomination process; connecting schools to resources in all 

three Pillars; amplifying the stories of honorees; helping schools 

learn from one another; partnering with a variety of entities to 

bring more resources and expertise into schools; and exhibiting a dedication to 

exceptional school facilities, health, and environmental education through activities 

outside of the administration of the award. 

ED is delighted to have selected Program Manager Keisha Ford-Jenrette from the 

Georgia Department of Education as the 2017 U.S. Department of Education Green 

Ribbon Schools Director’s Award recipient.

Ford-Jenrette piloted ED-GRS in Georgia and gave the award a permanent home in her 

office. She fosters collaboration among government, nonprofits, for-profit partners, and 

schools. She supports schools and districts in the process of applying, including 

providing feedback and mentoring so that they can improve for re-application. She has 

partnered with Captain Planet Foundation to offer a significant cash award to honorees; 

liaised with the Georgia Lieutenant Governor’s office for state recognition festivities, 

releases, and citations each year; and developed a state-level honorable mention to 

broaden recognition and reward promising efforts. In sum, Ford-Jenrette has modeled 

excellence in ED-GRS implementation for other state education authorities to follow. 

We commend Ford-Jenrette for her work to promote environmental stewardship, health, 

and sustainability, and for inspiring even more schools, districts, and postsecondary 

institutions to aim high.
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2017 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools

Alabama

Childersburg Elementary School, Childersburg, Ala.

Where student clubs take the lead in sustainability efforts

All 223 students at Childersburg Elementary School, 85 percent of whom are eligible 

for free and reduced-price lunch, and all faculty members are part of one of eight 

clubs that are participating actively in projects that work toward environmental 

stewardship, responsibility, and awareness.

The Green Team has been busy with monthly campus cleanup, raking and using 

pine straw to protect shrubs and plants around the campus, and repurposing 

shredded paper to make decorative ornaments for the community. Members of the 

This is How We Roll club give public service announcements about living healthy 

and taking up healthy habits, which are broadcasted over the school intercom 

system, Twitter, Facebook, and the school web site, as well as posted in community 

storefronts. Get on Board club members repurpose two-liter bottles to use as 

watering systems for the lettuce they grow, which is harvested and shared in 

delicious salads. The Full Steam Ahead club upcycles items donated by community 

members into flower pots that are gifted in the spring. 

Another group, The Earthworms, has been recycling toilet paper rolls and milk 

cartons into bird houses and feeding perches that are hung in trees on campus to 

attract native birds. The Earthworms also are planting saplings that have been 

raised from seed by community members, who provided education on how students 

could cultivate their own saplings.

In their regular curriculum, Childersburg students engage in project-based learning, 

such as the second grade’s Breaking it Down unit, during which they studied trash 

that had been collected for 42 days. Students learned firsthand what decomposes 

and what does not, and then studied the resulting effect on the environment. They 

created Leaders Don’t Litter stations that are stocked with gloves and bags, so when 

classes go outside, they can be good stewards and keep the campus clean. They 

also created a Lost and Found wooden box that is located by the back door of the 

gym. This helps students and parents find items and not repurchase. 

The school was ENERGY STAR certified in 2009 and 2014 with a Portfolio Manager 

score of 88. Childersburg has reduced energy use by 25 percent and water 

consumption by 33 percent over 10 years in the renovated 1961 facility.
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Multiple community members have been invited to Childersburg to help students 

learn environmental stewardship and wellness practices. Southern Company, the 

local utility, works with the school to educate students about electricity; local chefs 

give demonstrations about cooking and keeping meals healthy; and SAFE in 

Sylacauga offered an interactive play about healthy eating habits. The school nurse 

actively promotes good student health by creative visual displays outside her room;

newsletters for students, parents, and community members; and mini-lessons for 

students in individual classrooms. 

Childersburg’s playground area used recycled tires that had been ground up and 

treated to make it safe to use as mulch. Eight faculty members, three community 

members and over 100 students took part in spreading this mulch. All 223 students 

participate in an annual Turkey Trot fun run. Students are asked to walk and run not 

only at school, but also at home. They are responsible for encouraging family and 

community members to take part with them to develop healthy habits. Childersburg 

offers Childersburg At Play events, during which parents and community members 

take part alongside students in after-school activities that promote life skills and 

physical education skills. Zumba, walking, biking, and stretching activities have 

been offered during these events. 

All classrooms strive for the Golden Bowl and Golden Broom awards. Students are 

encouraged to eat healthy, and the class that does the best job eating a balanced 

lunch is awarded the Golden Bowl for the week, which they proudly carry with them 

to lunch daily. Students also are encouraged to keep their campus and classrooms 

a clean, safe, and healthy place to learn, with the classroom that does the best job at 

this awarded the Golden Broom weekly to display outside their classroom door.

Sycamore School, Sycamore, Ala.

Partnerships and critical self-care under the sycamore tree

Sycamore School serves 212 kindergarten through fourth grade students, 88 

percent of whom are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch, in a rural area of 

Talladega County. Sycamore as a community is a closed mill village town, with only 

three small businesses and one small new production industry, making this little 

school the hub of many great things for the community. 

The facility, originally constructed in 1938, has been renovated to be much more 

energy efficient and environmentally healthy, with new well-ventilated HVAC room 

units, new roofing, and a state-of-the -art playground that provides a variety of 

outdoor exercise. Sycamore received its ENERGY STAR certification in 2009 and 
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2014, and has a score of 93 in Portfolio Manager, having reduced energy use nearly 

30 percent over 10 years. 

The school is the hub for community recycling efforts and promotions as well, 

through a partnership with the Talladega County Commission that helps provide 

recycling bins. Students and local businesses partner to advertise recycling days,

and are onsite to offer information about the school’s other sustainability efforts as 

well. The school has developed a partnership with the local power company to 

establish gardens, provide energy education, and develop broader conservation 

values. For rural children, this has been a major connection to careers, stewardship, 

and civic learning. 

Sycamore School partners with Wind Creek State Park, about 35 miles away. With 

the help of a grant, for a week in the summer, 25 third and fourth graders spend the 

day studying numerous environmental areas as they explore, research, and develop 

skills as Junior Park Rangers. No one is ever late for this early morning bus ride, 

and parents almost always have to wait for their little rangers to return, as they never 

want the day to end. 

Gardening at Sycamore is so much 

more than planting, watching things 

grow, and harvesting for students, 

staff, and community partners. It 

includes systematic composting by 

a group of students for all the 

garden plots; four 50-gallon rain 

barrels with highly valued and

carefully measured water collection 

for the gardens -- with shared 

knowledge that the water is better 

than “bought” water -- and food 

harvested that is valued for quality 

nutrition, money saved, and the 

shared sense of community it adds. Even during the winter, students enjoy 

environmental studies as grow lights with plants for the outdoor gardens are 

maintained by grade groups for appropriate seasonal crops. 

There is a specific area in the school gardens for each grade level to develop, 

maintain, label, and promote, whether it is butterfly plants for pollination or the 

vegetable gardens. Students at each grade level also have a section of the campus 

to keep litter-free. Upper grade students are responsible for the composting from 

the lunchroom, managing the rain barrels, and assisting with carrying recyclables to 

the bins daily.
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Garden learning has enhanced nutrition education as well. Ninety-five percent of 

Sycamore students have breakfast and/or lunch provided by the three school 

cafeteria staffers, a group that earned the HealthierUS School Challenge Gold 

Award of distinction designation in 2014. Nutrition is a part of the health and science 

curriculum throughout the year, and also is integrated into physical fitness activities 

and clubs. All students have been provided lessons from EPA’s Sunwise sun safety

program.

Leader in Me and Lighthouse standards are incorporated in cross-curriculum and full 

school activities, promoting development of habits in leadership, teamwork, 

understanding of self and others, being proactive, and a habit referred to as 

“Sharpen the Saw,” through which students are encouraged to practice self-care 

Clubs are not a simple social outlet, but rather are organizations with a purpose. 

Many clubs focus heavily on environment, fitness, and nutrition, meeting at least 

biweekly to participate actively in their goals and related activities. These include a 

dance club, composting club, tabs (aluminum can) club, gardening club, running 

club, and the chef’s club. These clubs have been active for several years, and 

outside partnerships, speakers, and programs all are part of their practice.

University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala.

College as a living laboratory for sustainability principles and practices

At the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), administrators, faculty, students 

and staff work to integrate green values in all aspects of campus culture, from 

reducing environmental impact and costs, to improving health and wellness, to 

providing effective environmental and sustainability education.

The school aims to serve as a living laboratory for its members and the surrounding 

community by fostering sustainability literacy, solutions, and leadership; committing 

to core sustainability principles in all facets of planning and operations; promoting 

healthy lifestyles; and shaping solutions to global challenges. 

When it comes to safeguarding the environment, raising awareness and modeling 

green practices, UAB’s influence is significant. The campus – with over 170 

classroom, office, research, and hospital buildings – spans more than 16 million 

square feet of space and 90 city blocks. UAB is as the single biggest contributor to 

Birmingham’s economy, as well as the state’s largest single-site employer and its 

largest electricity user.
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To manage environmental impact and costs, UAB assessed energy use and 

expenses, installed efficient technology and systems, added renewable energy to 

the institution’s energy platform, and adopted smart systems that prevent waste of 

construction materials, energy, water, food, and materials. In the 2015-2016, energy 

system improvements yielded $13.6 million in savings, with $18.2 million in savings 

expected for 2016-17. 

The university has set ambitious goals, including cutting greenhouse gas emissions 

by 25 percent and reducing annual energy costs by more than $15 million within ten 

years, and has designed custom solutions for specific needs. For example, chilled 

water service for industrial needs like 24-hour cooling is essential for a campus with 

sensitive research and acute-care hospital facilities. In response, UAB developed 

an innovative system to deliver chilled water to buildings in a 4.5-mile closed loop, 

and recover condensate water and collect groundwater for use in this system. In 

2015, this process yielded over 50 million gallons of potable water.

Other efforts include lessening food waste in the campus restaurants, converting 

used cooking oil into biofuel, managing and reducing hazardous wastes, reducing 

traffic on campus, and encouraging alternative transportation use, including electric 

cars.

The university also is home to Birmingham’s largest solar-energy system. Because 

research labs can use three 

to five times more energy 

per square foot than offices 

or classrooms, and involve 

more solid waste, 

chemicals, and electronics, 

the university has launched 

a Green Labs pilot program 

to improve efficiency 

without sacrificing research quality, safety, or productivity.

The university collaborates with Alabama’s Department of Environmental 

Management to address any environmental contamination on all building sites it 

acquires, and applies low-impact development principles in new construction 

projects. Because urban green spaces lower temperatures, improve air and water 

quality, and improve everything from local habitat value to public recreation, UAB is 

converting spaces like parking lots, roadways, and roofs into planted areas. 

It’s all paying off: a review of UAB’s sustainability efforts by the Association for the 

Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)’s Sustainability 

The university’s strategic plan offers a roadmap to 

prepare students and the community for the 

challenges of the current economy, including skills 

and fields like global literacy, biotechnology and 

biomedical science, energy, transportation, materials 

engineering, information technology, computing 

security, and entrepreneurship.
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Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) earned the school a Silver 

rating. 

The university’s work to promote health and wellness is just as ambitious. As one of 

the nation’s largest hospitals and academic medical hubs – serving over a million 

patients annually – UAB is home to prestigious centers for the study of cancer, 

neuroscience, AIDS, diabetes, and more, and excels at turning research into 

revolutionary therapies. The university is similarly well-equipped to support the 

mental and physical well-being of some 22,000 staffers and 20,000 students, 

through programs ranging from nutrition, to immunization and prescription services, 

to counseling. Students, faculty, and staff also enjoy access to many fitness options 

at the state-of-the-art recreation center, along with bike programs, gear rentals, and 

low-cost recreation trips to area destinations.

Another priority is ensuring a healthy campus environment, outdoors and in. In this 

endeavor, the university employs techniques from using native and disease-resistant 

plans and lowering use of pesticides on the campus grounds, to measures that 

improve indoor air quality. The school further promotes healthy habits through water 

bottle refill stations, weekly farmers markets, allergen-free food stations at campus 

dining facilities, and an app to check the calorie count for food items.

The university is making critical strides in offering effective environmental and 

sustainability education that incorporates STEM, civic skills, and green career 

pathways. The university’s strategic plan offers a roadmap to prepare students and 

the community for the challenges of the current economy, including skills and fields 

like global literacy, biotechnology and biomedical science, energy, transportation, 

materials engineering, information technology, computing security, and 

entrepreneurship. 

Currently, UAB offers 35 academic courses that integrate social, environmental, and 

economic sustainability issues with their subject matter. These courses are 

identified in the course catalog, and another forty courses are planned for 

designation in the next year.

In addition, the university offers baccalaureate-level minors in Peace, Justice and 

Community Health, and Environmental Science, and a master’s degree in public 

health with a concentration in Environmental Health and Toxicology. The 

Sustainable Smart Cities master's program, offered in partnership with the United 

Kingdom’s Staffordshire University, is an interdisciplinary professional postgraduate 

program covering the principles and technologies needed in cutting-edge urban 

planning. 
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Additional academic opportunities, including research and study projects, explore 

sustainability themes. For instance, interdisciplinary teams have participated for 

several years in the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon, designing 

affordable, Net Zero, solar-powered homes built to withstand the southern climate 

and extreme weather. Faculty and students in the physiology and ecology 

departments are collaborating to investigate the chemical defenses of marine life in 

Antarctica and the role these could play in helping to prevent diseases. 

The UAB Sustainability Fund, a joint project of UAB Sustainability and the Office of 

the Assistant Vice President for Student Experience, allows students to apply for 

grant funds for projects to improve UAB’s sustainability and efficiency and decrease 

the university’s overall ecological footprint, while also empowering students to show 

leadership and innovate. The annual Red Mountain Project trains faculty in ways to 

incorporate sustainability skills and knowledge in new and existing courses, in

subjects as diverse as biology, English, engineering, nursing, business, and graphic 

design.

Through targeted policies and practices – and the cumulative effect of countless 

individual, everyday actions – UAB is realizing its vision for sustainability and proving 

what’s possible.

California

Yosemite High School, Merced, Calif.

Green career pathways inspire students in California’s heartland

Yosemite High School (YHS) is on the leading edge of the green schools movement 

in California’s Central Valley. 

More than 94 percent of YHS 

students are “unduplicated 

pupils” in California’s Local 

Control Funding Formula, a 

composite measure of need that 

includes students eligible for free 

or reduced-price meals, English 

learners, and foster youth. YHS 

serves the whole child with a 

coordinated school health 

approach. 

Both mental and physical support 

staff are available to attend to 
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student health and wellness during school hours. Students have daily access to a 

registered nurse, a health aide, and a counselor. A full-time mental health clinician 

from Sierra Vista, an outside mental health agency, provides mental health 

counseling services and assists in psychosocial issues. Housed on the same 

campus as YHS, the District Opportunity Center offers intervention programs that 

address anger management and coping skills, as well as drug and alcohol 

intervention, with group activities, lessons, speaker presentations, and intensive 

individual interventions facilitated by a specialist. A support and education group is 

offered to students who are young mothers and fathers. The school’s Urban 

Essentials program of restorative justice builds community in response to student 

misconduct, with the goals of repairing harm and restoring relationships. 

Yosemite students are active outdoors in physical education, coursework including 

Physical and Agricultural Science, and during most lunch periods with activities 

presented by the school's leadership team. Staff lead after-school activities and 

interact with students in roles promoting physical fitness and health. The Valley 

Continuation Sports League, spearheaded by YHS and the Merced Union High 

School District, gives students opportunities to engage in basketball, volleyball, 

bowling, flag football, soccer, softball, and badminton on coeducational teams, with 

82 intermural games each year. 

Giving back to the community is an integral part of school culture at YHS. The 

campus is a leader in gallons of blood donated to BloodSource. School activities 

send homemade lunches and leftovers to The Men’s Mission and D Street 

Homeless shelters. Donations to St. Vincent DePaul's, the Kids Against Hunger 

Project, and We Day - Free the Children demonstrate a commitment to helping 

others. 

Students at YHS demonstrate the same care for their environment that they do for 

their community. The school placed first at a recent Energize Schools competition 

for their energy conservation plan, and have reduced greenhouse gas emissions 20 

percent in two years. Students lead campus efforts to recycle leftover food and used 

paper to feed the school’s worm farm. The byproducts from the farm, including 

castings and worm tea, return as fertilizers or in mulch for campus plants and 

horticulture projects. A collaboration with Tree Partners USA has helped YHS to 

select regionally appropriate plantings in an effort to reduce the heat island effect. A 

45 percent reduction in campus water use over less than three years demonstrates 

incredible buy-in to the conservation efforts on campus. 

Advocacy, social justice, and environmental justice are an integral part of the 

educational program at YHS. Students participate in field trips to the state capitol, 

where they meet with legislators to discuss laws and regulations on environmental 

issues and topics. Through civic engagement, students experience firsthand what it 
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means to act on the part of their environment—a critical building block for 

environmental literacy. Students have engaged further in local issues by 

participating in the “There Ought to be a Law” competition, which was hosted by 

State Senator Anthony Cannella. The 2016 entry from YHS focused on active 

transportation and Safe Routes to School, recommending lighted crosswalks in front 

of every California school where stop signs are not present within 900 feet of the 

main entrance. 

The YHS campus features an outdoor classroom, raised garden area, and 500-

square-foot greenhouse. The school has a composting center where breakfast, 

lunch, and snack time leftovers are collected, along with campus grass clippings, 

and fed into the composting bins daily. Nonacidic fruits, vegetables, breads, and 

foliage are delivered and used as feeder for the worm farm. Castings are used in 

the greenhouse, raised garden, and on plants around campus. Worm compost tea 

is diluted and fed to trees on campus. The school is working with the EPA Region 9 

office to coordinate a food waste audit in early 2017. 

The innovative Green Technology 

and Energy Conservation (GTEC) 

courses offered at YHS provide 

students with access to California's 

energy and power technology 

career pathways, and lead directly 

to industry certifications or 

employment opportunities. The 

GTEC curriculum is designed to 

fully integrate learning objectives 

that are critically relevant to the 

renewable energy and green 

technology industries. Model curriculum provided by industry partners helps prepare 

high school students for their industry exams. Introduction to Energy Conservation 

is a comprehensive survey course of the basics of energy. The course provides an 

introduction to energy concepts, energy efficiency, green building technology, and 

alternative fuels. Green Technology is an interdisciplinary course that integrates 

environmental and sustainability concepts across STEM, social studies, and the 

English language arts curriculum. The course uses hands-on interactive activities to 

engage students and help them understand how green technology is applied to our 

environment and how it helps make our communities sustainable. Students build 

reading, writing, and literacy skills analyzing laws and regulations that affect energy

use, and discussing the effect these policies have on society. 

A partnership with nonprofit organization GRID Alternatives engages about 50 

students each year in 10 service learning work experience days. After learning 
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about solar technology and working with the demonstration solar panel on campus, 

students have the opportunity to participate in residential solar installations for lowincome residents in and around the city of Merced. 

Other extracurricular activities include a green technology club, wilderness club, and 

hiking club. Field trips provide hiking, camping, and overnight backpacking 

experiences in various locations and field trips to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The 

school partners with the University of California, Merced and the Yosemite 

Leadership Program to connect students to outdoor nature lessons.

The Thacher School, Ojai, Calif.

Equine studies headline extensive sustainability practices

The Thacher School is a coeducational boarding high school perched at the foot of 

the Topa Topa Mountains in Los Padres National Forest near the community of Ojai. 

The school was founded in 1889 and covers 325 majestic acres—only 45 of which 

are developed—and 32 miles of trails. The campus is a National Wildlife Federation 

site that includes 25 acres of citrus and avocados that support the school nutrition 

program, rain gardens and Hugelkultur landscaping. 

Thacher’s tradition of helping students build a deep connection to nature is finding 

new expression along the journey to make the campus into a model of sustainability. 

Thacher has adopted the Whole-School Sustainability Framework (developed by the 

Institute for the Built Environment at Colorado State University and published by The 

Center for Green Schools at the USGBC) and aligned it to a sustainability action 

plan so that the school can tackle sustainability from all angles. 

The school’s sustainability plan identifies five pillars that represent Thacher as an 

institution and community: efficient use of resources, ecological curriculum, 

community connections, natural connections, and health and sustainability 

management. For instance, all physical projects are organized under the efficient 

use of resources pillar. Under the direction of an experienced and committed 

facilities manager, Thacher has accomplished many sustainable physical projects. 

In June 2016, a new solar farm went live, providing 92 percent of the school’s 

electricity needs. All projects in the last ten years (three dormitories) were 

constructed to LEED Silver building standards. 

Water conservation projects also have sprung up all around campus, including 

rainwater catchment systems, greywater systems in all of the dormitories, and 

xeriscaping projects on school grounds. From a 2013 baseline, Thacher has 
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decreased nonpotable water use by 44 percent and domestic water use by nearly 40 

percent. Physical campus improvements also provide real-world environmental 

education opportunities for students. Many math, science, and humanities teachers 

incorporate the live data provided by building systems into their curriculum to start 

conversations around resource consumption and waste management. 

Thacher’s composting program, which includes horse manure, dining hall food 

waste, and green waste, processes over 1,600 tons annually. The product is used 

for soil augmentation and improves stormwater control. Thacher also raises pigs, 

which are fed from dining hall scraps. Last year, the pigs ate 2.5 tons of dining hall 

scraps. Waste per student decreased 48 percent in just one year. All cleaning 

products are Green Seal certified.

The school also has a bee program that helps to ensure a healthy bee population in 

the Ojai Valley, and allows the school to process and distribute honey. To ensure a 

good product, pollinator gardens have been constructed and maintained around 

campus. The school also started a chicken program in the past year. Eggs are 

gathered and used in the dining hall, while the chickens help the horse program by 

eating fly larvae; they also consume some green waste and food scraps from the 

dining hall. 

By working closely with food service provider Bon Appétit, which features its own 

farm to school program, Thacher is committed to providing students, faculty, and 

staff with as many food products as possible that have been humanely raised or 

grown with the lowest environmental impact possible. For instance, 100 percent of 

the milk served is organic; the chicken is also 100 percent organic and free-range; 

all eggs are 100 percent humanely raised; and the seafood follows the guidelines of 

the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch for sustainable fisheries.

All students are required to participate in three sports per year—one per athletic 

season. Sports teams meet five to six days a week for an average of 1.5 hours per 

day, most of which are outdoors. The school offers rock climbing as a sport during 

two of the athletic seasons. Students undertake training in the skills and safety 

systems required for single and multi-pitch climbs. They climb daily on the boulders 

and crags located on the school’s property. They have the opportunity to travel to 

locations such as Joshua Tree National Park and the Sierra Nevada to camp and 

climb on weekend trips. Sensitivity toward the environment, group collaboration, 

and personal growth are integral to the curriculum. Thacher provides ample 

opportunities for students to spend time in the outdoors through the Extra-Day Trip 

Program, biannual self-propelled six-day expeditions into remote wilderness areas,

participation in the A and B-Camper Training Program, and maintenance of the trails 

on and around the Thacher campus.
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All students at Thacher are engaged in campus, local, regional, and global 

sustainability issues. Each incoming freshman student at Thacher is required to 

take a campus sustainability orientation as part of their official freshman orientation. 

The sophomore class continues their sustainability education by learning about and 

engaging in activism about sustainability issues related to the Ojai Valley 

community. As this program progresses, juniors have the opportunity to explore 

regional and national sustainability issues, while seniors focus on global 

environmental and social problems and their solutions. The school is beginning a 

partnership with education for sustainability expert Jaimie Cloud, of The Cloud 

Institute, to provide even more formal integration of sustainable principles into the 

school’s curriculum. Currently, 25 course and program offerings integrate 

sustainability concepts in their instruction.

Thacher’s Golden Trout Wilderness School, a remote campus in the southern Sierra 

Nevada, also is a valuable tool in 

introducing the concept of 

sustainable systems, connecting

students to the relationship 

between communities and their 

environment, and encouraging

students to consider 

environmentally oriented careers.

Students employed or attending 

programs there are introduced to 

the complexities of a selfsustaining facility, and are 

responsible for maintaining the 

water, power, and waste systems that support the wilderness-centered campus. 

Former students have gone on to environmentally oriented careers such as resource

management, forestry, wilderness medicine, and wildlife biology.

Thacher has an extensive equine program. Freshmen are required to ride and care 

for a horse their entire freshman year, and many upperclassmen continue to ride 

throughout their time at Thacher. They learn the basics of animal husbandry, 

horsemanship, and horse care. All of the riding takes place outdoors on the riding 

fields and on the extensive and rugged trail system in the mountains behind the 

school. Students ride in all but the most inclement weather. Instructors discuss the 

local ecosystem and mountains, and offer two six-day pack trips per year plus 

numerous weekend pack trips.

Thacher seeks to make strong and lasting connections with both individual and 

institutional members of the community. For instance, the school collaborates 

closely with the Ojai Valley Green Coalition in various projects around the valley,
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and intends to continue solidifying this important relationship. One of the main goals 

for 2017 is to create a local consortium for sustainability in which participating 

schools share best practices, collaborate, and learn together. To that end, Thacher 

recently hosted a group of faculty and students from the Besant Hill School to start 

planning a small conference for students of both schools to explore leadership skills 

in the context of sustainability programs.

Culver City Unified School District, California

A Green5 culture of sustainability: reduce, reuse, recycle, ride, and rethink

Culver City Unified School District (CCUSD) is a vibrant and diverse community that 

includes five elementary schools, one middle school, one high school and one 

continuation high school with a total of 6,837 students. In addition, CCUSD is home 

to an adult school with 724 part-time students and a preschool with 282 students. In 

October 2010, the CCUSD Board created the Environmental Sustainability 

Committee (ESC) to help the district become more environmentally and fiscally 

sustainable, and foster an ecoliterate and globally responsible student body. The 

ESC comprises parent volunteers with knowledge and experience in sustainability 

and a passion to help the district. 

In 2011, the ESC facilitated a third-party baseline energy audit of the school 

facilities, created a sustainability master plan for the school board, and began 

working on bringing a 750 kilowatt solar photovoltaic system to the district’s main 

campus—where the comprehensive high school, middle school, and one elementary 

school are co-located—to reduce the district’s carbon footprint and raise money for 

the general fund. As of February 2014, the solar panels accounted for 

approximately 82 percent of the energy needs of the three schools, deliver over 

$500,000 back into the district’s general fund each year over the life of the system, 

and avoid approximately 2,326 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually. CCUSD 

also retrofitted all lights with LEDs (light-emitting diodes) and all toilets and urinals 

with low-flow fixtures. The district achieved a 29 percent reduction in greenhouse 

gases and a 20 percent reduction in water use in just three years. In 2014, CCUSD 

received an EPA rebate to replace two old diesel-fueled buses with new, cleaner, 

low-emission buses, reducing emissions by over 90 percent. Maintenance crews 

and middle and high school custodians use electric vehicles to get around the 

campuses.

During the 2011–12 school year, the ESC launched the Green5 co-curricular 

sustainability education program to increase awareness amongst students and staff 

about recycling; reducing waste, energy use, and water consumption; reusing 
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materials; engaging in active transportation; and rethinking local solutions to global 

problems. The Green5, also known as the “Five Rs” (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, 

Ride, and Rethink), was piloted at Linwood E. Howe Elementary School, and 

included recycling audits, surveys, a campuswide recycling program, signage and 

other messaging, and the establishment of a student leadership program. The postaudit findings showed recycling rates increased by 500 percent, and sustainability 

awareness amongst the students and staff also increased substantially. 

During the 2012–13 school year, with support from a CalRecycle grant, CCUSD’s 

ESC brought the Green5 recycling and sustainability education program to all five 

elementary schools, with the addition of food waste composting across all five 

campuses. In 2014, CCUSD received a second CalRecycle grant that enabled the 

district to transform Green5 into a districtwide program, and purchase durable 

custom-designed sorting stations for the middle school, high school, Culver Park 

continuation high school, adult school, and the Office of Child Development. In 

addition, the grant provided funding for a sustainability coordinator to develop and 

manage the program. This 

position is now funded 

directly by the district’s 

general fund. Since 2014, 

the amount of materials 

being sent to the landfill by 

CCUSD has been reduced by more than 50 percent, for a districtwide diversion rate 

exceeding 80 percent. Districtwide, an estimated 29 tons of mixed recycling is 

diverted from the landfill each year, which is the equivalent of 100 metric tons of 

greenhouse gas emissions avoided, while 935 tons of compostable food waste is 

diverted from the landfill each school year, which is the equivalent of 823.5 metric 

tons of greenhouse gas emissions avoided.

The Green5 districtwide program now includes: annual school assemblies; student 

leaders at each school site; sustainability staff liaisons (teachers and administrators) 

who support the Green5 program at each school site; trainings on energy and water 

auditing and waste reduction analysis and techniques; annual districtwide recycling 

competitions; districtwide administration, analysis, and dissemination of the My 

Actions Count Survey three times each year; a robust Safe Routes to Schoolsponsored Walk and Rollers Program (known as the fourth R in Green5) with 

growing participation; an expanding partnership with Culver CityBus Green Fleet; an 

award-winning food program; and a civic engagement program focused on reducing 

food waste and sharing food with local families in a backpack program. Also under 

the Green5 umbrella, there is an air quality program, a green cleaning pilot, and a 

mindfulness pilot underway, as well as edible and learning gardens in every school, 

among other initiatives.

Since 2014, the amount of materials being sent to the 

landfill by CCUSD has been reduced by more than 50 

percent, for a districtwide diversion rate exceeding 80 

percent.
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The district was an early adopter of California’s Education and the Environment 

Initiative (EEI) curriculum, and provided training to a cross-section of CCUSD 

teachers in 2011. Although only a subset of teachers are currently using the EEI in 

their classrooms, CCUSD is considered an EEI Deep Implementer School District. 

CCUSD is looking forward to adopting new statewide textbooks in 2018 that will 

integrate the EEI curriculum across grades and subject areas. Currently, CCUSD 

has three environmental studies courses that have been approved by the school 

board. 

All elementary students have garden class as part of formal instruction. At the 

middle school, all students are eligible to participate in the Edible Garden Club and 

the Butterfly Garden Club, where they spend time tending to their gardens for one 

hour every Friday. The Green Thumbs Club at the high school also is open to all 

high school students and is student-led. There are seasonal farmers markets at all 

schools. The high school incorporates their harvest into the school lunch program. 

The district offers a science camp on Catalina Island, students participate in coastal 

cleanup, and some grades engage in raising Trout in the Classroom. 

CCUSD holds all physical education classes outdoors except in rain, and offers a K9 rescue dog care and training after-school program. Free annual eye exams and 

dental exams are given to all children, unless their families opt out. Flu shots also 

are offered to all students free of charge. Each school site has a school nurse or 

health aid onsite at all times. Each elementary school also has either a full-time or 

part-time school psychologist as well as a school counselor. The Sandy Segal 

Youth Health Center, located between the middle and high schools on the district’s 

main campus, provides free quality health care for hundreds of Culver City youth 

each year, along with supportive services and health education benefiting entire 

families. In addition to 30 minutes of physical education every day, all elementary 

schools have a total of 60 minutes of recess for free play in outdoor spaces.

In June 2016, the school board passed an Environmentally Preferential Purchasing 

Policy and Administrative Resolution. The board currently is considering the 

adoption of a Green Operations board policy, which includes a commitment for 

advancing ecoliteracy. The elements of this policy include commitments to reducing 

waste, creating energy and water efficiencies, sustainable procurement and 

transportation, a healthy food program, and ecoliteracy. One teacher and the district 

sustainability coordinator attend the Green California Schools Summit annually.

The district is fostering a culture of sustainability. When people visit district schools 

and see solar arrays, award-winning custom-designed sorting stations, Green5 

banners, and environmental posters, they know the district embraces the 

responsibility to create a more sustainable world. CCUSD students and staff have 
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cultivated a habit of practicing the Five Rs, and an understanding of their positive 

influence as a collective community.

Montecito Union School District, Santa Barbara, Calif.

A comprehensive sustainability plan supports efforts across the three Pillars

Montecito Union School District (MUSD) recognizes students as the future stewards 

of the environment and prepares them to be environmental advocates. In 2011, with 

foresight, the Board of Trustees in this single-school district approved a sustainability 

plan that set the stage for school greening efforts. A compilation of this work is 

offered publicly via the school’s webpage as a resource to assist any school on its 

sustainability journey. The sustainability achievements of MUS earned the school

California Green Ribbon Schools recognition in 2015 (Bronze Level) and 2016 (Gold 

Level). 

Efforts and successes guided by the sustainability plan’s objectives have reduced 

environmental impact and costs and taught the community that the health of our 

planet is interwoven with our own well-being. The plan has been an invaluable 

guide for sustainable systems and has helped MUS focus on improving composting 

and recycling efforts at lunchtime, invigorating the environmental education 

curriculum, and building partnerships in the community. Conservation and future 

grid neutrality are ideas found in the MUS Facilities Master Plan (2012– 15), while 

environmental stewardship is a core value in the MUS Board’s strategic plan. 

This two-time California Distinguished School (2014, 1997) consists of older 

buildings and a vintage infrastructure. Funding from the California Clean Energy 

Jobs Act (Proposition 39) jumpstarted a high-efficiency LED lighting retrofit. Lowemissivity safety film installed on windows in 2015 also helps with energy 

conservation. The school has an ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager baseline score 

of 81, and has reduced water usage by over 30 percent in four years.

MUS students are engaged in environmental learning every day, with schoolwide 

assemblies that encourage and support thoughtful management of resources, 

lunchtime waste diversion, a student-run campuswide recycling waste audit, and 

leadership roles for Tech Club students who teach peers about online paperless 

document management. These activities have led to a nearly 67 percent diversion 

rate. This year, a green- themed yearbook proudly shares greening efforts with the 

school community. Students participate in a primitive living skills day, pioneer days, 

and a weeklong outdoor camp, in addition to field trips to a nearby aquatic center, 

botanic gardens, county fair, and farms. The school’s Parent Teacher Association 
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supplements environmental education curriculum by supporting an annual Earth Day 

celebration that includes hands-on green experiences from local businesses, 

nonprofits, and the University of California, Santa Barbara. 

The school cafeteria is equipped for scratch cooking, and offers freshly baked whole 

grain breads and granola daily. Over 90 percent of produce is organic and local. 

Each student has a full five hours of self-directed outdoor recess play time per week. 

The school is a registered Sunwise sun protection program participant, and has an 

integrated pest management (IPM) program in place. The administration gave all 

staff members insulated lunch bags, salad shakers, and pedometers to encourage 

healthy habits. 

A garden club has met weekly for over ten years. Students weed, plant seeds, cut 

flowers, and harvest vegetables. Special programs, such as "Cool the Earth," help 

to build student and parent environmental awareness. A schoolyard master plan 

aims to foster natural play by designing and building biomorphic forms and 

landscape, incorporating use of 

native plants, and reducing water 

needs by using drought-tolerant 

plants. Natural materials are used 

to reduce plastics and harmful 

materials.

The science program is 

transitioning to the California Next 

Generation Science Standards by 

integrating environmental literacy 

components. The fifth initiative of 

the school’s sustainability plan is to 

embed California’s Environmental Principles and Concepts into the curriculum in 

order to support MUS students in developing the knowledge, skills, and dispositions 

to become responsible stewards of the Earth. Students no longer just study animal 

adaptations, but instead are posed the question, “How do we, as scientists and 

engineers, support our local wildlife through the drought?” Students then generate 

the questions they have about local wildlife, habitats, survival, effect on humans, and 

the effects of the drought. Those questions are answered through research, labs, 

and a partnership with the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network. 

The increased numbers of students and families walking to school regularly are 

proof that sustainability values are growing at MUS. The school’s Walk ‘n Roll 

program started in 2010 in collaboration with the Safe Routes to School local 

director, the MUS school superintendent, the Green Team, and the MUS 

Transportation Safety Task Force. Reducing environmental impact from cars is the 
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foundation of the program. The monthly PTA (parent-teacher association) 

newsletter and the principal’s weekly notes consistently encourage walking, biking, 

and carpooling to school. Throughout the year, students are credited for walking or 

biking. The school’s PTA offers fun incentives for student participation, including 

custom bag tags developed specifically for the program. A federal Safe Routes to 

School grant funded the San Ysidro Road Path to school, which opened in 2012.

Redondo Beach Unified School District, California

High performance buildings and ocean-friendly grounds host sustainability learning

The Redondo Beach Unified School District (RBUSD) consists of eight elementary 

schools, two middle schools, one high school, one continuation school, and one 

adult school, together serving approximately 10,000 students of diverse 

backgrounds. RBUSD ensures student and staff safety at school and in the home, 

promoting excellence in teaching and learning in modernized school facilities that 

provide model learning environments, maintaining high academic expectations for all 

students, and enhancing partnerships with the larger community. 

Over the past ten years, two local bond measures have allowed RBUSD to upgrade 

and enhance buildings, grounds, and technology at every site. Many new facilities 

are LEED-certifiable or -certified, including the Lincoln Child Development Center’s 

Project Frog building; as well as the student services building, student union, and 

gymnasiums at Redondo Union High School. The district maximizes the use of 

natural materials and resources, including recycled fibers and wood, in its 

construction. Each school campus has solar shade structures, minimizing RBUSD’s 

carbon footprint and saving money on the district’s bottom line. The district has 12 

ENERGY STAR certified buildings, with all schools ranking above 85 in Portfolio 

Manager, and several in the high 90s. It also has reduced greenhouse gas 

emissions 47 percent in four years, and fifty-eight percent of the district’s energy is 

obtained from onsite solar. All sites have retrofitted to T-8 lights and added lighting 

sensors. 

Students in first through eighth grades are responsible for monitoring and sorting 

compost, recycling, and trash every day during lunch. Students attend Grades of 

Green assemblies that teach them the effect of their trash on the environment, as 

well as ways to reduce trash drastically by making small changes. Schools have 

embraced Trash Free Days, when students are encouraged to bring waste-free 

lunches to school. The district has implemented a one-to-one laptop program to 

further reduce waste.
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Redondo Beach Unified School District has committed to good air quality by 

ensuring adequate ventilation, and adheres to all EPA guidelines regarding mold 

remediation. All cleaning products are certified green, an IPM policy is in place, and 

many campuses have incorporated solatubes to increase daylighting. Every 

elementary school in RBUSD has a valet system for student dropoff and pickup that 

keeps traffic moving, to help improve outdoor air quality and student health.

Beach Cities Health District, a local preventive care agency and strong community 

partner of RBUSD, provides the district with a number of resources to advance 

wellness for students and staff, including fitness classes, nutrition education, and 

mindfulness and purpose workshops for RBUSD staff and families. They also offer 

a comprehensive nutrition education program through the LiveWell Kids Nutrition 

Program learning modules, and physical education specialists in grades 

kindergarten through five. Elementary students and staff practice MindUPTM, a 

research-based training program that teaches students to self-regulate behavior and 

engage mindfully in the focused concentration required for academic success. The 

RBUSD nutrition program participates in the U.S. Department of Defense Fresh Fruit 

and Vegetable Program, using entitlement monies to purchase fruits and vegetables

from locally approved produce vendors. All schools participate in International Walk 

to School Day, and most elementary schools have embraced recess before lunch in 

their schedule, leading to less food waste and more activity.

The district has focused on 

improving nutrition and wellness 

services to meet or exceed 

standards set forth by the Alliance 

for a Healthier Generation’s 

Healthy Schools Program. 

Specifically, RBUSD improved food services’ offerings of low-calorie, sugar-free, and

low-fat foods and beverages, and replaced vending machines with healthier options. 

All school cafeterias are Blue Zones approved by Beach Cities Health District. 

Every kindergarten through 12th grade school has received recognition from the 

Alliance for a Healthier Generation, with one school recently reaching gold level. 

Each school in RBUSD has established a wellness committee that plans and 

encourages healthy behavior among all stakeholders, including the implementation 

of staff wellness challenges, partnerships with area gyms and fitness centers, and 

an employee wellness challenge that has introduced employees to new types of 

exercise, and introduced new activities and healthy foods throughout the community.

All elementary schools have a school garden, and the high school has a native 

garden, all of which are used as outdoor classrooms to bring greater understanding 

of the local ecology and environment. Students create service learning projects that 

continue to influence daily habits, such as plastic reduction, consciousness about 

Every kindergarten through 12th grade school 

has received recognition from the Alliance for 

a Healthier Generation, with one school 

recently reaching gold level.
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waste, and trash sorting. All students in fifth through eighth grades have the 

opportunity to attend an outdoor science school. The principles and priorities of 

Living Schoolyard Month have become an integral part of the student experience in 

RBUSD. Student-led awareness campaigns and activities bring about 

environmental awareness while celebrating the natural habitat. 

Environmental and sustainability concepts receive particular attention in the 

Advanced Placement (AP) Environmental Science course for grades 11-12) as well 

as in Geoscience, taken by tenth graders. Critical issues such as climate change 

and conservation are explored in both, with the AP students further exploring the 

relationship between natural and human communities. Student teams have 

completed needed calculations; researched viable solutions; designed gardens; and 

created videos, presentations, and posters, and written articles and editorials to 

communicate their sustainability projects to the school and community. At one 

school, an ocean friendly garden, constructed using reclaimed water and California 

native plants, was installed with the assistance of West Basin Water District, using 

funds donated by Chevron. The freshwater pond is used to teach ecology, water 

quality, population studies, and biodiversity outdoors.

Colorado

Sedalia Elementary School, Sedalia, Colo.

Eco-leaders cultivate sustainable practices in a 1958 building

Sedalia Elementary School’s earned the school the Eco-Schools USA Green Flag 

Award in 2014. As a rural Title I school, in a facility built in 1958, serving a student 

population of which 53 percent are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch, Sedalia 

regularly overcomes significant challenges to sustainability. Student behavior has 

changed the way the school community thinks. Students’ positive practices continue 

long after they graduate from Sedalia, as they work to bring environmental 

awareness to their middle schools and high schools, and live more sustainably at 

home. 

Sedalia’s students in kindergarten through sixth grade follow an effective recycling 

program, divert food waste from the cafeteria to chicken coops, and practice 

composting and vermicomposting, leading to a 70 percent recycling rate. Students 

know the recipe for compost, and claim, “It is like magic to watch it turn into food for 

our plants.” Sedalia’s reuse centers throughout the school put hard-to-recycle items 

to innovative use. Students and parents are fascinated with the games students 

have built from these saved items, including an arcade and sustainable car derby for 

the annual carnival. The playing field is artificial turf, eliminating the need for 

watering, and the playground has recycled tires for play mulch. Most of the 
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remaining landscaping around the school is rock, leaving only a small amount of 

irrigated turf on the property. All gardens are handicapped-accessible, so all 

students can enjoy them. 

The student-led garden team cultivates vegetables, herbs, and even fruit trees using 

hugelkultur (raised-bed) gardening, which uses a limited amount of water. The 

pollinator garden contributes to biodiversity, and students love seeing the variety of 

pollinators and enjoy the beauty of the flowers. Multiple outdoor learning spaces are 

used regularly to ensure students learn in nature, including a chicken coop that 

students visit frequently during class and for fun rewards. Having animals at school 

improves mental health, and creates opportunities for compassion, relaxation, and 

responsibility. 

Despite the challenges of reducing energy in an aging building with large expansions 

and few upgrades, Sedalia has managed to cut energy use by six percent, largely 

through student-initiated efforts. Solatubes and recycling bins are in every 

classroom. Classrooms participate in an energy reduction incentive program, led by 

fifth and sixth graders, with 

rewards given at various levels 

when students turn off docking 

stations and lights. A fifth grader 

led a bake sale that raised over 

$400 for solar chargers for small 

electronics to help reduce 

energy use. 

Through the use of a healthy 

schools coordinator, Sedalia 

addresses health and wellness

through a wide range of 

programming across grades. 

Students are engaged in physical activity outdoors, including through a Gaga Pit and 

Nine Square in the Air, working in the garden and hoop house, playing with the 

chickens, and participating in activities in wide open spaces. Students collaborated 

to create a sensory board made entirely of pallets, and reused materials for students 

with special needs. This wall is used every day, and has helped students get back 

on track when they need a mental break. A sixth grader wanted to expand access to 

physical activity to students because her research showed that 50 percent of 

children do not get enough exercise. She now leads a weekly after-school exercise 

program that will be passed on to another student when she graduates. She also is 

working on a no-idle zone for the parking lot, and helps remind students and 

teachers not to use junk food as a reward. 
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The foundation of Sedalia’s culture of sustainability lies in a Sustainability Special 

class, which provides environmental education to each student in every grade. 

Through this class, students engage in project-based learning addressing 

sustainability pathways such as waste and consumption, energy conservation, 

sustainable food, and health and wellness. Students participate in the Global 

Learning to Benefit the Environment program as citizen scientists uploading data 

from field investigations to be used by NASA, the National Science Foundation, 

NOAA, and other federal agencies. In addition, Sedalia students have been a part 

of the “Create Something Great” expo in the Douglas County School District, a 2013 

U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School District Sustainability Awardee, 

where they have highlighted the work they have done around sustainability. They 

participate in a three-day / two-night outdoor education program in sixth grade, and 

serve on Eco-Leadership teams. Students have the opportunity to sell their own 

produce and collaborate with local farmers during their weekly produce stand.

Colorado Mountain College, Glenwood Springs, Colo.

Sustainability reaching its peak on the Western Slope of the Rockies

Colorado Mountain College (CMC) is a comprehensive local district junior college 

with authorization from the Colorado Commission on Higher Education to provide 

baccalaureate degrees in certain areas, including Sustainability Studies. Founded in 

1967, CMC now serves approximately 22,000 students at 11 instructional sites 

annually, three residential and eight commuter, across a service area of over 12,000 

square miles—larger than the state of Maryland—and including nine counties across 

Colorado’s Western Slope. Students served range from first-time college students 

out of college to senior citizens returning to learn new skills. Each CMC campus 

uses its own budget creatively to develop solutions to meet the sustainability and 

wellness goals of its constituents.

Since 2009, CMC has made reducing its environmental impact a major strategic 

goal of the institution. This was formalized in 2009 with CMC becoming a signatory 

to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. Since that 

pledge, CMC has focused its environmental efforts on three major areas: 1) 

reducing its carbon footprint through direct action; 2) integrating sustainability into all 

institutional operations; and 3) using its position as an educational institution to teach 

students and community stakeholders about the changing nature of our surrounding 

natural environment. CMC is a member of the Sustainability Education and 

Economic Development Center, and has partnered with the Clean Energy Economy 

for the Region, a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting communities, 
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governments, businesses, and households in western Colorado in developing clean 

energy solutions.

Colorado Mountain College focuses on collaborative efforts with communities to 

expand alternative energy offerings throughout its district, and has increased its 

reliance on alternative energy for heating, cooling, and electricity. Using 2009’s 

energy consumption as a baseline, as of 2015, CMC has reduced its energy usage 

by 13 percent institutionwide, and invested approximately $3.2 million in building 

improvements to improve energy efficiency across all campuses during the same 

period. Some highlights of these efforts include the installation of solar farms and 

geothermal systems on several campuses, including at one particularly challenging 

high-altitude site; upgrades to HVAC systems, lighting, and insulation; and the 

addition of motion sensors. In 2010, a policy of building to ENERGY STAR or LEED 

Silver standards was implemented and, since 2013, the institution has tracked the 

use of vehicles for institutional purposes as part of its overall carbon emission 

calculations.

The school has several unique challenges in managing its water quality and usage. 

Its campuses are located in 

climates ranging from high alpine to 

high desert, at altitudes ranging 

from 10,152 to 5,348 feet. 

Nevertheless, the college has 

undertaken initiatives to mitigate 

water use, including xeriscaping at 

all sites with native plants and the 

use of nighttime watering where 

necessary; extensive landscaping 

changes to reduce the need for 

irrigation; the installation of low-flow 

toilets, waterless urinals, and faucet 

motion sensors; and the installation of water bottle filling stations at all sites.

Waste reduction efforts are site-specific, but all have made great strides to reduce 

solid waste and food waste, with efforts such as single-stream recycling; plastic and 

glass recycling; composting; participation in a local Food Recovery Network to 

donate unused human-edible food to local nonprofits in the region for use; and an 

organic recycling program in collaboration with a local pig farmer. Since 2008, the 

institution has maintained an e-waste recycling and reuse program, with local eligible 

nonprofit organizations or governmental entities such as local school districts offered 

surplus electronic items the institution has phased out. 
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Despite the limited mass transportation available around the rural CMC sites, the 

College has implemented several initiatives to encourage use of alternative 

transportation. Six of the 11 sites have electric vehicle charging stations. The 

institution partners with local municipalities in order to offer shuttle stops and bus 

service on a few sites. Since 2013, each April the institution holds a monthlong 

alternative transportation event for its central services staff to bike, walk, or ride 

public transportation to reach their offices, with participation encouraged through a 

series of small-prize drawings for locally donated gift cards. The institution also

regularly promotes walking and biking as healthy activities during the warmer 

months through staff healthy lifestyles emails. Since 2009, the institution has used a 

video conferencing system to reduce the number of physical presence meetings 

required by staff and faculty, allowing staff members at different sites throughout the 

institution to meet without having to use personal vehicles and reducing the 

institution’s overall carbon impact. 

In addition, CMC has invested throughout its campuses and central offices in stateof-the-art HVAC systems, as well as green cleaning products to protect human 

health and the environment. The facilities department actively pursues air quality 

testing to maintain humidity levels below 60 percent, test for proper ambient 

temperatures, and ensure proper airflow and purity at each site. CMC conducts 

radon level testing during construction or renovation projects. The college maintains 

a tobacco-free environment within all campus facilities and central offices; actively 

works to prevent any growth of mold throughout its facilities locations; and maintains 

carbon monoxide alarms.

The college has implemented a variety of initiatives to promote health, focusing 

especially on the three residential campuses. Efforts include a co-ed college ski 

team; a ropes course; and a student-run outdoor mountain biking club supported by 

CMC’s outdoor education program. Efforts to improve health and campus climate 

also include the provision of mental health specialists, physician assistants, and 

professional counselors at various sites, as well as coordination with local 

community clinics.

The school community benefits from locally grown produce with an emphasis on 

organic produce where possible, and the school offers a monthly nutritional 

education menu feature. Community gardens, including a forest garden, are 

maintained at two campuses for use by students and the community. On another 

campus, a greenhouse, using modern sustainable production and growth methods, 

operates as a student/faculty collaborative project, providing organic high-quality 

vegetables year-round for use on-campus and by local restaurant. The college also 

supported the formation of a student beekeeping club and the establishment of four 

hives.
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Ecological and sustainability issues are a core part of the curriculum, in such ways 

as encouraging faculty to address such issues in coursework and offering degrees 

that focus on environment and sustainability, from the occupational certificate to the 

baccalaureate level of education. The centerpiece of these efforts is the new 

bachelor of arts degree in sustainability studies, one of the first two bachelor’s 

degrees offered by CMC, which blends classroom instruction with experiential 

education.

Also offered are two associate of applied science degrees with an environmental 

focus: the natural resource management and environmental science programs. 

CMC’s natural resource management program focuses on hands-on experiential 

education designed to develop students’ skills in a variety of environments, including 

high alpine forests, high alpine meadows, riparian areas, and wetlands, and 

successfully has placed students in internships with various state, federal, and 

private organizations to develop their academic skills into functional career skills. 

CMC’s environmental science program centers on a broad STEM approach with 

coursework in biology, chemistry, and geology, all of which is focused on 

environmental problems and biological and ecological approaches to addressing 

them. Finally, CMC offers a popular technical training program in solar energy with 

three certificates: basic solar photovoltaic, photovoltaic installer, and solar thermal 

installer. 

Other classroom instruction focuses on integrating STEM disciplines such as biology 

and ecology with humanities and social sciences, including philosophy, ethics, and 

social justice. The college also focuses on integrating business practices with social 

justice and proper environmental stewardship concerns. In ecology and 

sustainability educational offerings, CMC faculty focuses on expanding their use of 

experiential learning opportunities. The school is committed to offering 21st century 

degrees in sustainability that educate students on challenging environmental issues 

facing the modern world, and give them the tools to be powerful advocates for 

effective environmental policies.

Connecticut

Moriarty Environmental Sciences Magnet School, Norwich, Conn.

Raising diverse students to make mindful choices for our environment and health

Moriarty Environmental Sciences Magnet School is a kindergarten through fifth 

grade intra-district magnet public school located in Norwich, a small city in eastern 

Connecticut. The school serves 418 students, who come from at least 13 different 

cultures and speak no fewer than seven different languages. The school consists of 
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64 percent minority students and 17 percent English language learners; 71 percent 

of the school population is eligible for free and reduced-price lunch. 

Moriarty seeks to create in its students passionate environmental stewards and 

collaborative problem solvers who understand the importance of sustainability. As 

compassionate and culturally competent community members, students take action 

to influence local and global issues in a powerful way. “Making mindful choices for 

our environment” is incorporated into the school’s tagline. Highlights of progress 

over the last three years include: curriculum changes, health and wellness practices, 

and the addition of inspiring outdoor classroom spaces. 

One of the school’s greatest accomplishments has been the creation and inclusion 

of outdoor learning spaces into 

the curriculum. These include a 

community garden, natural 

wildlife habitat, local bodies of 

water, a butterfly garden, 

sidewalk gardens to create more 

permeable surfaces, and an 

outdoor classroom pavilion. 

Building the environmental 

education curriculum was a 

process that has yielded great 

results. Throughout the school 

grounds, students are engaged 

in seeking answers to their 

questions through crosscurricular inquiry units. 

Kindergarten students have become ornithologists, studying schoolyard birds, 

reading and writing about birds, observing the birds, receiving a visit from the 

Connecticut Audubon Society, and ultimately installing a birdbath in the school 

garden. First grade students read and investigate Monarch butterflies, designing 

their own Monarch meadow. Third grade focuses on bees and their role in ecology 

and second grade focuses on botany and nutrition. Fifth grade students learn to test 

water for dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, biodiversity, temperature, and salinity. 

They apply these skills to local bodies of water and determine the water quality of 

each location. They read about water issues, sewage treatment plants, and 

methods to clean water and design water filters using the engineering design 

process. 

Along with the district’s active energy management of the school, there is an afterschool club that worked with Norwich Public Utilities to do an energy audit. This 
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group used the results to make suggestions to reduce the school’s energy use, 

including removing old TVs and refrigerators, setting back hot water temperatures on 

thermostats, and turning off Smart Boards and projectors when not in use. Over the 

past year, the same student club also did a schoolyard survey and found that the 

landscape is predominately impermeable surfaces. Students investigated various 

surfaces, and ultimately designed and created a rain garden for the entrance to the 

building. 

Making mindful choices is demonstrated through health and wellness efforts as well. 

The school works closely with Food Corps, Norwich Public Schools Food Service, 

and FRESH New London to ensure the school both teaches about proper nutrition 

and provides healthy food and drink options to the students. The district has a 

processing kitchen, and is able to source about 50 percent of school food with locally 

farmed fruits, vegetables, and dairy. First grade is doing a yearlong inquiry on My 

Healthy Self, and second grade is learning about eating locally, seasonally and farm 

to table. Both grades learn about nutrition, growing food, and preparing healthy 

meals. All fourth and fifth graders take part in Health Lab, a curriculum written in 

collaboration with the local hospital to teach about nutrition and body systems. 

Students explore fats, proteins, carbohydrates, and the digestive system, through 

interactive hands-on labs. Instead of cupcakes, a birthday student will get to pick to 

be line leader, add an extra five minutes of recess for the class, pick a special lunch 

seat, or eat lunch with the teacher. 

The students spend about 30 percent of their day outdoors with recess, physical 

education, and learning in the outdoor classroom. They also participate in brain 

breaks, and staff members have opportunities to practice yoga and meditate. The 

school has a no-idling policy, and participates in the EPA’s outdoor air quality flag 

program. All cleaning products are certified green.

Moriarty’s composting and recycling program, which is estimated to divert about 35 

percent of waste from the landfill, was featured in the local newspaper as an 

example for other schools, demonstrating that recycling can be built into the lunch 

program, with little to no cost, while teaching students sustainability concepts. Third, 

fourth, and fifth graders run the recycling and composting program at lunch and help 

younger students determine what foods can be composted and recycled. They also 

come up with innovative solutions to recycling problems, such as advocating for the 

purchase of strainers to separate uneaten cereal from recyclable containers.

Moriarty staff members have received professional development through Project 

WET, Project WILD, Schoolyard Habitats, School Gardens, Monarch Recovery, 

statewide environmental training, and Project Learning Tree. Moriarty’s green team 

is made up of teachers, paraprofessionals, fourth and fifth grade students, custodial 

staff, the magnet theme coach, the principal, and Food Corps members. In fall of 
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2016, Moriarty was certified as a bronze level EcoSchool USA for its schoolyard 

habitat.

Delaware

Forwood Elementary School, Wilmington, Del.

A leader corps guides down the pathway toward school sustainability

Forwood Elementary School, in collaboration with the Delaware Valley Green 

Building Council and Eco Schools USA, a National Wildlife Federation program, is 

going green. Guided by their Green Team, which was formed in 2015, the school's 

objective has been to develop habits among students and staff that improve wellbeing and protect the environment. 

A journey that began with the raised bed garden project of an Eagle Scout and 

Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids contributed to Forwood's embarking upon Eco 

School's sustainable food pathway. Every student from kindergarten to fifth grade 

has had a role in the Forwood garden 

education program, from planting seeds to 

watering and harvesting. Each role was

linked to lessons that were relevant to the 

grade level science curriculum. Cafeteria 

staff serve salads made from freshly picked 

produce on the lunch line. Garden programs are funded by a Whole Kids Grant,

sponsored by Whole Foods and a donation made by the Wawa Corporation. 

Students learn about maintaining healthy lifestyles in 4-H after-school programs 

facilitated by the University of Delaware College of Agriculture and Natural 

Resources Cooperative Extension. Representatives from the Cooperative Extension 

also evaluate soil samples for Forwood's gardens. Master gardeners share their 

expertise at the school's fall festival, part of the Green Apple Days of Service. 

The school implements an IPM plan and has a comprehensive green cleaning 

program in place. Students can participate in a twice weekly walking club year 

round. 

Educated by the Delaware Solid Waste Authority and supported by Brandywine 

School District Facilities Management and Nutrition Services departments, 

Forwood's fifth grade leader corps has prompted the entire school to recycle. While 

paper has been recycled at Forwood for a number of years, a fifth grade field trip to 

the DSWA helped students better understand the need to recycle more. The leader 

corps completed an audit of trash and identified that plastic water bottles and milk 

Students and staff planted orange 

milkweed, baptisia, dwarf honeysuckle, 

and other flowering plants to attract 

and feed pollinators.
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jugs could be recycled fairly easily. Students began recycling plastics in spring 

2016. 

Delaware Nature Society provided integral support to Forwood staff as students and 

staff planted orange milkweed, baptisia, dwarf honeysuckle, and other flowering 

plants to attract and feed pollinators near the building entrance. Forwood has been 

recognized as a Certified Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. 

Garden plans are expanding to a sensory garden that will use textured native plants 

and art. These low maintenance gardens provide natural models to enhance 

student learning. 

Forwood has reduced energy consumption and educated students and staff about 

renewable forms of energy. The University of Delaware supported district facilities 

staff with an energy audit of the school in August of 2015. Later, Practical Energy 

Solutions educated the fifth grade leader corps on tools to gauge energy efficiency in 

the building, and met with fourth grade students to share information on energy 

conservation and renewable forms of energy supporting grade level science content. 

The leader corps is creating a video to educate students and their families about 

saving energy. 

Forwood uses State of Delaware science curriculum, including FOSS Science kits

for soil, insects, land and water, ecosystems, and structures of life. The reading 

curriculum includes multi-grade level access to gardening and science-related 

topics. Students sort their trash into recyclables, compostables, and landfill trash at 

home, as was modeled at school. They create bird feeders from recyclable 

materials, make solar cookers, and design cars that move with wind power. They 

evaluate energy use at home and have taken steps to make reductions.

F. Neil Postlethwait Middle School, South Camden, Del.

Outdoor learning space improves ecosystem learning

In 2010, teachers at Postlethwait Middle School established an Eco-Team to give 

environmentally conscious and motivated students an outlet to share their ideas to 

make a difference in the school and community. The group meets monthly and 

discusses ideas they have to make the school, campus, and students more 

environmentally friendly. Teachers, administrators, maintenance staff, and EcoTeam feel a sense of urgency to continue improving their environmental practices in 

the future. Through proper planning, collaboration, and innovative thinking, 

Postlethwait will make this green vision a reality.
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Postlethwait is part of a districtwide energy audit to collect data about energy 

consumption and cost, which will be used to create a comprehensive energy 

management plan for the school. In the meantime, students are gathering energy 

and cost data; as lightbulbs burn out, they are being replaced with LED lightbulbs; 

power strips in each classroom avoid waste; and geothermal energy used to run the 

kitchens, hot water heaters, and back-up generators at schools. To conserve water, 

the school is equipped with low-flow water fixtures, and maintenance plans are in 

place to make sure faucets and fountains are clean and safe for students and staff. 

The school's campus includes an outdoor educational area with a water catchment 

system to ensure that rainwater is flowing to areas where it can be absorbed and 

filtered naturally rather than into storm drains. In recent years, Postlethwait has 

conducted trash audits, resulting in upcycling, recycling, and the addition of a 

compost barrel.

In recent years, efforts have been taken to make 

sure that all hazardous materials have been 

removed and other chemicals are labeled and 

stored properly. Students are offered a wide 

variety of fruits and vegetables in the cafeteria. 

Postlethwait's campus includes food gardens, not 

only to help students understand where their food 

comes from, but also to produce enough food in the 

future to supply the school cafeteria. Students 

participate in physical education classes daily for a 

semester of the school year. Postlethwait also 

offers three seasons of sports to keep students 

physically active.

The school features an outdoor classroom, complete with a learning deck. This area 

allows students to get outside and make connections between the environmental 

science content they learn as part of the Delaware Science Coalition curriculum and 

the natural world around them. They make observations about nature, pose 

questions, and gather information to explain these natural phenomena. As part of 

the Delaware Science Coalition curriculum, seventh grade students engage in a unit 

called Delaware Watersheds, and use this outdoor space to explore the water cycle 

and how water moves differently through various kinds of earth materials. In eighth 

grade, students participate in a unit called Populations and Ecosystems, during 

which students use the outdoor classroom to explore how organisms are 

interconnected in ecosystems, and also to observe the adaptations that the 

organisms living within a given ecosystem have to help them survive. 

In 2016, the Caesar Rodney School District was awarded the NOAA B-Wet Grant,

which provided funding to update and expand the outdoor educational spaces at 
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three of the district’s school, including Postlethwait. As part of the grant, 

Postlethwait will be one a few middle schools in the state of Delaware to pilot 

Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience lessons. These lessons, created by 

the Delaware Department of Natural Resources, not only involve students going 

outside to learn in outdoor educational spaces at the school, but will culminate in a 

naturalist from an environmental state agency coming to lead students in an 

environmental science lesson.

U.S. Department of Defense Education Agency

Tarawa Terrace Elementary School, Tarawa Terrace, N.C.

Natural disaster brings together a powerful sustainable school community

Housed on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, a 246-square-mile United States 

military training facility, Tarawa Terrace Elementary School (TTES) was originally 

named Tarawa Terrace 2 Elementary School (TT2). Its current building was 

completed in October of 2001, and in April of 2011, a tornado struck the 

neighborhood of Tarawa Terrace, which housed a second school, Tarawa Terrace 

Primary School (TT1). This school was damaged beyond repair, and thus TT1 

students and staff finished the remainder of the school year at TT2. These two 

schools merged, and began the 2011-2012 school year as TTES, serving 

prekindergarten through grade five. 

From the school’s mascot, the tiger, which is among the most endangered species 

on the planet, to resource management that emerged stronger after the catastrophic 

natural disaster that destroyed homes and displaced students, to the features of its 

feeder school building, the TTES community is keenly aware of humankind’s 

interdependence with the natural world. In the aftermath of Mother Nature’s fury, the 

school had an addition built under a compressed schedule to house the displaced 

students from TT1 and alleviate the crowding in a building not suited to handle the 

overflow. The new wing construction gave TTES over 40,000 additional square feet 

of space, and provided resource-efficient upgrades that were certified LEED Gold in 

2014. 

The construction took place with children onsite and provided a unique learning 

opportunity. Students were able to see not only the power of nature, but also the 

responsible reaction mankind must provide. Students experienced real time 

construction, including outdoor learning environments, and observed the gentle care 

and respect the contractors used to design and build learning benches from recycled 

bricks from TT1, as tribute and a sign of resilience and sustainability. Students had 

the opportunity to learn about LEED specifications as the expansion of their school 

happened around them daily. They began to understand how we all must learn to 
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co-exist as neighbors, from taking into consideration the effect of stormwater runoff 

on wildlife, to why new low-flow toilets and shut-off faucets were necessary to 

protect all of the inhabitants of the campus. 

Staff and students also responded to the nature-made challenge by forming new 

extracurricular clubs, including a green team to work on beautification and 

conservation, a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) team to 

learn the science behind it all, and a robotics team to remind us we must always look 

ahead to help build a brighter future. The school also formed partnerships with 

Lejeune High School, engineering and maintenance battalions, and the base 

biologist to offer real-life learning experiences. 

The need for acquisition of additional learning tools also became apparent, so 

budgets were scrubbed and curricular purchases made. Due to the proactive 

investments the school was making 

on its own, TTES was asked to 

become one of DoDEA’s first STEAM

pilot schools. The school was able to 

outfit three technology labs and 

purchase one of the first mobile 

computer labs in DoDEA. With the 

new footprint came enough space to 

create a dedicated science lab –

known as the STEAM Room – as well 

as several outdoor learning spaces for 

experimentation, creation, and innovation. Students use microscopes to learn about 

the smallest units of life and use skeletal models to identify anatomy. TTES has 

grown plants in barrel gardens that expanded across the continents, and raised 

ducks, chicken, and butterflies. 

TTES is the only school at Camp Lejeune that has a student-led fundraising 

campaign inclusive of a healthy walk in honor of an adopted charity, to which the 

students have contributed over $6,000 in the last five years.

Florida

Castle Creek Elementary School, Orlando, Fla.

Even the occasional alligator is an environmental learning opportunity

Castle Creek Elementary is a public school with an enrollment of 940 students, 78 

percent of whom are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch. Within the school’s 

suburban setting, the Castle Creek community strives to help students develop a 

From the school’s mascot, the tiger, which is 

among the most endangered species on the 

planet, to resource management that 

emerged stronger after the catastrophic 

natural disaster that destroyed homes and 

displaced students, to the features of its 

feeder school building, the TTES community 

is keenly aware of humankind’s 

interdependence with the natural world.
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proactive mindset as productive and contributing citizens of their local and global 

community. At Castle Creek, students’ learning is framed though an awareness of 

environmental impact and personal and community wellbeing. Castle Creek 

Elementary was named the top green school in Orange County and top green 

building in Florida through Sustainable Florida for 2015-16. 

Reducing the environmental impact of operations through conservation and 

recycling is a top priority at Castle Creek. It has cut 603 metric tons of greenhouse 

gas emissions over 30 months, and maintains a 60 percent recycling rate. Castle 

Creek has implemented a noidling policy, safe pedestrian and 

bike routes to school, a walking 

school bus program, secure racks 

for bikes, a parent program 

designed to encourage 

neighborhood parents to carpool, 

and an a certified green bus that 

runs at 4:45 p.m. for all afterschool programs, eliminating 35 

to 40 cars per day. Ninety 

percent of the school’s paper is 

environmentally preferable. 

Castle Creek has reduced 

domestic water usage over 35 percent in two years, and introduced trayless meals, 

reducing solid waste by saving the use of over 800 trays per day.

Overhead walkway coverings reduce the heat from the sidewalks. New trees have 

been added to the outdoor classroom, and the school chooses mulch and grass over 

pavement in walkways to reduce the heat island effect. Students and teachers 

installed 10 rain barrels for use in the front of the school and in the garden areas. 

Butterfly and vegetable gardens are in containers that capitalize on stored rainwater. 

Castle Creek science classes and the 4-H club have raised drought-resistant grass. 

The Florida-friendly trees near the outdoor classroom and bird sanctuary were 

placed in the marshy, wet area near the retention pond in order to have a moist area 

for the roots to grow in the summer without the use of additional water. The 4-H club 

plants at the edge of the pond to reduce algae growth and avoid contaminants for 

the birds, turtles, and occasional alligator in the pond.

Castle Creek released ladybugs in the garden area; covered all outside trash cans to 

avoid both pests and wild animals; and conducts monthly inspections of the school 

and grounds as part of its IPM plan. The Castle Creek LEGO Robotics Team project 

is to invent a bear repellent that will not harm the bear’s breathing or ability to smell, 

but will repel a bear from human areas. The school borders woods and a pond, and 
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teachers employ natural lighting during the day in classrooms. The surrounding 

natural area contains rabbits, deer, raccoons, possums, a variety of birds and 

snakes, lots of turtles, and an occasional alligator for students to observe. An 

outdoor reading room and bird sanctuary allow students to enjoy the natural habitat 

around the school while learning. Students participating in the 4-H club research 

nature and the environment through outdoor observations, and have built a nature 

trail that alerts all observers to the wildlife in the area. 

As a Title I school, Castle Creek provides breakfast, lunch, and even dinner to 

students. All students have an exercise period each day, and are provided fresh 

fruits and vegetables daily, whether through the three meals served at the school, or 

through the classroom snack time. All students who are involved in Extended Day, 

tutoring, and clubs receive a free healthy and balanced dinner. The school offers a 

full-time food pantry called Casey’s Closet that is open to families and to elderly 

community members, in partnership with the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central 

Florida. The school 4-H club grows fresh vegetables throughout the year that are 

distributed through Casey’s Closet. 

The school integrates the Orange County Public Schools Green School Initiative into 

all Florida standards in all classes, including the arts. Green School topics are 

embedded into the curriculum in the way standards are presented, materials are 

developed to present the standards, and activities and field trips are incorporated to 

teach the standards. These techniques teach students to solve problems that help 

reduce energy and the use of our resources while protecting the environment. 

Students study the habits of ants and learn that all wildlife has a purpose. The 

weekly principal’s message, school web site, and school Facebook page remind 

families of their civic responsibilities toward the planet and fellow inhabitants, 

human, plant, and animal.

Surfside Elementary School, Satellite Beach, Fla.

A beachside school protects water quality and the planet

Surfside Elementary is a small community school with innovative outdoor learning 

spaces, creative environmental education programs and active community 

involvement. Organic school gardens, schoolwide incubation and farm animal 

husbandry, and community outreach programs are just a few things that make this 

beachside school a model for developing respect for the planet through personal 

responsibility. 
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Environmental impact is a central focus of Surfside’s operations. Over the last five 

years, the school has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent. Surfside 

has a 44 percent recycling rate through use of a recycling compacting dumpster, and 

having students feed daily vegetable scraps to the chickens, ducks, geese, and 

turkeys, among other strategies. The manure from the poultry run is used to fertilize 

fruit trees. Schoolwide recycling and conservation happens daily in the classrooms, 

offices, and cafeteria. The Recycled Art Club, Green Team, and 4-H Club all use

recycled materials, spread awareness, and help to keep the campus clean and 

green. 

A certified Florida master gardener has 

landscaped the campus with water-efficient 

Florida native plants. There is a large grove of 

live oaks near the bike racks, a sensory garden 

near the office, a native butterfly garden across 

the entire front of the campus, and numerous 

butterfly gardens with host and nectar plants for 

different species throughout the interior of the 

school grounds. Irrigation is from 10 rain 

barrels, with temporary drip irrigation used only 

when necessary. The few paved areas 

(sidewalks, physical education court, and a parking area) are surrounded by gardens 

that help to soak up rainwater, while all other areas are permeable. 

The small neighborhood school uses no buses; instead, encouraged by a new bike 

rack and three crossing guards, over 75 percent of students walk or ride their bikes 

to school, as do many teachers. An annual Walk to School Day boasts major 

community involvement and a huge turnout. A new car loop system reduced idling 

time by over 50 percent, and now allows student pickup to flow smoothly and 

efficiently. 

Surfside has a robust IPM plan, the entire school is organic and pesticide free, and 

all cleaning products are green-certified. Surfside proactively addresses pest 

problems with the help of the Brevard County Extension office. The Green Team 

developed an innovative Zika mitigation plan to ensure that the school could keep 

rain barrels, tadpole habitats, and birdbaths full without promoting the spread of the 

Zika virus. Surfside enforces a policy prohibiting all tobacco use, including ecigarettes, on school property or at school-sponsored events. The school adheres 

to the Asbestos Act, and its chemical management program includes a purchasing 

policy for less toxic products. Each classroom has large doors and windows that 

open to the outside, providing fresh air and natural light. The open campus ensures 

that every classroom and student space has views of trees, sky, flowers, and darting 

butterflies. A monthly campus cleanup and inspection by teachers and students is 
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done during Clean Up Your Corner Fridays. Environmental health or safety issues 

are documented and resolved by the School’s Green Team, or referred to the proper 

authority. 

At Surfside, physical and emotional health is just as important as academics for 

students to achieve their full potential. In health education class, all students learn 

to make informed decisions about their health, including physical activity and 

nutrition, which are celebrated during activities such as the Jog-a-thon and Organic 

Soup and Salad celebration. Students learn the skills to remain physically active for 

a lifetime through physical education, as well as activities such as Walk to School 

Day, Panther Pacers, and Morning Mile. The Surfside principal leads Walking 

Wednesday during which staff is encouraged to walk and brainstorm together. Staff 

members also have monthly healthy food celebrations. These activities are shared 

with parents through class and school newsletters. 

The school is located just one mile from both the Atlantic Ocean and Indian River 

Lagoon, so it is vital that students understand their role in protecting the water and 

the planet. A marine science agent conducts workshops with students so they can 

better understand their roles as stewards of the waterways. Field trips, including to 

the Brevard Zoo, Indian River Lagoon, Sea World’s One World One Ocean Program, 

Kid Power Nutrition, and the Barrier Island Sanctuary, plus special events such as 

Make a Difference Day, Dr. Seuss Lorax Week, Run for Shade 5K, and Earth Day 

celebrations all contribute to students’ motivation, awareness, and commitment to 

helping the school and the planet. Project Learning Tree and 4-H programs help to 

shape Surfside’s environmental education curriculum and policies. 

At every grade level, teachers integrate environmental and sustainability concepts 

across subjects and in a variety of contexts. Grade level gardens allow teachers to 

combine academic achievement, nutrition, garden science, physical activity, food 

preparation, and fresh vegetable tastings to improve the health and wellness of 

children, families, and the school community. Students work in the gardens, and are 

engaged in hands-on life science projects with insects and poultry that are supported 

through not just curriculum and lesson plans, but also by community volunteers, 

business partners, and technology resources. The entire campus is an outdoor 

learning experience that brings the school community together.

Wilton Manors Elementary School, Wilton Manors, Fla.

Passionate students and critical thinking lead to environmental connection
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The students and staff at Wilton Manors Elementary are authentically and wholly 

connected to the environment through a fully-integrated International Baccalaureate 

(IB) curriculum, sustainable school grounds, and a community-focused approach to 

sustainability. The school educates 630 students, 80 percent of whom are eligible 

for free or reduced-price lunch. Global environmental topics are researched and 

taught throughout interdisciplinary units of inquiry, which are designed to encourage 

students to interact personally and intimately with their natural surroundings. The 

school grounds are a place where 

students can learn and work with 

native plants and natural 

processes. Students, facilities staff, 

and educators embolden the school 

community to take ownership of 

their environment, and direct action 

in creating a functioning, 

sustainable, and conflict-free world. 

Wilton Manors Elementary sets an 

example for sustainability, 

conservation, recycling, and 

environmental preservation. 

Recently, for example, students and 

staff attended NatureScape’s Water Matters Day, where they learned about 

conserving water, and brought back drought-resistant trees native to the area to 

improve sustainability on campus. The school’s butterfly garden is a certified 

schoolyard habitat. Wilton Manors twice has received top-three recognition from its 

hauling company Waste Management for promoting recycling through an Earth Day 

dumpster painting competition. Representatives visit to speak to students about 

their work and how to contribute to waste reduction. 

The school reinvigorated its courtyard space to eliminate grass, and replanted the 

area with native shrubs and ground cover that minimize water use. Students and 

staff created a mosaic project that covers 12 seven-foot-tall pillars in the courtyard, 

eliminating the need for future painting in this area, reducing costs, and sparing the 

gardens chemical exposure. Wilton Manors staggered dismissal times and rerouted 

traffic to lessen CO2 emissions from vehicle idling. Buses remain parked with 

engines off until parents pick up their students. The school reduced greenhouse gas 

emissions 24 percent in eight years, and maintains a 54 percent recycling rate. In 

recognition of these efforts, the school was the first elementary school in Broward 

county, a 2013 District Sustainability Awardee, to receive the district’s own P3 Eco 

Challenge award. 
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Through the Wilton Manors IB curriculum, students are taught how their choices 

directly influence their overall health and well-being. Teachers lead their students in 

exercise, regularly engage them in active learning, and frequently use brain break 

activities. Through school gardens, students learn about agriculture and planting, 

and how to care for and harvest homegrown foods. Wilton Manors encourages 

students and their families to walk to school, which gets them active and reduces 

CO2 emissions. Saved parking spaces have been repurposed as a place for 

walking parents to wait safely in the shade for their children. Wilton Manors 

participates in the American Heart Association's Jump Rope for Heart, and offers a 

Family Fitness Night to educate students and families on healthy lifestyles. The 

school also hosts a three-kilometer Walk for Peace that promotes the school's 

mission of spreading peace and harmony throughout the community and the world.

Wilton Manors IB curriculum, local partnerships, and extracurricular activities support 

environmental and sustainability literacy. Every day, the campus courtyard serves 

as an outside learning lab. Teachers have completed multiple trainings on how to 

run a class garden, how to teach their students how to garden for nutrition, and the 

importance of local foods. All grade levels use the space by planting and 

maintaining garden boxes. Some grade levels have created their gardens from 

upcycled materials, including old car tires and concrete blocks. 

The IB curriculum includes six in-depth units of inquiry related to the environment, 

including: Plants as a Natural Resource, Living Things, Plant and Animal 

Adaptations, and Man's Impact on the Environment. Students have opportunities for 

off-campus, field-based environmental studies at Everglades National Park and 

Flamingo Gardens. The school's art club participates in a competition by the Wyland 

Foundation to promote learning about how human actions affect the environment. 

Students produced a collaborative mural to highlight the beauty of the oceans, and 

also created individual works. All pieces included a writing component by the 

students to be displayed around the school. 

During their fifth grade year, students choose projects that address current 

environmental issues for their exhibition presentations. They engage in critical 

thinking to determine the necessary steps for forward action, and create information 

products about conservation that can be disseminated throughout their local 

communities. The nature of discovery and inquiry in the lB program, partnered with 

the connected, innovative, and knowledgeable community at Wilton Manors 

Elementary creates a rich and unique environment for students to ignite their 

passion and take direct action in protecting and caring for the planet.
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Air Base K-8 Center, Homestead, Fla.

Educate, inspire, and empower the future stewards of our planet

Air Base K-8 Center, serving 1056 students, nearly 60 percent of whom are eligible 

for free and reduced-price lunch, has earned the Florida Green School Award. The 

magnet school’s participation in Dade County’s Dream in Green Program has 

provided hands-on environmental learning experiences and opened doors to many 

unique learning opportunities. The World Climate Change Project, a White House 

initiative, is a once-in-a-lifetime event sponsored by the Frost Museum of Science, 

the University of Miami, and Dream in Green. Air Base K-8 Center was one of only 

seven schools chosen to mentor high school students representing countries as they 

addressed real-world problems related to climate change by reducing CO2 levels. A 

computer simulation program demonstrated the issues being negotiated at the 

COP21 Climate Change Talks in Paris. 

Sustainability kick-off assemblies are held at the start of the school year. Featuring 

energy efficiency, water conservation, and waste reduction, these events are

presented by students and teachers via skits, songs, and PowerPoint presentation. 

Local and global challenges and corresponding solutions are explored. Following 

the kick-off, everyone creates a Green Promise, and places it on display both as a 

reminder to act on their pledge, and as a show of the school’s unified vision of 

sustainability progress. Environmental literacy also is a part of Air Base’s formal 

school improvement plan.

Air Base K-8 Center’s green journey began with its Green Team students wanting to 

have a positive effect on the environment. Constructed in 1958, before air 

conditioning, there are 80 large (22” x 24”) air vents, which were sealed by 

maintenance personnel who volunteered their time and materials. Every year the 

Environmental Ambassador Club seals gaps in jalousie windows with plastic wrap, 

cord, and Styrofoam. The school’s Green Ranger Program features daily green 

behaviors that address energy efficiency, water conservation, and waste reduction to 

institutionalize daily green habits. The school participated in the districtwide Cool 

Roof Project with partners Florida International University, Florida Power & Light, 

and Ernst & Young, through which students collect room and roof temperature data 

via installed sensors to then compare between uncoated and coated spaces. Air 

Base has achieved a 45 percent greenhouse gas reduction in three years, and a 55 

percent water use reduction in two years. 

Recycling is a priority at Air Base K-8 Center, which recycles plastic bottles and 

aluminum cans through the PepsiCo Recycle Rally to benefit veterans. Collection 
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efforts also include electronic equipment, small electronics, printer ink, juice 

pouches, cartons, paper/cardboard, and shoes for children in Africa. Recycled 

objects are used creatively in cultural activities, art, and content areas. The No 

Plastic Is Fantastic campaign resulted in halting the use of plastic bags for milk and 

juice for all meals, while compostable trays have replaced styrofoam. So far, Air 

Base has eliminated the use of 279,760 plastic bags and 31,050 trays. Two green 

hand dryers have eliminated 7,302 pounds of waste, and two water bottle filling 

stations reduce the number of plastic bottles. 

Air Base K-8 Center is a two time selectee of the HealthierUS School Challenge: 

Smarter Lunchrooms and Let’s Move Active Schools awards. Healthy snacks are 

offered during faculty meetings, as a fundraiser, and in vending machines. The 

school’s organic gardens 

are maintained by 

students, teachers, and 

parent volunteers. Many 

families have become 

inspired to start their own 

organic gardens. 

Members of the community have been invited to teach students about pollinating 

bees, organic gardening, and native ecosystems; park rangers and biologists teach 

about natural resources and the need to protect them; environmental experts show 

and share expertise about solar energy, biofuels, natural gas, recycling, coral reef 

restoration, and ecosystems.

Environmental literacy is infused into the Air Base K-8 Center curriculum in myriad 

ways, and is supported by green partners who educate the school and surrounding 

community about sustainability. At the Air Base Green Education Fair, community 

organizations and educational institutions are invited to share their environmental 

expertise. Topics include green energies, water conservation, recycling, native 

ecosystems, organic gardening, green buildings, wildlife conservation, and green 

careers. Classes participate in field trips to the Everglades and Biscayne national 

parks, museums, LEED certified buildings, postsecondary environmental centers, 

native biomes, zoos, and community gardens.

The Deering Estate’s Nurturing Environmental Stewards for Today and Tomorrow

program teaches environmental lessons on- and off-site. During a culminating 

activity supported by Deering and Kohl’s, volunteers and students created a map of 

the U.S. with items collected at a mangrove cleanup as part of a Nurturing 

Environmental Stewards for Today and Tomorrow lesson titled United Trashing of 

America. The school turned this problem into a solution, with United Greening of 

America as the theme for the following year. Air Base K-8 Center students present 

to the city council and the mayor regarding the school’s environmental initiatives. As 

Collection efforts include electronic equipment, small 

electronics, printer ink, juice pouches, cartons, 

paper/cardboard, and shoes for children in Africa. 

Recycled objects are used creatively in cultural 

activities, art, and content areas.
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a result of this visibility, Homestead Air Reserve Base now hosts the school’s 

Environmental Ambassador Club for annual field trips. 

In science classes, STEM concepts are taught through the lens of sustaining the 

Earth's resources, and the effect of our actions in the environment. Edible plants

similar to the plants found on NASA’s International Space Station are grown through 

the Fairchild Challenge Program. Critical thinking classes explore solar and wind 

energy. Students take on leadership roles as they present in the community and to 

their peers. Students interact with students from other schools and countries, while 

learning it is the responsibility of all to be environmental stewards. 

This learning also occurs in the outdoor classroom, butterfly gardens, wildflower 

meadow, and organic gardens. These gardens, accredited with five wildlife 

certifications, have become living laboratories. Students engage in the Atala 

Butterfly and Coontie Ecosystem Restoration Project, and active research of an 

endangered bat. Water conservation practices include rain barrels, mulching, and 

using native plants and trees. The school successfully spearheaded an effort to 

obtain a protective designation for a natural area called Pine Rockland, and received 

permission to use this site for educational purposes, leveraging partners and ecoevents to provide civic engagement and service learning opportunities to current and 

former students.

Duval County Public Schools, Jacksonville, Florida

Honoring outstanding educators with a Green Champions Award

Duval County Public Schools serves 128,463 students, 76 percent of whom are 

eligible for free and reduced-price lunch. When facility expertise meets teachers 

passionate about sustainability using STEM-focused curriculum, the result is 

sustainable education for every school, every classroom, every student, every day. 

Duval’s community and business partners provide resources, industry expertise, 

new ideas, and insight into cutting-edge technologies for students and staff.

The district reduces environmental impact and costs through effective conservation, 

waste management, and transportation strategies. This includes building, 

renovating, and maintaining facilities that are comfortable, safe, and efficient, and 

benchmarking building performance metrics. Duval has created friendly competition 

between schools so they strive for continuous conservation behavioral improvement. 

Duval also instituted a Green Champions Network made up of teachers and staff 

who voluntarily facilitate green teams to incorporate sustainability concepts at their 

schools, and an award-winning teacher supply depot that ensures teachers have 
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needed supplies by repurposing donated materials. Every Duval school uses 

classroom recycling bins (repurposed five-gallon buckets) and cafeteria recycling 

zones. Curriculum enhancement materials and single-stream recycling center field 

trips are provided. The district allows employees to charge electric vehicles while at 

work, and uses native landscaping, rain barrels, cisterns, and smart irrigation to save 

water. 

Duval has implemented no-cost strategies, and its forward-thinking investment of 

capital dollars to fund sustainability has resulted in immediate operating cost savings 

and maximum results. The 

district has reduced annual utility 

costs from $26 million to $20 

million, reduced energy use by 32 

percent, and has a 42 percent 

recycling rate.

DCPS improves student and staff 

health by providing safe, 

comfortable, productive facilities, 

as well as an educational culture 

that makes leading a healthy 

lifestyle second nature. Facilities 

are maintained in a healthy 

manner by using IPM strategies,

paying close attention to proper ventilation and indoor air quality, and closely 

monitoring procedures to ensure that students and staff with asthma and other 

medical conditions are comfortable and safe. 

Every school has locally grown produce, and salads are offered in every school, 

every day, using dark, leafy greens. Produce from Duval school gardens is cleaned 

and served in school cafeterias, paired with a culinary demonstration and 

educational presentation from dietitians. Duval participates actively in programs 

such as NFL Play 60, Fuel Up to Play 60, nutrition education, physical activity 

enhancement, Action for Healthy Kids, Alliance for Healthier Generation, Let’s Move 

Jacksonville, and Let’s Move Active Schools.

Duval provides effective environmental and sustainability education by using STEMbased curricula, encouraging sustainability-based school themes, supporting Green 

Champions, and nurturing local community and business partnerships. The district

recognizes the work of teachers by offering a Green Champions award. These 

teachers are passionate about sustainability, and are willing to work tirelessly, on a 

volunteer basis, to make sure the next generation understands the importance of 

environmental stewardship. Winners are recognized by the Duval school board and 
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other senior leadership. Duval conducts an annual environmental science 

professional development course that keeps teachers up to date on current trends 

related to teaching about the environment.

The district provides students with opportunities to participate in a variety of 

environmentally-focused field trips. STEAM Cultural Passport, in partnership with 

St. Johns River Keeper, allows fifth grade students to engage in science-based, 

hands-on learning experiences that help develop a better understanding of local 

ecosystems. This also exposes students to water quality testing equipment and 

techniques used by local scientists. Other programs include University of North 

Florida Eco Adventure and Tree Hill Nature Center. Second grade students visit the 

Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens to study interaction between people and the

natural and man-made worlds. 

Sustainable school themes allow students to choose an area of interest, deepening 

their understanding of concepts. For example, GRASP Academy is the first and only 

public school for students with dyslexia. GRASP is developing and building a Net 

Zero mini-farm that blends innovative environmental waste solutions with the needs 

of dyslexic students. Mathew Gilbert Middle School’s Eco-Architecture program 

enables students to explore sustainable construction methods used by designers 

and engineers. The district also includes two coastal science academies where 

students participate in field studies.

Georgia

Gilbert Elementary School, La Fayette, Ga. 

Imaginations run wild in the school forest

Gilbert Elementary School students are place-and project-based STEM learners. At 

each grade level, students are involved in ongoing authentic STEM research taking 

place throughout the school year, rather than as an isolated event. Every aspect of 

Gilbert has an environmental focus, including art and physical education, which 

focus on outdoor education. Students work collaboratively on various projects and 

learn to communicate their findings. One product of fourth-grade students’ work is 

two miles of student-blazed trails that are open to the public outside of school hours. 

Many Gilbert families take advantage of this resource, and each class is targeted to 

spend an hour per day in the forest. The school’s Forest Kindergarten classes 

spend three hours per day outdoors, rain or shine, in self-initiated playtime in the 

woods. Students learn to use their imaginations, be creative, discover, and explore, 

while developing a love and empathy for the natural world. 
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Each grade level conducts environmental or sustainability education research 

projects. Because of the level of curriculum integration, students are able to spend 

more time exploring nature, problem solving, and developing innovative solutions to 

real-world problems through practical application. Gilbert students hammer, dig, 

saw, and measure. Students have worked to build passive solar panels for use in 

classrooms, a hydroelectric generator with a washing machine, and have grown 

plants for biofuels. Each grade 

works with professionals in a field 

related to their project, such as 

arborists, farmers, biologists, 

engineers, foresters, professors, 

and horticulturists. 

Kindergarten learns about life 

cycles by hatching and raising 

chickens. First grade plants 

milkweed and explores the forest 

tagging plants that will attract 

pollinators. Second grade 

rescues native plants and 

explores the forest to find rare 

plants with a biologist. Third 

graders are the resident organic 

gardeners. They are responsible 

for the maintenance of Gilbert’s 

composting program and worm farm, and they collect food from the cafeteria each 

day after the lunch period to use in the composting bins, composting an average of 

one to two yards a month. Every fifth grader spends three days at an environmental 

education camp to which the Gilbert curriculum is aligned. The gifted program 

focuses on water conservation through a water catchment design challenge and 

aquaponics lab.

Gilbert faculty spent a year developing grade level projects to cover as many 

standards as possible. Teachers spent two years working with Jean Lomino, the 

former director of the Chattanooga Nature Center and founder of the Wahatchie 

School, a private outdoor preschool. Gilbert educators work closely with Southern 

Adventist University’s outdoor education faculty, and the school has had several 

teachers trained through Project WET and Project WILD.

Gilbert offers a school-based health center, the closest pediatric care center within 

35 miles, and has been awarded $650,000 yearly in ongoing funding for the clinic, 

which offers a wide variety of services to students and families, including medical, 

dental, mental health, nutrition and wellness, and assistance with social services. 
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Nearly 84 percent of Gilbert students qualify for free and reduced lunch. Gilbert also 

celebrates an annual Olympics and a family nutrition night. The school provides 

produce to the Care Mission, a food pantry used by many students’ families. In 

addition to lessons on growing plants, GES students participate in tastings, develop 

recipes, and cultivate tilapia and catfish in the aquaponics lab.

Gilbert opened in 1993 and has made few alterations to the initial construction. As a 

result, one of the school’s successes was its energy reduction efforts through new 

policies and procedures, a new control system, an updated boiler and cooling tower, 

and gradually updating all lighting to LED over several years. All of these changes 

seemed small, but had a dramatic effect on resource consumption. Other behavioral 

changes by this school, such as in recycling, have had ripple effects at the district 

level. The school has gone paperless in grades three through five by using Google 

Classroom and Seesaw. Half of the school’s 21 acres are forested and the site 

includes a certified wildlife habitat. The school also has access to an additional 320 

acres of forest surrounding the school-owned land.

Kinchafoonee Primary School, Leesburg, Ga. 

Fine attention to detail in all things sustainability

Kinchafoonee Primary School (KPS) is in Lee County, in the southwest part of 

Georgia. With approximately 29,000 residents, Lee County is a unique blend of 

commercial and industrial development and traditional rural feel. Scattered with 

creeks, lakes, plantations, and historical sites, the community offers excellent 

educational and recreational opportunities. Kinchafoonee was opened in December 

of 1996, and serves approximately 697 students in kindergarten through second 

grade, 51 percent of whom qualify for free and reduced-price lunch.

The school sits on approximately 29 acres, with over 60 percent of its land dedicated 

to environmentally beneficial purposes. The property includes 8.5 acres of 

designated wetlands with a newly renovated nature trail that runs through this 

ecological gem. The wetlands are a habitat for many species, and provide students 

with opportunities for exploring and learning in a natural setting. 

To reduce environmental impact and costs, the school system employs an energy 

specialist who gathers and analyzes data and implements programs and policies to 

help the members of the KPS population to be good stewards of the environment, as 

well as to minimize costs. Using EnergyCap software and Cenergistic tools, the 

school has been tracking its resource use and making behavioral changes. In a 

single year, the school reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 35 percent. 
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Kinchafoonee uses Green Seal certified cleaning products and copy paper made 

from sustainably forested trees. All water fixtures are low-flow, and sinks have selfclosure fixtures. The school uses natural light in all areas.

Through KPS’ participation in the Pepsi Recycle Rally, students have recycled over 

51,000 plastic bottles that otherwise would have gone into landfills, and have gained 

a great deal of awareness of the effect that recycling can have on this planet. The 

school is currently fourth in the nation in the competition. Students also participate 

in an annual reading-for-recycling program. There is a no-idle policy in place for 

buses, and a park-and-pick up option for parents in cars.

In an effort to improve the health and wellness of students and staff, KPS uses a 

Coordinated School Health approach. The school has a full-time nurse and a fulltime counselor. Students are engaged in physical activity on a daily basis, and KPS 

holds family events that focus on physical fitness and well-being, such as quarterly 

walk/run events, Family 

Fitness night, and a field day 

called “P.E. Extravaganza.” 

Students enjoy 30 minutes of 

recess per day and 150 

minutes of physical education 

each week. The school

partners with local mental, 

dental, and eye health 

providers to support the well-being of students and their caregivers, and has 

implemented a social emotional learning curriculum. Kinchafoonee partners with a 

local church to provide economically disadvantaged students with nutritious snacks 

to supplement their meals over the weekend, and offers staff outdoor workouts 

onsite four times a week.

Providing students with effective environmental and sustainability education begins 

with the professional development of staff. Kinchafoonee has a dedicated art / 

STEAM teacher who is certified in many areas of environmental education, serves 

as a leader in implementing new programs; and provides support and resources to 

other classroom teachers. In addition, KPS teachers increasingly are taking their 

lessons outdoors as a means of creating new, authentic, and exciting learning 

opportunities in all subject areas. In an effort to encourage outdoor learning 

experiences, the school created outdoor learning backpacks that contain resources 

to make outdoor lessons and activities more accessible. The environmental 

education lead teacher supplies the backpacks with new lessons and ideas on a 

regular basis. 

Students play an active role in taking care of KPS 

school gardens. They prepare the beds, weed, plant, 

water, and harvest the produce that is grown. 

Students played a role in developing the school’s 

butterfly garden, now part of the Roslyn Cater 

Butterfly Trail.
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Students play an active role in taking care of KPS school gardens. They prepare the 

beds, weed, plant, water, and harvest the produce that is grown. Students played a 

role in developing the school’s butterfly garden, now part of the Roslyn Cater 

Butterfly Trail, which was developed using grant funds from Monarchs Across 

Georgia. Students learn about planting native plants; feeding birds, bees, and 

butterflies; and outdoor environments, such as pollinator gardens, through the onsite 

wetlands, animal habitats, Monarch butterfly habitat, and the school’s animal 

education welfare program. Students are assessed on their understanding of 

environmental concepts such as the life cycle of butterflies, assessment of plants 

and how they grow, and the weather and seasons. All teachers have access to 

environmental training through programs including Project WET, Project WILD, 

Project Learning Tree, Adopt-a-Stream, Schoolyard Investigation Plans, 

Conservation, Outdoor Learning, and Integrated Teaching.

Morningside Elementary School, Atlanta, Ga.

Garden year-round; learn social and emotional skills every day

Located in the heart of Atlanta’s Virginia Highland neighborhood, Morningside 

Elementary School serves close to 900 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, 

in an urban public school system. The school was built in 1929 and has not had a 

major renovation since. Because of this, Morningside’s occupants work especially 

hard to reduce costs and environmental impact. Morningside recently installed a 

$5,000,000, state-of-the-art HVAC unit that works both to heat and cool the building, 

eliminating the need for two separate units, reducing energy costs, and improving 

indoor air quality. The system uses outside units to supply constant air to the 

classrooms, which helps reduce carbon dioxide levels. 

The Morningside PTA has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to help reduce 

water consumption costs by installing two turf fields, a unique, forward-thinking 

investment for an urban public elementary school. Sprinkler systems were removed 

(as turf fields do not need to be watered), and drains were installed underneath to 

help with stormwater runoff. Partnering with Trees Atlanta, a nonprofit citizens' 

group in Atlanta that seeks to plant, preserve, and protect the city's trees, has 

allowed Morningside to plant a variety of regionally appropriate trees. 

Students are encouraged to bring reusable lunchroom containers and participate 

actively in the recycling club. Morningside completed a 10-day pilot composting 

program that reduced lunchroom waste by nearly 40 percent. The school uses allnatural Green Seal-certified cleaning products. Morningside works with Clean Air 

Campaign Georgia (now known as OnAir), participates in Safe Routes to Schools, 
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and sponsors several walk-to-school days annually. The school has formed a 

Student Wellness and Garden (SWAG) committee that has initiated a variety of 

wellness activities. 

First Fitness Friday, when local nutrition and fitness experts hold workshops on how 

to live a healthier lifestyle, is open to students, parents, and the community. 

Morningside also offers Parent University during the school day, during which local 

businesses can come and share 

healthy lifestyle tips for families. 

There is a no-junk-food reward 

policy, and teachers wear Fitbits 

earned through a grant to help 

track their steps each day. The 

school’s full-time nurse helps any 

student who needs medical 

attention, and staff is trained in 

CPR, diabetic treatment, and EpiPen use. The physical education 

department sees each child within 

the building two times a week, 

year-round. In a recent 

Presidential Fitnessgram test, 

Morningside’s fourth and fifth grade students outperformed the rest of the district in 

all five areas of health related fitness. These same two physical education teachers 

offer before-school fitness classes, and even a triathlon club where students are 

able to participate in their very own mini-triathlon. 

Morningside oversees a garden, so that students harvest fresh fruit, vegetables, and 

herbs year-round. The harvest is often featured in the cafeteria and at nearby 

restaurants. The school partners with a local farm-to-table company to provide 

organic vegetables, eggs, and meats to families that enroll in the program. Aside 

from fitness and nutrition, Morningside is an active No Place for Hate school, offering 

annual anti-bullying assemblies to all students, after which each child signs their 

name as a pledge against bullying. Each morning, every child in the building 

participates in a Social Emotional Learning activity led by teachers and using the 

Second Step program. 

Sustainability education at Morningside begins with garden lessons that progress at 

each grade level. Each grade has hands-on environmental units in the school 

garden. Each grade level has science units that largely are focused on 

environmental impact and sustainability, teaching topics such as soil composition, 

erosion, and restoration in third grade, and animal habitats and habitat preservation 

in fourth grade. Teachers are encouraged to use the school garden for lessons in 
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historical scientific developments, mathematics, biological sciences, and other 

subjects. Much of the gifted curriculum expands upon this to focus on specific 

issues and the technologies applicable. Morningside also leverages a variety of 

partnerships, field trips, and volunteers to teach outdoor education. 

Parents teach weekly garden lessons to younger grades, and second- and thirdgrade students take field trips to nature preserves around the city. Multidisciplinary 

partnerships and guest speakers provide each grade with a deeper understanding of 

the real-world issues of sustainability such as climate change, solar energy, energy 

conservation, and air and water quality. Morningside employs wide range of 

resources (such as those from North American Association for Environmental 

Education, SaveOnEnergy, and Green Strides) to interweave the classroom 

curriculum with fundamental concepts of sustainability. 

The University of Georgia, Athens, Ga.

Making commitments and rising to challenges

Inspired leaders, stronger communities and thriving natural systems ... that’s the 

University of Georgia (UGA) commitment. This flagship university is improving the 

world and addressing grand global challenges through better local solutions. 

Sustainability research, education, service and campus operations are hallmarks of 

UGA’s 2020 Strategic Plan, and there has been marked progress toward realizing 

those goals. 

For UGA, as a public land grant, Regional Sun Grant, National Sea Grant, and 

National Space Grant research university, stewardship of natural resources and 

advancing campus sustainability are of strategic importance. The institution is 

currently using 31 percent less water per square foot than it was in 2007, with the 

goal of a 40 percent or greater reduction by 2020. To improve water quality on 

campus and beyond, more than 75 rain gardens and 16 cisterns for rain and 

condensate water harvesting and reuse have been installed on UGA’s Athens 

campus. 

UGA has exceeded the Georgia Governor’s Energy Challenge, and currently is 

using 20 percent less energy per square foot than in 2007, with a goal of 25 percent 

or greater reduction by 2020. Infrastructure improvements from centralized chillers 

at district energy plants to steam pit insulation and LED lighting retrofits also have 

led to energy savings and reduced costs, and UGA has installed more than one 

megawatt of renewable solar energy on its main campus. Similarly, the university is 

striving to reduce the amount of waste sent to local landfills by 65 percent by 2020. 
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With a long way to go to reach this ambitious target, UGA is making progress by 

providing infrastructure that makes it just as easy to recycle materials on campus as 

it is to throw them away, and by composting all organic materials from every dining 

hall. 

Because UGA operates the largest campus transit system in the country, with over 

11 million annual riders, the university plans to convert one-third of its buses to allelectric vehicles in 2017, significantly reducing tailpipe emissions, maintenance and 

operating costs. Overall, the school has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 

more than eight percent since 2010. These initiatives and others are helping UGA to 

be a better neighbor and more responsible steward of natural and financial 

resources.

The university also is deeply 

committed to the health and wellbeing of students, faculty, staff and 

visitors. Infrastructure, planning,

and design initiatives, as well as 

health and wellness programs,

create healthy interior and exterior 

environments and opportunities for 

personal wellness. The entire 

UGA―Athens campus is 

designated an arboretum and a 

Tree Campus USA. In the last two 

decades, more than 60 acres of 

new green space have replaced previously paved areas to create an increasingly 

pedestrian-friendly and ecologically functional landscape. UGA is designated a 

Bronze-level Bicycle Friendly University with over 16 miles of bike lanes, trails, and 

shared use paths on campus and over 600 participants in the Bulldog Bikes bike 

share program. The campus is tobacco-free, and the decommissioning of UGA’s 

only coal-fired boiler in 2015 has further contributed to healthy outdoor air 

throughout the community. Campus buildings are maintained through a certified 

green cleaning program to provide healthy interior environments for all occupants.

Approximately 20 percent of all food items sold by UGA Food Services come from 

Georgia or bordering states, and healthy, nutritious options are available at every 

meal in every dining hall.

UGA students are directly involved in growing and providing wholesome foods to 

community members in need through the student-run UGArden Education & 

Demonstration Farm and the UGA Campus Kitchen. The Be Well UGA program 

promotes emotional, intellectual, physical, environmental, social, and spiritual wellbeing for all at UGA. Numerous programs and services are available to students 
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experiencing challenging situations, such as EMBARK UGA, which is geared toward

increasing college access and retention for youth who have experienced foster care 

or homelessness; the UGA Student Food Pantry and Hygiene Closet; and the 

reCYCLE program, which provides refurbished bicycles free of charge to students in 

need of affordable transportation options. UGA’s Work/Life Balance program 

provides a central location for relevant services and opportunities to assist faculty 

and staff in managing life’s challenges, from workplace stress to caring for family 

members. In addition, UGA Recreational Sports promotes healthy lifestyle choices 

by providing development, growth, and education for the campus and local 

community, including engaging outdoor recreation trips and clinics.

With a school motto that reads “to teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of 

things," education and innovation are central to UGA’s mission. UGA is committed 

to solving grand challenges for Georgia, the United States, and the world, as well as 

to training students who are capable of solving real-world, multifaceted problems 

with no simple solutions. All undergraduate students must satisfy the Environmental 

Awareness Requirement, including a basic understanding of the interactions 

between human activity and the environment at local, regional, or global scales. All 

students also must engage in at least one experiential learning activity that 

enhances learning and positions them for success after graduation.

In addition to numerous graduate and undergraduate degree programs related to 

sustainability, the Interdisciplinary Certificate in Sustainability provides students with 

a foundation in the principles and practice of social, environmental, and economic 

sustainability, as well as a valued credential to enhance their competitiveness in the 

job market. 

Overall, UGA offers more than 430 sustainability-related courses, as well as faculty

resources to promote integration of sustainability across the curriculum. The Office 

of Sustainability Student Internship Program provides experiential learning, 

leadership, and professional development while having a positive and tangible effect 

on the UGA and Athens communities. Since 2010, the Office of Sustainability has 

provided over 250 internship opportunities to students in 62 different degree 

programs for a total of over 31,000 hours of service. The Office of Sustainability 

also has provided $210,000 in campus sustainability grants to fund 58 student-led 

projects, many of which are now ongoing operational and experiential learning 

programs. Overall in 2015, UGA researchers received over $185 million in external 

research funding to solve grand challenges related to sustainable agriculture, water 

resources, bioenergy, waste reduction, public health, and much more.

Current sustainability-focused research at UGA includes, but is not limited to,

developing drought-tolerant sorghum that enhances cereal food crops, creating 
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compostable plastic packaging from plants, understanding drivers in outbreaks of 

infectious disease and understanding threats posed by the Zika virus.

Illinois

Maercker Intermediate School, Westmont, Ill.

Even little libraries promote environmental learning

Maercker Intermediate School’s sustainability efforts have been bolstered by many 

national and community partners and funders. The school won a grant in 2016 to 

have four solar panels installed on its roof to teach students and staff alike how solar 

power works. Monitors in the main hallway and in the school’s Green Room display 

the amount of energy collected. The Maercker STEM teacher won the Navy 

SeaPerch grant to enable some students to build and operate remotely operated 

vehicles. The school benefited from a Scholastic grant, with which the faculty 

purchased books for the school library to support environmental literacy, as well as a 

grant from the Scholastic 

educational foundation to install 

three Little Free Libraries. 

Maercker was the first school in 

Illinois to receive the new 

DuPage County Water Quality 

Flag in 2014.

Maercker School tracks energy 

usage, and has retrofitted to T-8 

fluorescent lighting throughout 

the facility, with motion sensors in 

all high traffic areas. The building automation system schedules start and stop times 

for every rooftop HVAC unit, as well as all exhaust fans and outdoor lighting, to 

conserve energy. Bathrooms have low-flow toilets and automated sensors on sinks. 

The school’s native garden is maintained by the Ecology Club, and does not require 

irrigation. The Garden Club converted a grass island in the parking lot into an 

additional native garden. 

Maercker School participates in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s 

HealthierUS School Challenge. The full-service kitchen provides students with hot 

meals, including fresh fruit and vegetable options daily. Physical education teachers 

sponsor Jump Rope for Heart, and teach students how exercise and nutrition can 

help prevent disease. The physical education curriculum includes units in adventure 

education and cooperative games, cardiovascular runs, muscular strength, circuit 
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training, and yoga. The school collaborates with T.R.U.E. Fit, a national 

organization that works to provide a healthier culture for students. 

Fifth graders attend the outdoor education facility at nearby Fullersburg Woods 

Forest Preserve twice each year to learn about invasive plants, water quality, and 

team building. Every classroom, as well as the main office, staff lounge, and staff 

workroom, have recycling bins for paper and plastic. The Ecology Club collects 

lunchroom waste to compost every day, and teaches students which items can be 

recycled from their hot school lunch or cold lunch from home. Bins for recycling 

plastic bags and other plastic film are placed on each floor. 

The school works closely with SCARCE, is an award-winning environmental 

education nonprofit dedicated to creating sustainable communities. The Ecology 

club coordinates with SCARCE to collect items such as cell phones, eyeglasses, 

keys, and crayons. At the end of the school year, the collects extra school supplies 

from students to give to students in need for the next year. The school employs a 

one-to-one ratio of Chromebooks and Google Classroom in order to reduce paper 

use and waste. 

Maercker is proud to promote environmental education to a diverse 480-student 

population, 46 percent of whom are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch, through 

an after-school Ecology Club, Garden Club, and STEM Club, as well as a new 

STEM class, in which all students participate in a curriculum promoting 

environmental literacy. Working with the Westmont Village forester, students have 

planted six trees on campus.

Chiaravalle Montessori School, Evanston, Ill.

Peace education in a LEED Platinum facility

Chiaravalle Montessori is an independent school located in Evanston, Illinois for 

children ages six months through eighth grade. In 2015, Chiaravalle completed 

construction of the North Wing, a multi-story, LEED Platinum replacement for an 

aging annex attached to a historic school built in 1898. The new facility is a model 

for environmental responsibility for the school and Evanston community, both 

dedicated to upholding the Montessori philosophy of being stewards of the Earth, 

and allowing Chiaravalle to reduce energy consumption significantly. Sustainable 

features include geothermal heating and cooling, photovoltaics, a green roof, use of 

rapidly renewable materials, and a high-performance building envelope. Nearly 80 

percent of all core learning spaces and regularly occupied spaces are daylit. The 

project is believed to have achieved two firsts: the first LEED Platinum Montessori 
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school addition in the United States, and the first LEED Platinum private school 

addition in Illinois. Chiaravalle offers tours of the North Wing to other schools 

interested in green building.

Montessori philosophy places tremendous emphasis on caring for and 

understanding the natural world. Educating students to understand the related 

science and moral responsibility of 

sustainability is essential along 

with outlets for their energy and an 

easy-to-practice lifestyle. This 

philosophy is woven into 

everything the Chiaravalle 

community does. Toddlers tend 

the garden; preschoolers sort 

recycling; elementary children 

work to restore endangered

prairielands and manage 

schoolwide worm composting. 

Middle school students take 

multiple weeklong outdoor 

education trips and grow 

hydroponic basil for a local restaurant. Waste-free lunches, nontoxic cleaning 

products, and organic food are part of a comprehensive, sustainable education. 

Students enjoy being in an active school where they can move throughout their day. 

They sit on the floor, at tables, or use standing desks, and have freedom to use the 

entire building as their learning space instead of being seated at a single desk for 

many hours. Students as young as three years old can decide to take a movement 

break by grabbing a gym pass whenever they feel the need to move. Additionally, 

there is an occupational therapy wiggle room for young students to move as needed. 

Opportunities for sports, yoga, dance, and meditation are available each day. Active 

transportation is strongly encouraged throughout the school community. 

Chiaravalle has a student Green Team that works with peers, faculty, and parents 

to: encourage waste-free lunches; raise money for ecological nonprofit initiatives 

they wish to support; teach their peers how to use the compost bins; and initiate 

other student projects. The school purchases nontoxic chemicals to clean, as well 

as recycled and unbleached paper products. Chiaravalle has a green purchasing 

policy that prioritizes organic foods and ecofriendly products and processes 

whenever possible and cost effective. 

Chiaravalle continues a long practice of teaching environmental stewardship as an 

integral part of its toddler through eighth grade programming. One focal point on 
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campus is the Learning Garden, the school's organic community garden space. The 

garden is tended by students, faculty, and parent volunteers. Students harvest 

produce for food prep by classrooms or to be shared at the Parent Café in exchange 

for a donation. Students report energy usage to the school community at community 

meetings. 

Middle school students are building an OpenAg Personal Food Computer as part of 

the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab program. Furthermore, 

students regularly initiate their own sustainability groups and projects that are 

supported by faculty. Examples include advocating against a North Dakota pipeline 

route through native lands that might affect water quality, and fundraising and raising 

awareness around the needs of the wolf populations in North America.

Indiana

Burris Laboratory School, Muncie, Ind.

A sustainable school gem within Ball State

Burris Laboratory School is a kindergarten through twelfth grade school that is 

located on the campus of Ball State University (BSU) in Muncie, Ind. It is the only 

school in the Burris Laboratory School Corporation, and has the entire state as its 

enrollment district. The school has created a committee to lead efforts in reducing 

environmental impact and costs. Members audit energy usage at the beginning of 

the year, and then plan and implement various initiatives to improve in areas they 

identify as areas for growth. Burris, as part of Ball State University, is piloting the 

Canvas learning management system to reduce a huge amount of paper usage by 

the school. As a one-to-one iPad school, teachers and students use a file sharing 

system to transmit, sign, and 

submit papers electronically. In

addition, and funded in part by a $5 

million grant from the U.S. 

Department of Energy and over 

$33 million from the Indiana 

General Assembly, Ball State 

University's geothermal conversion 

project has replaced the university's existing coal-fired boilers and chilled water 

equipment with the nation's largest ground-source geothermal district energy 

system.

Burris Laboratory School implements IPM policies and uses Green Seal and EPAapproved cleaning products, which are considered safer for human building 

occupants and the environment. Burris developed an indoor air quality management 

Activities have included walking to the Ball 

State Green House and Christy Woods, field 

trips, annual fishing and hiking trips, Jump 

Rope for Heart American Association, and the 

annual owl walk.
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program that includes asthma management strategies. The school has a full-time 

school nurse, onsite garden, and participates in a farm to school program.

The physical education teacher leads wellness committee programming, a school 

fitness club, a walking club, yoga, and other fitness activities. Students and staff on 

this committee brainstorm and implement healthy activities within the school, and 

update the school’s health policy, which stipulates the amount of activity students 

receive and the type of food that is served. Activities have included walking to the 

Ball State Green House and Christy Woods, field trips, annual fishing and hiking 

trips, Jump Rope for Heart American Association, and the annual owl walk, where 

students from kindergarten through 12th grade walk alongside Ball State campus 

and play recreational games. The school offers physical activity breaks during staff 

meetings, and kindergarten through eighth grade students receive daily physical 

education classes, health classes, and a guidance class for emotional and social 

well-being. 

The school’s science lab provides environmental lessons to all students throughout 

the year, and also brings in many community partner guests, such as the state 

Department of Natural Resources, the YMCA, the Downtown Farm Stand, Youth 

Opportunity Center, and Ball State University faculty. Lessons include water quality 

and conservation, human effect on the environment, energy education, and 

sustainability. Partnerships are chosen carefully for scope of influence. For 

example, students partner with Student Voluntary Services at Ball State and the 

Indiana Department of Natural Resources to clean the White River, as well as areas 

in southern Indiana after tornado damage in 2012. Middle and high school students 

visit the White River for water testing and stream velocity as well as hiking and 

fishing camp. Students in kindergarten through fifth grade go to Christy Woods, 

Ministrista, and a planetarium.

Bethany Christian Schools, Goshen, Ind.

A 1954 building powered entirely on renewable energy

Bethany Christian Schools is a parochial school housing fourth through 12th grades, 

located on the south side of Goshen, Ind. Since its inception in 1954, care for the 

environment and community, along with health and wellness, have been key 

components of the educational programming. Bethany has been recognized locally 

for its unique and innovative approaches, winning several awards and being covered 

on a regular basis by local media. 
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In 2014, Bethany embarked on a capital campaign focusing on three areas: 

technology, finances, and environment / energy. The third aspect of this campaign 

made possible the installation of roof insulation and a full-fledged HVAC system in 

the old portion of the building to improve indoor air quality and heating efficiencies; a 

geothermal wellfield for operation of the HVAC system; a 3.6-kilowatt wind turbine; 

and solar panels that can provide 77 kilowatts of electricity. Restrooms were 

updated with low-flow fixtures, and hallway and parking lot lights were retrofitted with 

LEDs. Skylights were preserved and enhanced to provide natural lighting. Paper 

use has been reduced 31 percent, water consumption has been cut 19 percent, 

energy consumption has been reduced 31 percent, and greenhouse gas emissions 

have been lowered by 12 percent. The school generates 12 percent of its energy 

needs on campus with wind and solar, and purchases the rest from wind and solar 

sources.

Bethany participates in schoolwide recycling, accounting for a diversion of 24 

percent of waste from the local landfill. Food scraps from the cafeteria are 

composted and used in 

the student-tended school 

garden, which provides 

fresh produce for the 

school’s salad bar, as well 

as providing an 

educational opportunity for 

students to learn about gardening and sustainable living. The school’s biannual fish 

fry fundraiser has become an opportunity to educate students and the general public 

about sustainable practices. Food scraps and paper products are composted, rather 

than going in the trash. At the most recent fish fry, 12 cubic yards of compostable 

material was diverted from the landfill. 

Environmental and sustainability concepts are taught in multiple courses at all grade 

levels. In the lower school, students study traditional energy and environment 

concepts, while taking advantage of a multitude of field trips to local parks and 

environmental centers. In high school, most students take Environmental Science. 

A highlight of this course includes two weeks outdoors studying the plants and 

organisms in the school retention pond, which was planted with native species in 

2006 by students. High school Bible classes also address issues of environmental 

sustainability. Students study pacifism and its connection to nonviolent 

environmental activism and stewardship of resources, including stewardship of 

environmental resources like energy.

During a unit on renewable energy, Environmental Science students host students 

from the neighboring public elementary school. The Bethany high school students 

teach the visiting fifth graders about fossil fuels, wind and solar power, and 

Paper use has been reduced 31 percent, water 

consumption has been cut 19 percent, energy 

consumption has been reduced 31 percent, and 

greenhouse gas emissions have been lowered by 12 

percent.
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conservation. They compare electrical consumption of appliances, design wind 

turbine blades to compare voltage output, and use mini solar panels to study factors 

that affect the amount of energy created. Also led by Bethany students, first graders 

from another local elementary school come to Bethany to learn about plants and 

animals in the school’s retention pond. 

Experiencing the outdoors is an important part of education programming at 

Bethany. At the beginning of the school year, most students participate in one to 

two days of activities outdoors. Fourth and fifth grade students go to Camp Mack for 

a day to study colonial and Native American life. They build primitive shelters in the 

woods, find and eat wild edibles, and play games applicable to those time periods 

and cultures. Sixth and seventh grade students spend two days at Amigo Center for 

their Wilderness Experience, during which time they participate in outdoor education 

classes including nature games, canoeing and other outdoor cooperative activities. 

Eighth grade students have an overnight campout at Camp Friedenswald, learning 

wilderness survival skills including fire building, shelter building, orienteering, and 

canoeing. Ninth grade students spend two days at Camp Mack for a retreat, during 

which time they do a climbing wall, swim, take part in an ecology scavenger hunt, 

canoe, and cook over fires. Eleventh grade students take a daylong canoe trip on 

the Elkhart River. Most years the high school offers a course during January term,

such as Winter Sports (cross-country skiing, ice skating, downhill skiing) or Bike 

Camping (bike maintenance and trip planning in January, with a four-day bike 

camping trip in June). The entire school has taken impromptu all-school recesses 

on the first warm day in the spring or unusually warm days in early December.

Because Bethany is a private school, students must provide their own transportation. 

The majority of Bethany students carpool, and many bike or walk during the warmer 

months. Bethany also holds an annual Bike/Walk to School Day, with nearly half of 

students participating.

Iowa

Iowa Lakes Community College, Estherville, Ia.

Powered by the force of the wind and an engaged community

Iowa Lakes Community College provides quality lifelong learning for students, staff, 

faculty, and community members within a five-county area. Learning in this school 

community is enhanced through resource efficiency and sustainability education 

efforts. Iowa Lakes incorporates sustainability education into numerous college 

programs, designs learning centers for maximum resource efficiency, and enhances 

each college campus with updated products that reduce environmental impact and 

improve health. 
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Iowa Lakes practiced green initiatives prior to 2006, but, in October 2011, the 

school’s board adopted a Healthy School Program. Iowa Lakes was the first 

community college in the state to sign the American College and University 

President’s Climate Commitment. The institution strives to align decision making 

with its commitment to the College Climate Action Plan, and aims to achieve climate 

neutrality with no net greenhouse gas emissions. Iowa Lakes has instituted many 

changes in order to achieve this goal, and continues to make changes and improve 

efficiency usage throughout each of its five campuses. For example, all new 

construction meets or exceeds LEED Silver standards. In addition, the college 

participates in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager and B3 Benchmarking.

The Sustainable Energy Resources and 

Technologies Center was constructed with 

geothermal renewable energy systems, controlled 

lighting and heating systems, 10 percent recycled 

content, and recyclable building materials. Iowa 

Lakes constructed a Vestas Wind turbine for 

training purposes, and sells all of the electricity 

from the turbine to the city of Estherville. Just 

short of $130,000 worth of electricity is generated 

each year, which covers more than 70 percent of 

what is used in electricity in the educational 

buildings on the Estherville campus. 

Equipment or technology is replaced with 

environmentally sustainable products and technology. Paperless communications 

are encouraged, and any copies printed are set to automatic dual-sided printing. 

Recycling bins are located on all five campuses for plastic, paper, and aluminum 

cans. Iowa Lakes hands out reusable cloth grocery bags and cloth backpacks at 

events, such as the Clay County Fair, Career Day, and Student Orientation. End-ofyear rummage sales provide the opportunity for students to purchase gently used 

items for their dormitories or other needs. Restrooms use automatic hand dryers 

rather than paper towels. Water fountains include water bottle filling stations, 

reducing plastic bottled water usage. Food service grease is recycled for biodiesel, 

and used oil from equipment is also recycled. 

Iowa Lakes addresses faculty and staff wellness through health and wellness 

events, online financial awareness sessions, money toward fitness club 

memberships, paid family sick leave and personal sick leave upon hire, and annual 

health screenings. Wellness fairs are held tri-annually during mandatory employee 

in-service gatherings, and provide mini-sessions in health and wellness that cover a 

wide range of topics, including fitness, recreation, and office ergonomics. 
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Iowa Lakes provides faculty with a stipend toward a membership at a wellness 

facility that offers comprehensive cardiovascular and weight training equipment. 

Iowa Lakes Wellness Committee, in existence for over 25 years, continually works to 

promote wellness. 

Students, faculty, and staff enjoy fresh vegetables, herbs, and fruits from the college 

garden. On average, the garden produces some 11,000 pounds of food yearly, 

much of which is eaten fresh or stored for later use. Iowa Lakes uses natural or 

green certified products when available during campus and housing cleaning. 

Mechanical or natural means are used for pest management. All paint, carpet, glues 

and other construction materials minimize air contaminants and help maintain 

healthy indoor air quality. Mold testing is done on a regular basis, and new HVAC 

systems are being put in place to enhance air quality. Fresh air exchangers or 

exhaust systems have been put in place to maintain a healthy learning environment. 

Sustainability education is incorporated through numerous college programs: 

Construction Technology revolves around green building processes. Environmental 

Science and Water Quality and Sustainable Aquatic Resources address 

environmental stewardship through education on waterways, as well as units on

preservation, restoration, and management of clean water systems and the 

technologies that store, distribute, treat, and restore water quality through waste 

water treatment. Engineering Technology coursework introduces students to the 

concept of using excess energy from equipment coming offline to route excess 

power to areas that can use it, rather than losing that energy as waste, illustrating 

that manufacturing processes have become energy harvesting processes. Wind 

Energy and Turbine Technology courses provide study in wind power generation, 

distribution, and operations and maintenance, using two college-owned wind 

turbines.

Students take interdisciplinary courses and general education courses incorporate 

sustainability as well. The Energy, Sustainability and the Environment course

illustrates for environmental, electrical, and HVAC students how systems are linked 

together, from the environment to building efficiency. Chemistry labs perform

microexperiments, which use less chemical and create less hazardous waste.

The 66,000 square-foot garden serves as a living classroom, and provides a model 

for local garden projects throughout northwest Iowa to illustrate the process of 

growing, storing, processing, and preparing locally-grown foods within the fivecounty region of the state. Community patrons, Head Start students, kindergarten 

through 12th-grade students, and college students benefit from the nutritional, 

social, and economic benefits of the garden. Garden success relies on volunteers 

and nonprofit partnerships throughout the area.
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Iowa Lakes’ green efforts even have gone global. In March 2015, the school sent 

nearly 100 cloth backpacks to Kitale, Kenya to replace the plastic sacks many 

students were using to carry books on their several-mile trek to and from school. 

Moreover, students are involved in maintaining the beauty of the five-county area by 

helping to assist in cleaning up area lakes, roadsides, and communities. In Clay 

County, Iowa Lakes soccer players have volunteered at the Spencer Transfer 

Station in an effort to improve the public’s education on recyclables, including what 

can be recycled and how.

Kentucky

Morton Middle School, Lexington, Ky.

Energy-wise students caring for their community and land

What began 11 years ago as a recycling program has turned into a multifaceted 

green schools effort to reduce environmental impact and costs, improve student and 

staff health, and to provide environmental and sustainability education. Morton 

Middle School serves 762 students, 45 percent of whom are eligible for free and 

reduced-price lunch. The entire school is involved with paper, plastic, and 

cardboard recycling, which occurs once a week. The recycling of metal is conducted 

by Morton’s Green Team, and 

funds obtained are used to supply 

bird seed for the many bird feeders 

found on campus, which are 

designed and built by students in 

the technology education 

classroom. Plastic lids are taken 

to a company in Evansville, Ind. to 

turn into furniture for the outdoor 

classroom. Partners supporting 

the outdoor classroom include 

Lowes, Home Depot, Lexington 

Catholic High School, Eagle 

Scouts, and Adopt-A-Tree. 

Morton monitors energy costs by conducting monthly energy audits; working with the 

NEED Project and E=USE; and providing friendly reminders to the staff that it is 

important to turn off lights, close windows, and shut off computers and personal 

appliances when not in use. Morton met with the district environmental engineer to 

upgrade the school’s lighting fixtures, and currently has an ENERGY STAR Portfolio 

Manager score of 75. The school puts money earned from energy saving endeavors 

from years past into a fund for new sustainability projects. The school has reduced 
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its greenhouse gas emissions by 29 percent, and energy use by 49 percent over six 

years. Morton was the first middle school in Fayette County to initiate a no-idling 

campaign, and does not use water for outside irrigation.

Morton’s Wellness Committee has been in place for several years, and developed a 

plan for the school. The school no longer houses candy and soda vending 

machines, although it sells water. The school also participates in the spring World 

Fit Campaign annually, during which all students and staff walk regularly, and time 

walked is monitored and recorded. Morton oversees both boys and girls clubs that 

teach self-help skills, communication, and self-confidence; two clubs set up for peer 

mentoring; and a Girls on the Run program. It has a school nurse and a behavioral 

therapist. The school implements IPM, an asthma management plan, and an indoor 

air quality program. 

The school has two raised garden beds where tomatoes, strawberries, catnip, and 

mint are grown. Students are able to take home the produce, and also use it to feed 

the school pets. Chickens are raised in classrooms as an observational tool, and 

once they are mature enough, are transferred to a teacher’s chicken coop, where 

students are encouraged to continue to care for the chickens and are able to take 

the eggs home to eat.

Each content area teacher offers opportunities to write and conduct hands-on 

experiments on such topics as deforestation, pollution, water quality, energy, and 

botany. Students in both the seventh and eighth grade learn how to write grants, 

including the ones that obtained a water bottle refilling station, power strips, and a 

butterfly garden for the school. Language arts classes in all grade levels commonly 

use the outdoors to read and hold class discussions.

Morton has partnered with both Trout Unlimited and Food Chain to learn about the 

nitrogen cycle, life sciences, and aquaponics cultivating three trout farms. After the 

students have raised trout in the classroom from eggs to fingerlings, the fish are 

released in a cold water stream at the Red River Gorge. Morton has teamed with 

Bluegrass GreenSource to learn about water quality, air quality, recycling, and 

energy efficiency. The school participates in the Kentucky Green and Healthy 

Schools nine goal program, and also has recently partnered with a local elementary 

school to mentor in their green schools efforts, such as caring for a trout farm and 

rebuilding their rain garden.
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Louisiana

Belle Chasse Academy, Belle Chasse, La.

A world-wise military community building a strong green culture

Rising above the surrounding neighborhoods in the epicenter of the Navy Air Station 

Joint Reserve Base community in Belle Chasse, La., Belle Chasse Academy’s 

presence as a diverse learning space and environmental leader is indisputable. 

Dozens of newly planted citrus trees and plants are scattered throughout the open 

grass, filling the space between brick buildings. Multiple victory and math gardens 

bloom with fresh, organic fruits and vegetables cultivated and harvested by students. 

The hydroponic greenhouse and composting stations are full of movement as 

students, teachers, and garden affiliates fill the space with educational dialog and 

hands-on learning activities. In these spaces, Belle Chasse students are immersed 

in the concept of environmental sustainability, becoming active in a movement that is 

global in its reach. 

Belle Chasse is a Type II military dependent Title I kindergarten through eighth 

grade charter school that serves 1000+ students each year, of which over 46 

percent are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch. The school serves a minority 

student population that has special and unique needs — military children, and by 

extension, their families, residing in all five parishes of the greater New Orleans 

area. Students arrive at Belle Chasse from all over the world, and represent almost 

every ethnic heritage. This rich diversity of background, both educational and social, 

coupled with the strong sense of unity and pride fostered by the shared experience 

of familial service to country, make the learning community uniquely world-wise and 

inquisitive. 

A perennial and overarching challenge faced by Belle Chasse is this highly mobile 

and ever-changing population. This mobility not only presents challenges to yearly 

academic growth and sustainment of achievement levels, but it challenges the 

development of a strong school community and culture. This inspired Belle Chasse 

to create distinguished and collaborative programs in health and nutrition, 

environmental sustainability and education, parent involvement, and 21st century 

after-school learning. The school is in a unique position to empower its mobile 

student population with skills that will be applied to future communities of which they 

are a part.

In unison with its 21st century learning goals and funding from multiple grants, Belle 

Chasse scaled its robust and transformative green school initiative. Through its farm 

to school and farm to table allocation, Belle Chasse increased school and 

community knowledge and choice; expanded community partnerships with more 
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than fourteen nutritional and environmental organizations; developed a hands-on 

STEM-focused experiential learning curriculum; and reduced energy usage and 

greenhouse gas emissions. Belle Chasse retrofitted more than 83 percent of its light 

fixtures with motion sensor lights and replaced 35 percent of paper towel dispensers 

with hand dryers, reducing its energy consumption significantly in just one year. In 

2016, the school began tracking resource use in EPA’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio 

Manager.

Belle Chasse built a year-round hydroponic greenhouse for students to grow and sell 

produce to local Plaquemines Parish restaurants and farmers, reinforcing the link 

between income generation and sustainability efforts. The school’s eighteen 

ground-bed victory garden yields local, organic Louisiana harvest served as a part of 

its Harvest of the Month program to every student in the building. Adjacent to the 

victory garden is an integrated math garden, equipped with a unique shaped bed for 

each grade level and 

designed as an outdoor 

classroom immersion 

learning tool for all math 

levels. In use of this garden 

and environmental learning 

space, academic coaches, in 

partnership with the school’s 

classroom educators, created a holistic, STEM-focused curriculum explicitly to teach 

sustainable lifestyles and environmental responsibility.

Under the leadership of a full-time garden coordinator, Belle Chasse’s Gorilla Green 

Team developed and implemented a student-driven recycling initiative that now 

diverts over 4,441 pounds of paper and cardboard from the landfill every month. 

The Gorilla Green Team also oversees the collection and supervision of leftover 

cafeteria food that is composted and employed to nourish the gardens. A vast 

majority of students live within the vicinity of the school in on-base housing, so the 

school institutes Safe Pedestrian Routes. Some 50 percent of students ride a bike 

or walk to school and over 33 percent take the bus.

Belle Chasse strives to support the health and wellness of its students and staff. 

The school has limited exposure to potentially harmful chemicals, reducing pesticide 

use by over 36 percent over the past year, while completely eliminating their use in 

the various school garden initiatives. Additionally, 46 percent of the cleaning

products used at Belle Chasse are Green Seal certified. The school actively 

reduces asthma triggers on campus by prohibiting the use of nitrite aerosols, 

ensuring HVAC equipment is dust and mildew free, and maintaining a smoke-free 

campus. An integral partnership with USDA Foods and the Department of Defense 

Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Program enables the school to serve students at least 

Belle Chasse increased school and community knowledge 

and choice; expanded community partnerships with 

more than fourteen nutritional and environmental 

organizations; developed a hands-on STEM-focused 

experiential learning curriculum; and reduced energy 

usage and greenhouse gas emissions.
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six healthy offerings per day, all of which are taught explicitly through the MyPlate 

nutritional curriculum.

Belle Chasse engages multiple partners and programs that help support its health 

initiatives for a diverse population, including providing mental health through two 

licensed therapists through the Military and Family Life Counseling Program. These 

counselors visit the classrooms as well, introducing new students to their teachers, 

throwing a Hail and Farewell celebration for students leaving, and fostering 

collaborative workshops. Belle Chasse Academy’s counseling, anti-bullying, and 

character development initiatives permeate the school culture, creating an 

environment that is safe and inclusive.

There are multiple instances where Belle Chasse integrates environmental and 

sustainability concepts throughout the curriculum. In kindergarten, students 

investigate how their choices affect the people, places, and things around them. 

First grade students evaluate ways in which people rely on the environment to meet 

the basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter. They examine how rivers and 

waterways were a vital component to human life in the early Americas, and how 

pollution throughout the years has affected modern human health. Second grade 

students investigate interdependence of various habitats and regions, as well as the 

needs of individual organisms, particularly plants. Third grade students explore civic 

responsibility and discuss how they can be stewards of the planet, specifically 

addressing endangered and invasive species. Eighth grade students learn how 

human actions and natural processes have modified the coastal regions in Louisiana 

and throughout the Gulf Coast. Each unit concludes with an assessment, where 

students analyze source articles, visuals, charts, and graphs. They craft essays that 

analyze arguments surrounding environmental and sustainability concepts.

Mayfair Laboratory School, Baton Rouge, La.

An environmental science themed magnet in the heart of Baton Rouge

Mayfair Laboratory School is located in the heart of the East Baton Rouge Parish 

School System, and has a unique curriculum partnership with the University 

Laboratory School, which is located on the campus of Louisiana State University. 

Established in 2013 as a kindergarten through third grade lab school, Mayfair 

created a plan to add a grade level each subsequent year, through eighth grade by 

the year 2019. Mayfair is home to 347 students in grades kindergarten through 

sixth, of which 67 percent qualify for free and reduced-price lunch. Mayfair is 

classified as a Title I school, and its student body comprises a diverse and eclectic 

mix of racial and ethnic cultures. 
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Mayfair’s magnet theme is environmental science, and it is the only middle school in 

its district to offer an environmental studies course developed from the high school 

AP environmental science course. The school’s outdoor learning areas and gardens 

are interdisciplinary, supporting writing, literature, science, math, horticulture, and 

environmental awareness. Students gather data, examine soil, learn about resource 

management, and study sustainable habitats.

Student-led projects have led to the establishment of programs for composting, 

recycling, and gardening, including 30 

student-planted garden beds, trees, 

shrubs, indigenous plants, and vertical 

tower gardens, as well as a butterfly 

garden. The school partners with the LSU 

Agricultural Center, Scotts Miracle-Gro 

Company, Trader Joes, Whole Foods, a 

master gardener, Louisiana East Girl 

Scouts, and the 4-H Club Extension. 

These community partners and parents provide volunteer hours, materials, and 

monetary donations to aid in the school’s conservation efforts, health initiatives, and 

environmental studies program.

Mayfair has several energy conservation efforts in place. Classrooms and 

restrooms are equipped with automatic lighting that shuts off after 15 minutes of 

inactivity, and the school has upgraded lighting fixtures to cooler, more efficient 

bulbs. The school has purchased energy-efficient printers, copiers, and fax 

machines that automatically power down when not in use. All computers are 

equipped with timers that automatically shut down at night. Mayfair has outdoor 

wings that allow opportunities to turn off lights and air conditioning units and open 

the doors when the weather is nice to conserve electricity. These measures, along 

with others, have enabled Mayfair to reduce overall energy consumption by over 20 

percent and greenhouse gas emissions by over 25 percent in two years. Mayfair 

has twice earned EPA’s ENERGY STAR award (in 2014 and 2016) for its resource 

conservation efforts. 

Faucets in the restrooms have motion sensors, which control the amount of water 

that flows with each use. Mayfair has reduced waste by 40 percent through use of 

Google documents and a one-to-one laptop program. All teachers in grades three 

through six have online Google classrooms where they post digital assignments. 

Students have access to homework assignments, class projects, in-class 

assignments, and upon completion can turn them in using the Google platform. 

From the chemicals used on campus to extracurricular activities, Mayfair takes the 

health and wellness of its students and staff seriously, and has put into place several 
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measures in support. The school’s IPM plan uses only student-made natural 

ingredients as pest deterrents in the garden, and 75 percent of the commercial 

products on campus have been certified by EcoLab. Students amend their garden 

soil with compost they have made, and gather pine straw for mulch and ground 

covering for use in raised beds. 

Mayfair students in grades kindergarten through fifth receive 150 minutes of physical 

education per week, and in grade six they receive 250 minutes. They spend the 

majority of exercise time outdoors, incorporate music, and are in constant 

movement. Mayfair students enjoy visits from BREC on the Geaux, a traveling 

recreation program developed by the Recreation and Park Commission for the 

Parish of East Baton Rouge that is operated from two 14-foot trucks loaded with a 

variety of equipment and games for all ages. Mayfair has a swim team and offers 

lessons each spring. Students participate annually in Body Walk, a 35-foot by 45-

foot enclosed walk-through exhibit representing the human body, with classroom 

activities for use before and after the students’ walk through.

Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, La.

Tigers hone their green skills in the Bayou State

Louisiana State University (LSU) is located in a bustling urban setting and occupies 

over 2,000 acres in Baton Rouge, La. This community has made a firm and 

increasing commitment to environmental sustainability, to human health and the 

wellness of the student population, and to sustainability in academics. In 2008, LSU 

hired a full-time campus sustainability manager to oversee all such activities; today 

that staff is a multi-member team dedicated to implementing a wide range of efforts. 

To ensure the broadest possible buy-in and solicit diverse ideas and perspectives, 

the Campus Sustainability Office has led the effort to assemble a Campus 

Committee on Sustainability, a group whose purpose is to set short and long term 

sustainability-related goals. Members of the Committee represent all facets of 

campus life: the President’s Office, Student Senate, Staff Senate, Faculty Senate, 

Athletic Department, Campus Life, Office of Facility Services, Greek Life, Parking 

and Transportation, Residential Life, University Recreation, and Planning, Design, 

and Construction.

The Committee’s responsibilities encompass the areas of energy efficiency, green 

building, landfill diversion and recycling, transportation, food, procurement, forests 

and grounds, and communication, with subcommittees established for each area. It 

is the role of each subcommittee to identify goals for incorporation into a Strategic 
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Plan for Sustainability. These goals also inform the update of the university’s 

upcoming Comprehensive and Strategic Campus Master Plan – a plan that will 

guide development and capital investment on LSU’s flagship campus for the next 

decade, and beyond.

To shore up progress and keep building momentum toward its strategic vision, the 

Campus Committee on Sustainability has set both short and long-term sustainability 

goals. These include achieving an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas by 2050; 

a 30 percent decrease in energy use in campus buildings by 2025; a 50 percent 

annual recycling rate; and a 100 percent recycling rate for construction and 

demolition waste. The Campus Sustainability Office also works actively to engage 

senior administration at LSU on a regular basis, and communicates progress by 

providing an annual sustainability report and presentation to the President’s office.

In recent years, LSU has been the recipient of many state and national awards and 

honors for its sustainability efforts. Examples include Environmental Leadership 

Awards from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality for the years 2010, 

2011, 2015, and 2016; Bicycle Friendly University in 2016; Tree Campus USA for 

the consecutive years 2012―2015; and Green Sports Alliance Award Recipient in 

2016. 

LSU also has been selected for several sustainability-related grants in the past few 

years, including three $10,000 awards from Keep Louisiana Beautiful for 

sustainability-related improvements and projects on campus. The LSU student body 

voted to establish a sustainability fund to be used for projects related to sustainability

that will be proposed by students, faculty, and staff.

The role of the Campus Sustainability Office ranges from managing solid waste and 

recycling for LSU, to measuring and tracking energy and water usage, to working 

with academic partners to ensure a connection between operations and education at 

LSU. For example, each semester, through a partnership between the 

Environmental Management Systems degree program (part of the College of 

Agriculture) and the Campus Sustainability Office, students from the Environmental 

Management classes build green skills through classroom-based and project-based 

learning, including volunteering to help with sustainability-related projects like the 

GameDay Recycling Challenge, which offers higher education institutions the 

chance to compete in reducing and recycling the waste generated at home football 

games. LSU was the national first place winner of the GameDay Recycling 

Challenge in 2015.

When it comes to efficient operations and environmental sustainability, LSU’s efforts 

encompass smart growth and transportation, such as electric car charging stations 

and ride- and bike-share programs, recycling and composting, energy efficiency and 
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green building, and natural resources protection. The school is home to the LSU 

Lakes, the renowned Campus Forest, and an Endow-an-Oak program. 

The Campus Committee for Sustainability includes a strong focus on health and 

wellness for the entire Tiger family, and particularly for students. To promote active 

lifestyles and green building awareness, and foster sustainable practices, LSU offers 

healthy choices for the community. For instance, the LSU Student Health Center 

offers a wide array of programs to promote physical and mental health, including 

diagnostic imaging, immunization, a pharmacy, a women’s clinic, primary care 

services, a laboratory for processing test 

results, and specialty clinics. Counseling and 

psychiatry services also are offered, as well as 

programs to treat students who have 

experienced domestic abuse or sexual assault.

LSU Dining offers green, local food choices, as 

well as a seasonal farmers market, and the 

University Recreation Center has many health and exercise related programs, 

including an outdoor adventure program for students. In addition, the 15-member 

team at the Environmental Health & Safety Office is dedicated to ensuring the 

health, safety, and wellness of all LSU students, faculty, and staff.

The university has a range of degree programs, academic and research centers, 

and even clubs and other extracurricular organizations that support innovative 

environmental and sustainability education, including efforts centered on STEM 

subjects; that foster civic skills; and that help students connect with and pursue 

Green Career Pathways. Sustainability themes in the academic program range from 

research focused on Louisiana’s diminishing coastline to forestry, renewable 

resources, climate change, and beyond. The School of the Coast and Environment, 

the College of Agriculture, the School of Plant and Soil Systems, and the School of 

Renewable Natural Resources all offer students top quality education and research 

opportunities in the field of sustainability and environmental protection.

Coastal research at LSU is a special highlight. More than 200 faculty members at 

LSU are currently involved in coastal-related research, and LSU has more than 450 

coastal-related grants totaling $73 million. This means that many of LSU’s 

researchers are focused on one of the state’s leading environmental problems, 

paving the way toward real solutions for a very real and ever-worsening problem. 

Through efficiency and sustainability in operations, through an unwavering 

commitment to the health and well-being of the student population and the broader 

campus community, and through offering a wide range of studies in sustainability-
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related areas, LSU has committed to promote sustainability in ways that produce 

local, state, national, and even global results.

Maryland

William Tyler Page Elementary School, Silver Spring, Md.

Cross-curricular learning about the earth and its resources

At Page Elementary School, each classroom has a representative from the green 

team who acts a Green School leader for their peers. Their responsibilities are to 

ensure lights are off, blinds are down at the end of the day, and computers are shut 

down properly after using the computer lab. Team members ensure there are 

stickers next to light switches, and that others are recycling in classrooms by posting 

signs in bins about what can be recycled. Third to fifth grade green team 

ambassadors monitor breakfast and lunch recycling procedures. The school has 

achieved a 40 percent diversion rate. The members of the green team spread this 

message throughout the school each day, and teach their peers about conservation. 

The green team has been in existence since 2005, and has grown from five students 

to some 100 students in a school of 410 students, where over 50 percent are eligible 

for free and reduced-price lunch. The school has an ENERGY STAR Portfolio 

Manager score of 90, and purchases 33 percent wind energy. 

At Page, signs are in place to remind students to reduce water use. At lunch, 

students dump the unused portion of their water bottles into buckets, and use the 

liquid to water flowers. The school uses 75 percent Green Seal certified cleaning 

products and IPM procedures, and has an indoor air quality management plan in 

place.

All Page students learn about the Earth and its resources through participation in 

multiple venues. At every grade level, students engage in authentic collaborative 

environmental learning experiences that integrate math, science, reading, social 

studies, and the arts. Research and community service projects are completed by 

all students throughout the year. Students prepare for the school’s Earth Day 

celebration all year long by learning about global warming and environmental issues 

in music, art, physical education, and their core classroom instruction. The new 

birdfeeders in the courtyard have generated student discourse on the native birds of

Maryland and the migration patterns of hummingbirds in several grades, with 

students writing on a regular basis about the types of birds they observe. Projects 

taken on by students and staff include weekly environmental announcements; 

outdoor recycling centers to reduce the trash on the school grounds, creating a safe 

and pleasing environment; new water fountains; cross-grade level collaborative 
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environmental lessons; a gardening club; and new planning to increase the school’s 

perennial outdoor learning garden space.

Nutrition education is done in the classroom, during physical education, and through 

the cafeteria, using the My Plate program and the Montgomery County Public 

Schools health curriculum. Additional fruits and vegetables have been added to the 

menu, 100 percent of grains are whole grain, milk is fat-free or one-percent fat, 

trans-fat and saturated fat is less than 10 percent of calories, and meals are low 

sodium. Students are required to select fruit or a vegetable with each breakfast and 

lunch. Page is a participant in the USDA HealthierUS School Challenge, is a Team 

Nutrition School, and participates in a farm to school program. Teachers do not 

distribute candy to students, and vending machines are not available to them. 

Physical education integrates student health and fitness with the environment by 

participating in Field Day, Girls on 

the Run, May Mileage Club, and 

outdoor after-school sports clubs. 

Prekindergarten students explore 

maps, globes, communities, and 

animal habitats. Kindergarten students observe a variety of familiar animals and 

plants to discover patterns of similarity and difference among them. They conduct 

experiments with worms as part of the living/nonliving science curriculum. First 

grade reads and learns about endangered animals and their shrinking habitats, what 

plants require to grow, and how plants help provide the basic needs of people. 

Students write reports that discuss the challenges many animals face in the modern 

world. First graders read and write about the earth and actions people can take to 

ensure the sustainability of the planet. Second grade students research and write 

about the activities of individuals that can affect the environment. Third graders 

have planted bulbs and have participated in school grounds cleanup. Fourth grade 

students learn environmental sustainability through a project-based learning unit 

called Our Neighborhood, Our Watershed, in which they create a water flow map of 

their school grounds, identify a water issue, and develop a solution. Fourth and fifth 

grade students participate in research projects about their carbon footprint and 

energy sources. Fifth grade students explore an electric circuit and energy 

conservation.

At every grade level, students engage in 

authentic collaborative environmental learning 

experiences that integrate math, science, reading, 

social studies, and the arts.
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John Poole Middle School, Poolesville, Md.

Cultivating inspired stewards of the Chesapeake

John Poole Middle School is located in upper Montgomery County, in the 

Agricultural Reserve, a land area of 93,000 acres of preserved farmland, and rural 

space in a suburb of Washington D.C. of more than 1,000,000 people. John Poole 

is a feeder school for Poolesville High School, where the highly regarded magnet 

program in Global Ecology holds great appeal for John Poole students. From 

curriculum to school operations, with the help of partners at the high school Global 

Program, local businesses, and nonprofits, John Poole continues to grow its culture 

of environmental awareness and sustainability.

John Poole has completed more than 13 years of environmental projects that have 

been supported by several organizations. Key partners include Snitzer 

Landscaping, Lowes, Clean Air Partners, Audubon Society, Chesapeake Bay Trust, 

and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which helped complete a series of erosion 

prevention gardens and the creation of an outdoor classroom. John Poole students 

have come to expect regular outdoor learning, with opportunities to improve the 

schoolyard and building sustainability. From water conservation to energy reduction, 

John Poole students are involved in stewardship. For example, students painted 

signs over four storm drains on school property to remind community members that 

what goes into the stream goes into the Bay, while others created designs that 

surround light switches to remind staff and students to turn the lights off.

The school purchases one third wind energy, has a Portfolio Manager score of 83, 

and has reduced energy use by 18 percent in just one year. The school has a wellpublicized no-idling policy and safe routes to school infrastructure in place. John 

Poole uses green cleaning and an IPM plan. 

John Poole teaches nutrition through health and science classes. In the first unit of 

seventh grade science, students grow basil hydroponically. During the seventh 

grade science unit Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms, students obtain 

information on food and nutrition services in Montgomery County and identify 

overarching problems. All students maintain a food diary for a week to analyze the 

nutritional value of a typical week of meals. After completing several labs and class 

periods of research, students work in teams to design a healthy and affordable 

school lunch menu. In environmental science classes, students learn about their 

global footprint as it relates to their food choices. Students study the effects of 

bioaccumulation in the food chain, and use the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch 

program to determine the health of their seafood choices. They work with high 
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school seniors to plan a hydroponics wall that uses recycled bottles to grow herbs. 

Additionally, vending machines are set on a timer to remain off during school hours.

The school has fostered environmental awareness since its doors opened in 1997 

through a tradition of completing environmental stewardship projects every year, 

with students taking an active role in problem solving and suggesting solutions for 

issues in the schoolyard. For example, many grade levels and subject areas worked 

together on research, design, site selection, and completion of the construction of an 

outdoor classroom. This inquiry-based project put students from every grade level 

at the helm to determine the 

school’s needs, research 

materials, and communicate 

results to teachers. A team of 

teachers took the information 

collected and analyzed by students 

and in turn submitted grant 

proposals to Lowes and the 

Chesapeake Bay Trust. John 

Poole won the Project Lead by 

Example, and was able to 

complete the nearly $8,000 

outdoor classroom.

At John Poole, an environmental 

science elective is offered to all 

seventh and eighth graders, which 

results in having some 60 percent 

of the student body immersed in 

meaningful outdoor learning experiences during middle school. Students design 

projects that positively affect the ecosystem. The environmental science class 

collaborates with the high school’s Global Ecology program on projects such as 

hydroponics systems, native gardens, and composting in the cafeteria. Students in 

the environmental elective know that they will have an opportunity to give back to the 

school as they plan and implement their projects.

John Poole offers an annual green school trip that engages students in 

environmental learning in a part of the watershed that is less familiar to them. 

Students who take part in these trips become green school leaders, who return with 

more plans to improve the school. Destinations have included the Potomac River, 

Merrill Center, Meredith Creek, and Smith Island. Green school leaders also travel 

to the Maryland Green School Annual Youth Summit at Sandy Point State Park for 

the green school awards and interactive stations. While studying at Smith Island, 

students brainstorm projects for the school to implement upon their return, including 
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daily morning announcements, the addition of a no-mow zone, native plantings, and 

erosion prevention. 

Green School leaders completed a mural project that includes animals native to the 

Chesapeake Bay watershed with the help of a grant from the Chesapeake Bay 

Trust. They researched, designed, and painted four large columns in the library to 

depict underwater scenes found in the area. Sixth graders participated in annual 

spring clean-up, plantings, and trail maintenance. They also completed a series of 

trans-disciplinary activities that incorporated STEM objectives, culminating in a final 

presentation during outdoor education. Students complete a variety of service 

learning projects, including collecting books to be donated to Title I schools; 

collecting unused school supplies; writing persuasive letters related to environmental 

concerns; and fundraising for a safe haven for abused, neglected, and stray barn 

animals.

It is evident that John Poole operates with the environment as the core of its culture. 

The school provides environmental education in all subjects and at every grade level 

to ensure that students have a solid foundation in environmental literacy. There is a 

ribbon of green inspiration that runs through John Poole’s plans, community, 

lessons, and actions.

Minnesota

Edgewood Early Childhood & La ola del lago Spanish Immersion School, 

Prior Lake, Minn.

Nature, foreign language, and sustainability education for the entire family

The Edgewood School is a community committed to children from infancy to second 

grade, as well as their parents and caregivers. Home to several programs by 

different names, including Circle of Friends Preschool, Early Childhood Special 

Education (ECSE), Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE), and La ola del lago 

kindergarten through second grade Spanish immersion school (LODL), Edgewood 

provides over 700 young children and their families a safe and nurturing 

environment that fosters health and wellness, creativity and innovation, STEM 

knowledge and engagement, and understanding of and respect for the natural world. 

From its inception in 2006, Edgewood School has championed innovative practices 

that reduce environmental impact, improve health and wellness, and lead to more 

effective environmental and sustainability education. This task is made easier as 

Edgewood is part of Prior Lake―Savage Area Schools (PLSAS), the only district in 

the state of Minnesota to have an environmental education program that grows with 

students from early childhood to high school. Like the rest of the PLSAS, Edgewood 
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uses an interdisciplinary approach to instruction and learning focused on inquiry and 

real world problem-solving in the 21st century, applying hands-on STEM practices to

projects and field experiences related to the environment. 

During the 2014-2015 school year, Edgewood created a nature preschool option 

within Circle of Friends, using a place-based education philosophy where the natural 

environment provides context for supporting STEM learning. In nature preschool, 

students spend as much time as the weather allows engaged in outdoor learning 

and play. Indoor classroom time is viewed as an extension to outdoor exploration, 

incorporating natural materials and providing opportunities for students to follow up 

on their experiences. Traditional Circle of Friends preschool classes likewise have 

adopted the district’s early STEM (E-STEM) initiative, increasing outdoor learning 

and play opportunities in all preschool classrooms. The ECSE program is part of 

both traditional and nature preschool programs, providing inclusive learning 

opportunities for all students 

in both indoor and outdoor 

classroom environments. 

While Edgewood's ECFE 

program always has 

provided parents and 

caregivers with the support 

and information necessary 

to create healthier environments for the well-being of all children and families, its 

efforts have become more intentionally sustainability-focused over the past ten 

years. ECFE offers classes with titles such as Think Green and Tiny Footprints that

reinforce sustainable decision making in households. The school hosts family 

discovery opportunities emphasizing environmental learning. Just as importantly, 

ECFE models earth friendly practices by rethinking curriculum, reducing 

consumables; replacing plastic manipulatives with natural parts, reusing and 

repurposing what is on hand, and purchasing toys and other items made with 

recycled products.

La ola del lago, a Spanish immersion elementary program, was begun in 2014-2015 

school year with four kindergarten classes. Spanish immersion incorporates ESTEM learning while working closely with the school district naturalist. As an 

immersion school, LODL incorporates all facets of the E-STEM curriculum and 

presents it to the students in the target language. 

To support sustainability and environmental education in all of Edgewood School 

programs, an underused green space was turned into a nature classroom, 

incorporating an existing butterfly garden. This classroom space was designed

intentionally to provide students with a variety of opportunities and experiences that 

An underused green space was turned into a nature 

classroom, incorporating an existing butterfly garden. 

This classroom space was designed intentionally to 

provide students with a variety of opportunities and 

experiences that foster connections between students 

and the natural world.
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foster connections between students and the natural world. The various early 

childhood programs use outdoor classroom spaces and the butterfly garden daily to 

provide nature play and learning experiences. All classes regularly use the “tree 

stump corner” to hold morning meetings and outdoor lessons. The school grounds 

are home to a nature trail with interpretive posts that educate about plants and 

animals that reside on the school grounds.

LODL and Circle of Friends preschool students, as well as ECFE families, also visit 

the district's environmental learning centers at McColl Pond, Hidden Oaks Middle 

School, and Jeffers Pond, as well as community parks and trails to further extend 

explorations and engagement in E-STEM learning. 

To foster collaboration across all programs and provide intentional opportunities to 

incorporate environmental and sustainability education, an Edgewood E-STEM 

committee was formed. Committee members discuss buildingwide opportunities for 

supporting E-STEM learning, organic waste and recycling programs, and wellness 

projects. As a result of this collaboration, staff are more conscious of their 

environmental impact and have been able to reduce energy and water consumption 

and waste production considerably, as verified by MN B3 Benchmarking and in an 

ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager score of 97.

Edgewood School incorporates daily outdoor learning experiences for all students. 

Common activities include nature walks, snowshoeing, fishing, sledding, and animal 

tracking. The school administration advocated for the addition of a school social 

worker and health aide to the staff, both of which are now onsite each day. Outside 

consultants are tapped to share expertise and knowledge with the entire spectrum of 

students on matters such as dental health, personal safety, bullying prevention, 

physical strength and endurance, and sleep. Edgewood School is home to a school 

garden and participates in a farm to school program. Recess is held before lunch. 

Teachers offer brain breaks, yoga, and dancing in the classroom, and they oversee 

a family nature club.

Edgewood School is a collaborative effort, involving community, family, business 

and education stakeholders in its mission to ensure the school is safe, healthy, and 

sustainable in every aspect and avenue.
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Pilot Knob STEM Magnet School, Eagan, Minn.

LIVEGREEN supports low- and no-cost conservation efforts

Pilot Knob STEM Magnet School serves a diverse school community with 18 

languages spoken; 22 percent of students have limited English proficiency, and 43 

percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. 

Pilot Knob is committed to operating its building efficiently, and fully supports all of 

the initiatives of LIVEGREEN. LIVEGREEN is the district's own sustainability 

program, which promotes energy-saving and recycling initiatives throughout all 

schools and offices. Pilot Knob has a LIVEGREEN Club consisting of third and 

fourth grade students and a teacher. The team helps implement low-cost or no-cost 

strategies to reduce energy use, promote recycling and composting, and conserve 

resources. LIVEGREEN goes beyond a standard energy-reduction program by 

incorporating right-sizing waste streams, recycling, composting, green cleaners, 

diesel emissions reduction, paper reduction, behavioral changes, and engineering 

controls into its initiatives. Through sustainability efforts, Pilot Knob has avoided 

more than $17,000 in utility costs since 2009. It tracks resource use in ENERGY 

STAR Portfolio Manager, and currently has a score of 88.

Since 2009, Pilot Knob has had single-stream recycling schoolwide and organics 

collection for lunchroom waste. In 

collaboration with Dakota County, 

the school conducted a waste sort 

in 2014. The results informed the 

school community of what it was 

getting right and what it needs work 

on. To help students avoid 

confusion, the school has bins 

labeled with posters and pictures of 

what goes where. Through a grant 

provided by Dakota County, Pilot 

Knob received all new bins in the 

cafeteria that are user-friendly even 

for the youngest recyclers. The school has an 80 percent recycling rate. 

LIVEGREEN events promoted by the LIVEGREEN Club are scheduled throughout 

the school year and include MOVEGREEN, Lower the Lights, LIVEGREEN Week, 

Earth Day and compost sales. LIVEGREEN is always looking for smart, green, and 

efficient practices to incorporate into the school. The LIVEGREEN Club promotes 
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recycling and composting, water reduction, and energy conservation. Pilot Knob’s 

principal visits every classroom and teaches a lesson about energy conservation 

and waste reduction. Students are taught how much soap and hand drying paper is 

necessary and not wasteful. “One, two, three is enough for me” is the slogan that 

students use when getting paper towels to dry their hands. 

Two water-bottle filling stations were installed at the elementary in 2016. The 

hydration stations deliver a clean water bottle fill and minimize dependency on 

disposable plastic water-bottles. Teachers and staff also have easy access to a 

purified water system to fill water bottles. The school has reduced domestic water 

use by 37 percent over seven years.

Through many activities and partnerships, the district works hard to improve the 

health and wellness of students and staff. Thanks to a generous grant from C. H. 

Robinson Worldwide, Inc. and the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools initiative, Pilot 

Knob operates a salad bar that features a variety of fruit, vegetable, whole grain, 

legume, and low-fat dairy options during breakfast and lunch. The school was a 

HealthierUS Challenge Silver awardee in 2011. All Pilot Knob students spend 90 

minutes per week in structured physical education and another 150 minutes at 

supervised active outdoor recess, unless the temperature is below -10 degrees.

All Pilot Knob students participate weekly in a STEM specialist class where the 

curriculum focuses on technologies that improve the environment. Students learn 

about wind and solar power, and participate in activities that demonstrate how such 

technologies work to produce clean energy. In the STEM Sparks classes, students 

select courses that teach about solar power and engineering. Students participate in 

field trips to Dodge Nature Center, and all Pilot Knob teachers worked with the 

University of Minnesota on a Monarch Project.

All 408 Pilot Knob students spend time in the school garden planting, tending, and 

harvesting, and then they enjoy eating the fresh vegetables and herbs. Excess food 

is donated to a local food shelf. Pilot has an outdoor classroom complete with tables 

and benches for students and teachers. Behind the school is a wooded area with a 

trail that teachers use to take students into the woods to explore nature. Students 

use this area outdoor for science, forestry, and wildlife lessons and activities.
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Bemidji State University, Bemidji, Minn.

One of the nation’s first environmental studies programs

Ever since the development of its very mission statement, Bemidji State University 

has been dedicated to a sustainable future of our communities, state, and planet. 

The school’s stated aims include promoting service to others, preservation of the 

Earth, and respect and appreciation for the diverse peoples of our region and world.

Bemidji State University (BSU) is a four-year, public, liberal arts institution that is 

located in a community of more than 60,000 residents. Founded in 1919 to meet an 

urgent demand for teachers, BSU was a major pathway to public higher education 

for northern Minnesotans throughout most of the 20th century. BSU now serves 

about 4,500 undergraduate and 500 graduate students from across Minnesota, 

surrounding states, and around the world. Students have multiple opportunities to 

learn about, experience, and reflect on the university’s official Shared Fundamental 

Values: environmental stewardship, civic engagement and leadership, international 

and multicultural understanding, and the belief in the power of the liberal arts. 

The school is a signatory of the American College and University President’s 

Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), pledging to become a carbon neutral institution. A 

campus sustainability director was hired in 2008 to help support and promote the 

goals of the ACUPCC, as well as coordinate the green fee, a $5.00-per-semester 

student fee to promote campus environmental projects. In 2015, students agreed to 

increase the green fee to $7.50 in order to support more environmental projects and 

initiatives. The Sustainability Office is heavily involved in energy, water, and waste 

reduction strategies, and is a regional leader in the campus sustainability movement.

Bemidji State University surpassed the ACUPCC interim carbon reduction goal of 

two percent by 2015, reducing emissions by three percent from a 2010 baseline. 

Green building design has been a factor; BSU has constructed one ENERGY STAR 

and one LEED-certified building within the past two years. Most recently, the 

Sustainability Office managed a project with several partners, including Leech Lake 

Tribal College, Rural Renewable Energy Alliance, and Northwest Technical College,

to build a fossil fuel-free fish house, the first of its kind in the nation. In addition, 

BSU has made considerable progress to reduce waste and increase recycling 

through innovative programs: Donate, Don’t Dumpster encourages students to 

donate gently used items that otherwise would have gone in the dumpster at the end 

of the spring semester. Donated items go into BSU’s FreeStore, which has been 

open to all students and operated by the Sustainability Office since 2010. To date, 

the FreeStore has kept more than 10,000 items out of the landfill. 
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Water conservation devices such as low-flow showerheads and faucets were 

installed in BSU’s high-use campus buildings in 2010. Since their installation, more 

than 15,000,000 gallons of water have been saved. In 2015, the BSU Student 

Senate unanimously passed a bill calling for the elimination of the sale of bottled 

water on campus and promotion of refillable water bottles. To date, the refilling 

stations have saved more than 50,000 gallons of bottled water, reducing the high 

energy-consuming packaging, transportation, and water demands of the bottled 

water industry. Also, the university has worked very hard 

at expanding and streamlining recycling efforts on 

campus. These waste management efforts have led to a 

30 percent reduction in waste production and a doubling 

of campus recycling since 2006. 

Many BSU programs and initiatives are dedicated to 

improving the health and wellness of students, faculty and 

staff. BSU has a broad-reaching student wellness 

initiative, The Best You @ BSU, and a very active Living 

Well, Working Well committee. The on-campus Gillett 

Wellness Center and the popular Outdoor Program 

Center provide a plethora of opportunities to promote 

physical and mental wellness. The Living Well, Working 

Well committee at BSU helps to establish a healthy 

workplace, empower and encourage employees to be well, and support and facilitate 

healthy choices. The on-campus Gillett Wellness Center offers state-of-the-art 

equipment and facilities for students, faculty, staff, and the public, and gives 

students free access to cardio equipment, a weight room, a jogging track, activity 

courts, and racquetball courts. In addition, the Outdoor Program Center is dedicated 

to providing the community with outdoor experiential learning opportunities that

encourage enjoyment of the outdoors, exploration of personal potential, and the 

development of a respect and understanding of the Earth’s natural systems and 

responsibilities within them. 

Wellness is even a focus of the Sustainability Office, whose staff and students 

created a distinctive sustainability model that includes a wellness component and is 

in use elsewhere across the nation. An organic community garden, a bike-share 

program, and classes that teach traditional skills are just some examples of 

programs offered by the Sustainability Office. 

In 2016, BSU agreed to stop spraying pesticides on its academic buildings. Using 

nontoxic, plant-based pest control alternatives will have both positive effects on the 

environmental health as well as the human health of the campus community. 

Moreover, at the impetus of students, BSU banned all use of tobacco products on 

campus grounds. Use of air purifying plans has improved indoor environmental 
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health, and for the past several years, the Sustainability Office has given away more 

than 100 house plants for use in offices across campus. 

The school has an enduring commitment to environmental and sustainability 

education, which includes one of the oldest environmental studies programs in the 

nation. The programs housed in the Center for Environmental, Economic, Earth, 

and Space Studies offer interdisciplinary flexibility that permits students to gain the 

skills required to tackle important climate change-related problems, including 

specializations in ecosystems studies, environmental policy and planning, 

environmental toxicology, environmental management, and geohydrology. A 

required liberal education course titled People and the Environment and an active 

sustainability-focused student organization, Students for the Environment, also help 

lead the way to a more environmentally literate citizenry. The People and the 

Environment course not only educates students on the ecosystem on which humans 

depend, but also integrates understanding of the social systems needed to address 

complex global problems. The course facilitates an opportunity for students to 

interact with the community through a service learning assignment. 

In 2005, BSU signed the Talloires Declaration, a 10-point action plan for 

incorporating sustainability and environmental literacy in teaching, research, 

operations, and outreach at colleges and universities. In 2016, an academic minor 

in sustainability was added. This course of study will draw on the importance of 

service learning, and will allow students to learn, through hands-on work in the 

community, how to effectively address sustainability issues in the wider world.

Just this past year, BSU initiated an EcoCamp for first- and second-graders. 

Several BSU students were involved in the planning, coordination, and facilitation of 

activities to teach local youth about the Earth. The camp will expand to include a 

third- and fourth-grade EcoCamp in 2017. At BSU, sustainability always has been 

student driven and student led. Members of the campus community take pride in 

that and strive to ensure that the campus’ longstanding Students for the 

Environment club remains a hub of active engagement in both campus and 

community sustainability initiatives.

Missouri

McKelvey Elementary School, Maryland Heights, Mo.

Four time ENERGY STAR

McKelvey Elementary has an active Green Team of staff and students. The club 

meets weekly to lead recycling efforts, encourage green living, and identify and 

research problems and implement and measure solutions. For example, its work 
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includes recycling, composting, clean air, energy conservation, wind power, solar 

power, and solar panels. This student-led initiative has created many low-cost and 

easy to implement changes that result in resource conservation and utility costs 

savings and healthier learning environments. 

As McKelvey updates its aging infrastructure and works to reduce environmental 

impact in operations, it incorporates American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and 

Air-Conditioning Engineers Advanced Energy Design standards and also LEED 

Operations and Maintenance principles. The school received the ENERGY STAR 

for 2013―2016, after having brought its Portfolio Manager score up to 89 from 59. 

Examples of school improvements include new HVAC equipment that is more 

energy efficient and improves indoor air quality, providing more fresh air ventilation 

when carbon dioxide levels are elevated. McKelvey has upgraded HVAC filters to a 

higher quality filter that traps more particulates, while allowing for greater efficiency 

of the equipment. 

An onsite solar array generates about five percent of the school’s energy needs, and 

students use the energy data for real-world project-based learning opportunities. 

McKelvey was one of the first schools in the state to use compostable plates and to 

institute a commercial composting program, piloting the program with other area 

schools, which later became a districtwide composting effort. The McKelvey 

community created a video 

to instruct all district 

schools on the composting 

process and received 

recognition from the 

Missouri Recycling 

Association. 

McKelvey Elementary 

works to instill the values of global citizenship in students, preparing them for life in a 

healthy, sustainable learning environment. McKelvey curriculum, lessons, and 

professional development place a heavy emphasis on the education of the whole 

child. Staffers monitors the safe learning environment; proactively create healthy 

policies and practices with student input; and provide health services, counseling, 

and lessons that involve environmental and sustainability concepts. 

McKelvey works to strengthen family education and relationships, while creating and 

maintaining community partnerships to focus on unique practices. This includes 

specific learning opportunities, such as fourth-grade students learning about food 

security for a growing population with The Bunge Corporation. Second grade 

students delve into a deeper understanding of soil and compost. Students in 

kindergarten through fifth grade work with the Junior Achievement program, which is

McKelvey curriculum, lessons, and professional 

development place a heavy emphasis on the education 

of the whole child. Staffers monitors the safe 

learning environment; proactively create healthy 

policies and practices with student input; and provide 

health services, counseling, and lessons that involve 

environmental and sustainability concepts.
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focused on preparing young people to succeed in a global economy through 

educational and motivational hands-on and relevant learning. 

Parkway North High School, St. Louis, Mo.

Student-driven initiatives make a whole school green

Parkway North is a school that has a deep-rooted commitment to whole school 

sustainability. The school has worked to make its physical place, organizational 

culture, and educational program more sustainable. For many years, the school has 

been on the forefront of integrating environmentally preferable procedures into the 

everyday operating practices of the building. In most cases, these enhancements 

have been a direct response to student-driven initiatives, ranging from single-stream 

recycling programs, community clothing drop-off boxes, a shoe drive water project, 

composting for food scrap and compostable serviceware, river cleanup crews, rain 

gardens, and native prairie gardens. 

Energy related projects include the installation of LED lighting upgrades for outdoor 

spaces with controls that allow the fixtures to dim late at night when no movement is 

detected on the parking lots. Parkway North has installed a 25 kilowatt solar 

photovoltaic array that is ground mounted, so students are able to see up close what 

a functioning array looks like. Parkway North uses several compressed natural gas 

school buses that are able to transport students with fewer emissions than traditional 

diesel buses. The school is working hard to implement a master plan that involves 

major replacement of HVAC equipment to include chillers, new variable air volume 

boxes, and demand control ventilation. Improvements made so far have brought the 

school’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager score from 5 to 48, reduced energy use 

by 25 percent, domestic water consumption by 37 percent, and irrigation water use 

by 45 percent. Using LEED Operations and Maintenance and New Construction as 

a reference, Parkway North continues to pursue additional initiatives that are 

applicable to credit categories where it has not yet achieved. 

While the school works hard to reduce the amount of resources it uses to operate 

the school, it also seeks to create a healthy environment that is conducive to 

learning. Its district safety specialist and certified industrial hygienist work to make 

sure the Parkway North indoor environment is as safe and healthy as the outdoor 

environment that students and staff are working to preserve. This includes actively 

managing proper use of chemicals in the district, and using practices such as IPM

and green cleaning to minimize the presence of hazardous materials inside 

buildings. Parkway North has installed higher efficiency and higher quality air filters 

on its HVAC equipment to eliminate as many particulates from the air as possible. 
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In addition to initiatives to create a healthy school environment, Parkway North offers 

programs that instill health and wellness in the community. This includes offering 

local farm grown produce in the cafeteria, and blocking out thirty minutes during a 

week dedicated to school climate. Parkway North students and administration 

create videos and power points on topics ranging from accepting others with 

differences to diminishing homelessness and hunger. Students are guided through 

teacher- or peer-led discussions, expressing concerns or creating action plans on 

how to create a better community. The school nurse connects students to health 

and social resources to live a healthy life, and the wellness coordinator leads afterschool yoga and stress management sessions, while physical education includes 

climbing, ropes courses, outdoor sport skills, mountain biking, and roller blading. 

Parkway North hosted the tenth annual Let’s Move in Parkway North event in May 

2016, which attracted over 1,300 community members. 

While these operational improvements are impressive, Parkway North believes that 

the deep connection its educational experiences offer students is actually what is 

driving much of the change. The school 

has been driven to create a generation 

of sustainability natives. Parkway North 

not only has multiple award-winning 

environmental clubs as demonstrated 

by its Lexus Eco-Challenge and 

Envirothon teams, but also integrates 

these learning opportunities throughout its curriculum, which extends beyond 

science and into all areas. For example, the Parkway North English curriculum 

requires a recycling project, and its physical education department has a 

demonstrated commitment to outdoor education. Faculty members engage in 

protecting the planet as well through their regular professional development with the 

Missouri Department of Conservation or Botanical Gardens. 

All students and staff throughout Parkway North are immersed in environmental 

science as a way of life rather than as a single course taken once in a four-year high 

school career. Nevertheless, Parkway North also offers an AP environmental 

science course that is offered for dual credit through the University of Missouri-St. 

Louis, as well as a general environmental science course. Students are given 

multiple opportunities to read articles, listen to news stories, research various topics, 

engage in debates, and give oral presentations on such topics as carbon footprint, 

use of natural resources, and the equitable distribution of these resources 

throughout the world.

Improvements made so far have reduced 

energy use by 25 percent, domestic water 

consumption by 37 percent, and irrigation 

water use by 45 percent.
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Maplewood Richmond Heights Middle School, Maplewood, Mo.

Learning expeditions at the heart of sustainability education

Maplewood Richmond Heights Middle School (MRHMS) is located in the city of 

Maplewood, which received the National Green City Award as the result of a large 

and concentrated effort from Maplewood Richmond Heights Middle School and its 

district. It also is the very first Green Dining District in Saint Louis. MRHMS has 

worked hard, with support from the communities of Maplewood and Richmond 

Heights, to develop a green school that upholds the district cornerstones of 

scholarship, stewardship, leadership, and citizenship.

Maplewood Richmond Heights has led the way in developing innovative 

programming and learning surrounding the unique sustainability needs in an urban 

area. MRHMS has very limited green space, but still has provided a rich curriculum 

that integrates gardens, aquaponics, urban chickens, beehives, composting, and a 

rain garden. At the core of this work is a belief that sustainable schools and 

communities provide all members the greatest opportunities for success.

As a farm to school leader, MRHMS’ cafe maintains partnerships with local farmers 

and universities, and uses products from the school’s own gardens, backyard 

chickens, and honey bees. Every student at MRHMS is provided free breakfast. 

The school chef was designated a national School Nutrition Hero by the School 

Nutrition Association in Washington D.C. in 2015. Lunch features a salad bar and a 

daily vegetarian option. Spanish classes use the school garden to learn about and 

make Mexican cuisine, and the garden integrationist includes a trip to a local market 

in one unit.

The staff at MRHMS has deeply integrated their teaching and learning into this 

belief. MRHMS has embedded teaching sustainability and green practices deep into 

the curriculum in core content areas and exploratory classes. Through the use of 

units that revolve around books like Seed Folks or Good Food Revolution, teachers 

provide MRHMS students with opportunities to explore green initiatives while still 

honoring national and state standards for learning. 
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The eighth grade seed-saving unit has grown into a robust interdisciplinary 

experience. Art integration teaches technical botanical drawings. Communication 

arts classes research and write plant descriptions and growing information for the 

seed packets. Science classes test household radiation by taping seeds to cell 

phones and conducting germination tests. Math classes enumerate seeds produced 

by each plant, and have extrapolated seed production for future generations as an 

example of exponential growth and scientific notation. Social studies classes run a 

farmers market where seeds are 

sold as an economics lesson. 

The gifted program catalogues 

seeds, researches plant families, 

and starts a seed library. 

Each student at MRHMS 

participates in physical 

education, with the aim that each 

student must be active doing 

moderate to intense activities 

during at least 50 percent of the 

class time. Physical education

includes a variety of outdoor 

activities, including aquatics and 

a water safety unit in an outdoor 

pool, archery, skiing, and 

gardening as a lifetime fitness 

skill. In addition, students get outdoors during academic subjects as well; for 

example, students participate in a tree climbing program for physics and biology 

units, and a physics unit includes a visit to an ice skating rink to study Newton’s 

Laws on a near frictionless environment. 

Maplewood Richmond Heights derives its approach from the metaphor of school as 

expedition, taking students outside of the classroom over 15 percent of the school 

year. Student learning is taking place outside, in the community, or beyond the 

community. This approach to learning shifts the focus into the natural environment 

and promotes a connection with the community. For example, students study water 

quality and its relationship to macroinvertebrates starting in the local watershed in 

seventh grade and ending with a trip to Ocean Springs, Miss. and the Gulf of Mexico 

at the end of eighth grade. MRHMS also produced a video around biodiversity and 

salamanders in the Smoky Mountains that went viral.

The sustainability class is offered every semester, and serves as a multi-grade 

student leadership group to solve sustainability issues in the school. It has tackled 

initiatives around water runoff, energy conservation, composting, improving the 
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school’s aquaponics system, and alternative transportation. A class called

Cornerstone is offered twice each semester, and serves as a multi-grade student 

leadership class to look at issues around water quality, food shortage, and 

environmental factors that influence poverty and social injustice in the community 

and the world.

For each of the past four years, a team of students has participated in the 

USGBC―Missouri Gateway Chapter Green Schools Quest. During this process, 

the students collect baseline data in the area subject to improvement. In the past 

years, students have collected data on classroom energy use, green transportation, 

stormwater retention, and food systems. MRHMS placed second in 2016 and third 

in 2014. Students placed kilowatt monitors in classrooms and then provided specific 

feedback to individual teachers on usage with suggestions on how to improve. The 

school has registered a five percent energy use reduction in two years, and uses 

demonstration solar panels that generate roughly two percent of the school’s energy 

needs.

To reduce waste, the school uses reusable flatware and compostable trays for 

takeaway and students employ one to one Chromebooks, leading to a 38 percent 

diversion rate. To conserve water, the school installed high efficiency hot water 

heaters, low-flow and automatic fixtures, and a water bottle filling station. Water 

from the aquaponics lab is used to water indoor plants, the garden uses a rain barrel 

and green roof, and outdoor commons use permeable surface materials to increase 

stormwater infiltration. The school implements an IPM plan and a no-idling policy, 

and uses only Green Seal certified cleaning products.

Expeditionary learning creates a space for students to begin to view the world 

through a lens of justice and fairness, and then explore the causation of the social, 

economic, and environmental justice issues that surround us every day.

Montana

Whitefish School District, Montana

Whole district approaches to sustainability in the heart of the Rocky Mountains

Whitefish School District consists of three school buildings that have a footprint of 

roughly 325,000 square feet and serve 1708 students. Whitefish is surrounded by 

the Whitefish, Stillwater, and Flathead Rivers, as well as the Whitefish, SalishKootenai, and Swan mountain ranges, and neighbors Glacier National Park. The 

district lies within a wildlife corridor that contains grizzly bears, elk, black bears, 

mountain lions, bald eagles, gray wolves, wolverines and big horn sheep, and within 

a watershed that includes 500 lakes and many native species. Environmental 
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stewardship and the conservation of nature are prominent values within the 

community, and drive the district’s sustainability programming. 

Over the course of the 2016-2017 school year, Whitefish has shared a new 

sustainability coordinator with the city. The coordinator worked with each school to 

develop an energy conservation plan based on a baseline energy audit, and worked 

with students and teachers to implement programming elements related to 

sustainability across the district. The district has prioritized energy efficiency in 

renovations and lighting upgrades throughout its facilities; received a mini grant from 

the Governor's SMART Schools program to purchase power strips; and is in the 

process of both applying for ENERGY STAR certification and developing an energy 

conservation plan.

The district will break ground on a two-story classroom building with attached 

greenhouse called the Center for Sustainability and Entrepreneurship (CES) in the 

spring of 2017. Using geothermal and solar production, the facility will become the 

first zero-net energy building in the state, and will serve as a laboratory for 

sustainable practices across the prekindergarten―12 educational continuum. Its 

grounds will include a production garden, an orchard, an experimental forest, and an 

outdoor classroom. Curriculum integration will connect learning to local agriculture, 

forestry, resources management, and entrepreneurship, and aspects of the facility 

are designed to help students achieve dual credit through partnerships with 

institutions of higher education. 

The schools of Whitefish School District are within walking distance of each other. 

Each fall and spring, the district and the city sponsor walk- and bike-to-school 

events. New bike routes have been established and road signs placed to ensure 

student and staff safety. Transportation plans have been implemented at each 

school to provide effective parking options and reduce idling.

Whitefish has installed water bottle refilling stations, and plants drought-resistant 

native plantings to minimize irrigation use. The district has eliminated plastic 

utensils in the cafeterias, purchased metal silverware, and is transitioning away from 

the use of Styrofoam. At the middle school, the student council has purchased 30 

sets of plates and metal silverware for each grade level kitchen to minimize the 

amount of waste generated during grade-level celebrations. Students and teachers 

have been educated about the systems that are in place at each of the schools to 

reduce waste.

A feature of the Whitefish School District’s sustainability program is a high degree of 

coordination between facilities, curriculum, and food services. The directors of each 

department collaborate regularly to discuss how to improve sustainability at the 

district level. For instance, the district uses its student-maintained gardening space 
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to supply vegetables and herbs to the school district, using the garden for both 

educational and production purposes. 

Whitefish has developed a comprehensive 

wellness plan, and was recognized through the 

Healthier US Schools Challenge. The district 

participates in a farm to school program, and 

purchases meat, dairy, grains, vegetables, and 

fruits from local farms. In addition, the high 

school’s physical education and club programs 

offer activities such as fly fishing, rock climbing, 

challenge courses, and Nordic and alpine 

skiing. Students often go on field trips to 

Glacier National Park, as well as to rivers, 

lakes, and wooded trails. 

Sustainability efforts are integrated through strong collaborations with multiple local, 

regional, and national organizations. Two important local partners, Whitefish Lake 

Institute and the Flathead Biological Field Station, organizations that work to 

maintain the health of the surrounding watershed, offer annual professional 

development sessions for teachers. Other important partnerships that promote

sustainability in Whitefish School District are with the USGBC and the Green 

Schools National Network. Whitefish School District is part of the Center for Green 

Schools National Cohort, and participates in ongoing one-on-one coaching and 

small group workshops. Representatives from the district will present at the School 

Sustainability Leaders’ Summit and the Green Schools Conference and Expo.

Through a partnership with the Center for Green Schools, teachers in the district 

have access to a sustainability curriculum database called Learning Lab. 

In addition to district level planning, each school has a sustainability plan and team 

that is led by students and teachers, which meets to develop building-specific 

objectives and benchmarks. Student leadership in the middle school and high 

school comes from the student council and the student environmental science club,

called FREEFLOW. The middle school student council identified the issue of 

automobile idling that was occurring during student pick-up and drop-off times. The 

students researched the health and environmental issues surrounding idling, 

presented their findings to the school board, and enacted a no-idle zone around 

each of the schools. The student body voted on a mission, slogan, logo, and action 

they could embody to foster sustainability. Students play a primary role in the 

collection and processing of recycling at each school. 

The district partners with U.S. Forest Service through a conservation grant to learn 

about ice science. Through hands-on learning at the community ice skating rink, 
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students learn about properties of water, Newton’s second law of motion, and 

rotational motion. In another example of learning that connects students to nature, 

Whitefish Mountain Resort provides annual snow safety training, where students 

learn avalanche safety, ski and snowboard safety, boundaries, and dressing for cold 

weather. Students also conduct snow survey investigations in which they examine 

how the water cycle and climate change affect avalanches. As part of their fire 

ecology learning, students visit areas in Glacier National Park and Flathead National 

Forest that have been affected by fire to learn about forest regeneration. 

During a yearly weeklong eighth-grade trip, students visit EPA superfund sites, 

where they see the effect of human activity on the environment. Students have 

conducted projects in collaboration with Algae Aquaculture, a local business that

develops strategies to sequester carbon dioxide in algae to process it for energy and 

fertilizer. Another project partnered students with researchers in France seeking to 

test the friction of climbing chalk. Students have partnered with the University of 

Montana’s Clean Air and Healthy Homes Program to explore how particulate matter 

varies according to different environmental and human-induced factors. In a study 

of the ski industry in Whitefish, students found that ski wax was a significant risk to 

an individual’s respiratory health if exposed to it over an extended amount of time. 

The entire seventh and eighth grade class performs community service during the 

final week of the school year. Projects include trash clean-up of City Beach; painting 

a school neighbor’s picket fence; clean-up, trail maintenance, and invasive weed 

mitigation of Whitefish Trails; helping at a food bank; and clean-up of Whitefish 

property. Students engage in citizen science projects researching the health of the 

local watershed. Students also participate in the local farmers market to provide 

spring vegetable starts to the community. Students explore how hydroponics, 

aquaponics, soil composition, natural lighting, fluorescent lighting, and LED lighting 

affect plant growth and productivity. They conduct energy audits of their classroom, 

home, and school, and analyze water quality of local creeks, resulting in a long-term 

restoration project. By creating learning experiences that combine science research 

and ecological conservation, students are learning and developing essential skills 

related to sustainable citizenship.

The community of Whitefish is surrounded by amazing natural beauty, and Whitefish 

students are learning to prioritize conscious consumption, safeguard the 

environment, and serve the community. Whitefish School District is cultivating a 

sustainable citizenry that will guide the community in a manner that balances social, 

environmental, and economic needs for current and future generations. As students 

in the district learn, experience, and practice sustainability in a variety of contexts, 

they develop the knowledge, skills, and aptitude to become stewards for their 

community, state, nation, and planet.
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Nebraska

Chandler View Elementary School, Omaha, Neb.

Learning conservation and stewardship firsthand

Chandler View Elementary School serves 700 students, 83 percent of whom qualify 

for free and reduced-price lunch, and 29 percent of whom are considered limited 

English proficient. Chandler View has implemented schoolwide programs as well as 

club and grade-level initiatives such as “Just take two, thank you” for paper towels 

and “1,2,3...That’s enough for me” at the drinking fountains. Students manage the 

recycling efforts under titles such as Trash Auditor and Green Schools Manager. 

The office contributes by setting copy machines for two-sided printing, and ensuring 

that most communication arrives via email. Reuse paper trays are found in all 

classrooms, and a “Whoops” basket is located by copy machines. To conserve 

energy, end of day checklists are used in all classrooms. Compact fluorescent bulbs 

have replaced all incandescent bulbs, and computer labs shut down automatically 

each evening. 

The Ecology Club plays a vital role in reducing the school’s environmental footprint. 

These students manage the glass and plastic recycle bins, and encourage parents 

to sign up to help in this effort. The club partners with Fontenelle Forest to harvest 

seeds for the annual Green Apple Day of Service. They care for all flowerbeds, the 

vegetable garden, and have planted eight trees. Three blue birdhouses have been 

installed, and students have tracked some 20 bluebirds fledging in the past three 

years. The club also wrote letters to school-supply catalog companies requesting 

just one catalog, which would be available to all teachers. Chandler View has begun 

participating in the Keep America Beautiful Recycle-Bowl and America Recycles 

Day.

Chandler View’s efforts are reflected in their metrics. From a baseline of July 2014, 

the July 2016 annual diversion rate increased from 49 percent to 52 percent, the 

second highest in the district, and more than double the district average of 24 

percent, while emissions per occupant decreased 25 percent. During the same 

period, Chandler View’s ENERGY STAR rating increased 25 points, while annual 

energy costs decreased by $25,000. Annual water use is 1,039 gallons per 

occupant, less than half of the district average use of 2,706 gallons per occupant. 

Chandler View has an IPM and indoor air quality program in place. The school has 

an asthma management program consistent with the national asthma education and 

prevention program, as well as a chemical management program in place. 
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Chandler View’s Wellness Committee sponsors a Wellness Night, and partners with 

School Based Health Center, Bellevue Junior Athletics Association, Nebraska Safety 

Council, Nebraska Extension, Live Well Nebraska Kids, and the South High School 

Wellness Club. Programs include aerobic exercise, healthy heart games, seatbelt 

and bike helmet safety, and resources for parents to aid in locating area health 

facilities. Additionally, all classrooms have monthly exercise goals. Fuel Up to Play 

60 offers a 100 mile running club, in which the sixth grade competes. Other staffers

host clubs highlighting wellness concepts. The nurse sponsored Cooking Matters,

taught by the Visiting Nursing Association, and a student Wellness Club taught by 

Nebraska’s Extension Service. The Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program provides 

fresh snacks.

In physical education class, students use the Pacer, which records data on running, 

sit-ups, and push-ups for their entire grade school tenure. Presidential Fitness tests 

are administered, and participation is encouraged in Jump Rope and Hoops for 

Heart. The outdoor walking track challenges students to add their name to the Smile 

Mile Run Chart. Students 

use the Project Fit America 

station. Intramural teams

are offered in football, 

volleyball, soccer, and 

basketball. The counseling 

department coordinates the 

schoolwide discipline 

program, through which 

Cougar Paws are earned 

for good behavior. A Student Assistance Team is in place, offering help to students 

and teachers. Other programs include Operation School Bell, Food-Bank of 

Midlands backpacks, connections for trauma-therapy, Boys & Girls Clubs, GOALS, 

and SAFE, all helping families and students focus on healthy lifestyles. A unique 

mentor/mentee program also is in place, where teachers who volunteer their time 

are paired with a student for an entire year, and engage in activities and out-ofschool trips. 

Environmental education is integrated daily into the curriculum. All students study 

ecology and sustainability in science and social studies. Units on recycling and 

conservation activities, and science lab objectives provide awareness to 

prekindergarten through sixth grade students. Farmers come into the classroom to 

discuss what’s happening on their farms, and to emphasize the need for care of our 

land. Students discuss ecosystems and the effects from human pollution, natural 

disasters, and altering animal environments. Population sustainability, crop care, 

and future production methods are discussed. Environmental changes from the 

effect of humans and animals in terms of economics and health are evaluated. 

The annual diversion rate increased from 49 

percent to 52 percent, the second highest in the 

district, and more than double the district average 

of 24 percent, while emissions per occupant 

decreased 25 percent. Annual energy costs 

decreased by $25,000. Annual water use is 1,039 

gallons per occupant, less than half of the district 

average use of 2,706 gallons per occupant.
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Kindergarteners study microhabitats and the interconnectedness of different living 

things. They also have a fall apple unit, and discover how trees provide shelter and 

food for animals and humans. 

Special assemblies are held throughout the year that target environmental concepts. 

The music teacher creates Earth Day assemblies, and develops summer camp 

musicals focused on healthy concepts. The student Ecology Club is a major player 

in providing conceptual knowledge to the student body. The group has produced 

videos on planet care, effective recycling, and conserving resources. Students 

plant, harvest, and market crops. Students have worked with groups throughout 

Omaha to learn firsthand about the sustainability initiatives of others, including trips 

to MidWest Laboratories, Fontenelle Forest, Lauritzen Gardens, Council Bluffs 

Recycle Center, and Wenninghoff Truck Farm.

Omaha Northwest High Magnet School, Omaha, Neb.

Great leadership gains through partnerships and public presentations

Omaha Northwest is making great gains in environmental learning and conservation. 

Many students at Northwest are involved in sustainable service learning projects, 

working with college students, Omaha Green Tours, landscape architects, and 

master gardeners. By working with college students and local professionals, 

Northwest students learn 21st century skills and are exposed to many career paths 

in environmental studies. 

The school partnered with University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) Service Learning 

and its Environmental Sustainability class to engineer and build a rain garden to 

capture and filter storm water runoff to help solve the problem of Omaha’s combined 

sewer systems. The rain garden acts as a habitat for declining species such as 

Monarch butterflies and bees. Native plants are used in the garden to reduce 

watering and permeable pavement is used to line the garden to allow water 

infiltration. Students tag Monarch butterflies and participate in the Monarch Watch 

program to monitor the migration patterns and population numbers of Monarchs. 

This project has enhanced the environmental and horticulture curriculum by 

incorporating all facets of STEAM, by allowing students to conduct presentations to 

the community, and by providing an opportunity for students to create something 

that helps their community and also serves as a teaching tool for many future 

Northwest generations. 

The project won the Nebraska state title for the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 

Contest, earning Northwest High School $20,000 worth of Samsung technology and 
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being featured on National Geographic’s Next Generation Environmental Leaders. 

Northwest students presented the design at the Great Plains Low Impact 

Development Conference, while the Horticulture teacher and her UNO Service 

Learning partner published the Service Learning Rain Garden presentation at the 

International Symposium of New Issues in Teacher Education, sharing their findings 

about the effect the project had on student learning, conceptions about the 

environment, and student concepts of leadership.

Northwest Environmental students have made a how-to recycling video for their 

student body to reduce trash going into landfills. They partner with Keep Omaha 

Beautiful to clean and label storm drains so that trash does not get into the water. 

They assist with the Chytrid Fungus Citizen Science project, working in collaboration 

with the Henry Doorly Zoo, and will monitor amphibian populations for the presence 

of chytrid fungus. 

Northwest students have built a community garden and aquaponics system that 

grows fresh produce for the 

community. Students learn 

about soil health, compost 

organic matter, and practice 

organic gardening and pest 

control. Students learn about 

their native plants, cultures, 

foods, and sustainable 

infrastructures. They research and plant seeds together from multiple cultures, and 

then harvest the produce for food.

Northwest students test water quality in the streams around Omaha by testing for 

nitrates and a common endocrine-disrupting pesticide called Atrazine. They collect,

analyze, and then report their data to the UNO Toxicology Department which is 

working on publishing the data. Northwest students partner with UNO International 

students to learn about their native plants, cultures, foods, and sustainable 

infrastructures. They research and plant seeds together from multiple cultures and 

then harvest the produce for food. 

Students have meaningful outdoor experiences at every grade level. The 

greenhouse is used in the freshman level physical science course to demonstrate

energy transfer and the water cycles. The sophomore level biology course uses the 

gardens for ecology, biodiversity, and species interactions. The junior and senior 

level food courses use the gardens for herb, vegetables, and fruits. Shop courses 

make plant stands and shelves for plants. Chemistry courses test the pollutants 

collected in the rain garden. Environmental and horticulture classes grow the plants, 

design the gardens, and study the socioeconomic effect these gardens have on the 

The rain garden acts as a habitat for declining species 

such as Monarch butterflies and bees. Native plants 

are used in the garden to reduce watering and 

permeable pavement is used to line the garden to 

allow water infiltration.
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community. The drama class uses the greenhouse plants as stage props. 

Photography Career Center students take pictures of the wildlife and plants in the 

gardens. Art students designed the rain barrel that collects water from the roof of 

the greenhouse, and the pottery students make the horticulture students clay pots to 

grow their plants in. Horticulture students sell the plants at a local craft fair to raise 

money for the greenhouse and gardens to buy more supplies.

Northwest has a green team that meets once a month to ensure that the school is 

making strides in its resource conservation, and continues to track its resource use 

in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. The school community checks to make sure 

all lights, monitors, and electronics are turned off at the end of the day, and ensures 

that faucets remain leak-free. It participates in the Nebraska Green Schools 

program to explore other projects to reduce the school’s environmental impact. 

Northwest High School has a health and wellness team and a Student Health Center 

that provides care to at-risk students. The health and wellness team promotes 

healthy eating and an active lifestyle by motivating staff to participate in lunch-walks, 

soup lunches, and weight-loss goals. Students take part in a Healthy Huskies group 

that meets twice a month to make healthy foods and promote active lifestyles.

New Hampshire

Keene State College, Keene, N.H.

Cultivating stewards of place

The Keene State College story traces a strong, and deepening, commitment to 

environmental stewardship, sustainability, and health and wellness in all phases of 

campus life and the community. Through the years, the school’s initial green efforts 

– well-intentioned, but less than systemic – have evolved into a comprehensive 

vision with strong buy-in from school leadership, faculty, and students. 

In 2014-2015, using an inclusive civic engagement process endorsed and 

encouraged by college leadership, Keene State began assembling a framework to 

address every aspect of sustainability. 

The college’s mission statement articulates core values of environmental 

stewardship, sustainability, social justice, and equity. The strategic plan promotes 

student wellness and fosters a green culture through sustainability policies and 

practices that improve quality of life locally and globally. The campus master plan 

emphasizes improved natural resource management, energy efficiency, and high 

performance buildings. Related collegewide learning outcomes target civic 
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engagement and well-being, and the school’s academic and co-curricular plan 

identifies approaches to achieve the learning outcomes. 

Efforts include vigorously improving energy management, stepping up efficiency 

measures, implementing more rigorous performance standards for new buildings, 

and exploring low-carbon and carbon-free ways to heat the campus. Keene State 

has conducted a baseline greenhouse gas inventory using the Clean Air/Cool 

Planet’s Campus Carbon Calculator, and a baseline performance evaluation using 

the AASHE STARS assessment yielded a Silver rating.

Ongoing outreach efforts help to boost awareness in the broader community. For 

instance, the Office of Sustainability and the President’s Council for a Sustainable 

Future recently launched the Green Keene initiative, for campuswide engagement 

and action on sustainability. The fall issue of the alumni magazine focused on 

sustainability, with an 

overview of current efforts. 

A recent video address by 

the college president 

underscored the school’s

sustainability priorities. 

Key accomplishments 

from academic year 2015-

2016 to the present day

include the school’s innovative, first-in-the-nation initiative to replace polluting 

heating oil with a carbon neutral, renewable biofuel made from 100 percent purified 

recycled vegetable oils. The replacement biofuel currently comprises 36 percent of 

the school’s annual use. The college’s food waste education and composting 

programs support 30 percent diversion of waste with an award-winning EPA Food 

Recovery Challenge effort.

In other examples of its integrative approach, Keene State emphasizes organic 

landscaping using compost made from dining hall kitchen waste, to protect the local 

watershed, promote healthy ecosystems, and ensure that school grounds that are 

safe and chemical-free. Such efforts also engage students in hands-on projects and 

research, including conducting food waste audits to determine additional green 

opportunities, or participating in the school’s award-winning biodiesel research 

project.

Another highlight is the college’s new, state-of-the-art, high-performance building: a 

new residential living and learning center designed to comply with the Architecture 

2030 standard of carbon-neutral/fossil free buildings by 2030. The school 

The school’s TDS Center, a LEED Platinum 

educational building, was purpose-built to support 

STEM education. Another point of pride is the 

Ecovation Hub Education Research and Training 

Consortium, which is a collaborative effort to develop 

a regional higher education center for green building 

and community development that fosters 

sustainability and resilience.
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community also has established a socially and environmentally responsible 

investment option for the KSC Endowment Association.

The school’s Center for Health and Wellness, counseling center, human resources, 

recreational sports, and dining services coordinate on-campus health efforts; 

additional partners include the Office of Sustainability, the physical plant, and 

academic affairs. Health promotion programs for students and staff, a FitBit 

Fanatics Loan Program, the KSC Moves Walking Program, Lunch & Learn Wellness 

Programming, one-on-one nutrition consultations, fee support for fitness center 

membership, wellness clinics – as well as counseling, psychological, and social 

services – all combine to promote the well-being of students, staff and faculty. Other 

community health initiatives range from a host of outdoor clubs and fitness 

programs, to a commitment to local and fair-traded food from over 80 farms and 

suppliers in New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts, which increase 

the sustainable and healthy food options in the dining facilities. Keene State is also 

an organizational champion in the innovative community wellness initiative, Healthy 

Monadnock 2020.

Academically, the school offers a liberal arts education that helps students to 

communicate effectively, identify connections between different branches of 

knowledge, and develop the wisdom to make a difference.

The Keene State model recognizes that students – and the workers, innovators, 

leaders and problem-solvers they will become – must employ critical thinking, 

creative inquiry, and intercultural competence in facing today’s unprecedented 

challenges and opportunities. To develop solutions, they need strong 

interdisciplinary skills. This is especially true for environmental and sustainability 

education, which goes far beyond such familiar topics as energy efficiency, 

renewable fuels, and green buildings. In response, environmental and sustainability 

education at Keene State is not viewed as a narrow discipline, but engages the 

whole curriculum, so students gain insights from the arts, humanities, health, and 

social sciences, in addition to the natural sciences.

Keene State’s commitment to interdisciplinary approaches is reflected in its 

Integrative Studies Program. Every student is required to complete 40 credits within 

Integrative Studies, including a required course in quantitative literacy, one to three

courses in natural and social sciences, and one class designated as 

interdisciplinary.

In addition to the Integrative Studies Program, Keene State offers four majors 

(environmental studies, geography, sustainable product design and innovation, and 

safety and occupational health applied sciences) that explore key relationships 
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between environmental, energy, and human systems. Beyond these majors, some

35 percent of all academic classes address environmental or sustainability topics. 

The Putnam Science Center houses biology, chemistry, physics, geology, and 

geography – as well as a rooftop greenhouse. The school’s TDS Center, a LEED 

Platinum educational building, was purpose-built to support STEM education. 

Another point of pride is the Ecovation Hub Education Research and Training 

Consortium, which is a collaborative effort to develop a regional higher education 

center for green building and community development that fosters sustainability and 

resilience. 

The college’s location in the Monadnock Region, Ashuelot River watershed, and city 

of Keene offer abundant hands-on, field-based opportunities for learning STEM 

content, knowledge, and thinking skills through addressing real world issues. 

Community engagement efforts range from river cleanups, litter pickups, and

landscape maintenance, as well as painting, cleaning, and other projects across 

town, to New Student Community Service Day, a team-building service opportunity 

for entering freshmen during orientation. In fact, Keene State College places a high 

value on cultivating civic knowledge, skills, and action through academic programs, 

community service, campus clubs, and participation in the American Democracy 

Project. As a result of its focus on civic engagement, Keene State is one of 240 

colleges and universities awarded the prestigious Carnegie Community Engagement 

Classification. The goal of the American Democracy Project is to produce graduates 

who are committed to being active, involved citizens in their communities.

New Jersey

George L. Catrambone Elementary School, Long Branch, N.J.

Driving a green wave of change

The George L. Catrambone Elementary School was constructed in 2014 in a district 

whose logo and mascot are the Green Wave, and whose board adopted 

environmental stewardship as part of its mission. Living up to this image, the 

school’s teaching and learning incorporate the environment in all thoughts and 

actions on behalf of its 846 students, 90 percent of whom are eligible for free and 

reduced-price lunch and 72 percent of whom are minority. LEED for Schools was 

used as a reference for the design of the new building, and native plants were 

selected for its landscaping. Catrambone tracks an ENERGY STAR Portfolio 

Manager score of 79, and received certification in 2016. 
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The Power Save Team, a group of second- and fourth-grade students, teams up 

with New Jersey Natural Gas and the Alliance to Save Energy to reduce the school’s 

energy consumption. They conduct energy audits in all classrooms, and educate 

building occupants on how to reduce energy by monitoring lighting, temperatures, 

appliance power usage, windows, and doors. Simple behavioral changes like 

shutting lights off when leaving a classroom have made a difference already. The 

school has achieved 11 percent utility cost, 14 percent greenhouse gas, and 40 

percent energy savings in a single year. In addition, 86 percent of students ride the 

bus to school. Of the 14 percent of students that do not ride the bus daily, 41 

percent of them travel to school in carpools.

The students and staff in every classroom are challenged to reduce their 

environmental impact. In the Catrambone courtyard, students constructed a 

greenhouse from more than 2,000 recycled soda bottles that they collected. With 

the growing season extended, students grow enough vegetables and herbs from 

their gardens to feed students, staff, and the greater community. The courtyard 

serves as an outdoor 

classroom, and includes rain 

barrels to water the gardens, 

reducing irrigation needs. 

Bioswales on campus help to 

reduce stormwater runoff. 

In a continued effort to reduce 

waste, single use water bottles have been eliminated in the building, and a student 

fundraiser sold reusable water bottles, which raised enough money to purchase new 

bottle filling stations. In the lunchroom, reusable trays help reduce waste, and a 

garbage audit made students more knowledgeable about recycling and more 

cognizant when separating trash. Third grade students studied the negative effect

straws have on New Jersey’s sandy shores, and, as a result, stopped using straws, 

encouraging the entire school to follow their lead. Second graders collect used 

aluminum juice pouches to clean and repurpose into bags, wallets, and lunch boxes. 

All of this has helped contribute to a 40 percent recycling rate.

Catrambone students are making healthier choices thanks to a farm to school 

program and healthy fruit and vegetable snack grants. Students have 160 minutes 

of physical activity per week, and staff participate in biweekly workouts after school 

to help everyone dance their way to a healthier lifestyle. The school recently earned 

a bronze level certification from the Sustainable Jersey Schools program and for the 

Alliance for a Healthier Generation in 2016. Catrambone has a green cleaning 

program in place, is certified asthma-friendly, and is home to an on-campus health 

center.

Students constructed a greenhouse from more than 

2,000 recycled soda bottles that they collected. With 

the growing season extended, students grow enough 

vegetables and herbs from their gardens to feed 

students, staff, and the greater community.
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Reading, science, and social studies curricula are tied to content knowledge in 

sustainability and the environment. Students participate in units about endangered 

species, energy conservation, and recycling. Third graders participate in a language 

arts unit about green schools and fifth grade students research the benefits and 

disadvantages of different energy sources. Approximately 150 fourth and fifth grade 

students are bussed to the middle school daily to extend their school day by three 

hours, during which they are immersed in a variety of STEAM, art, health, and 

nutrition related courses of their choice. Kindergarten through third grade students 

may choose to extend their day twice each week for three hours by staying after for 

a STEAM, reading, coding, theater, or tutoring program that features sustainability 

education.

Long Branch Middle School, Long Branch, N.J.

Iron Chefs creating sustainable biospheres

Ten years ago, Long Branch Middle School opened its doors with environmental 

impact at the forefront of its design, including geothermal heating and solar panels. 

The solar panels generate a whopping 43 percent of the school’s energy needs. 

Long Branch collects 300 megawatt hours from the solar system yearly, reducing the 

energy strain on the community. 

Long Branch has a score of 84 in 

Portfolio Manager, 21 points 

higher than four years ago, and 

has a 49 percent recycling rate. 

The Power School Team has 

taken on the challenge of tracking 

energy usage with the help of a 

program by New Jersey Natural 

Gas. Team members audit all 

energy use and educate building 

occupants on how to reduce 

energy by monitoring lighting 

levels, temperatures, appliance 

power usage, window and door usage, and even simply shutting lights off when 

leaving a classroom. The school’s sustainability efforts have saved over 

$2,000,000. Long Branch has earned bronze level certification from the Sustainable 

Jersey for Schools program. 
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Long Branch curriculum embeds environmental sustainability across all grade bands 

and subject areas. Students take learning out of the classroom in multiple field trips 

throughout the year to zoos, museums, the beach, and local watersheds. Students 

create and design farming equipment using Little Bit Circuits and a sustainable 

green habitat to survive on another planet. Students debate and write positionbased essays on topics such as plastics in cosmetics, endangered species 

regulations, genetically modified crops, and depletion of natural resources. They 

create their own solar cookers to harness the power of the sun to cook food or make 

water safe to drink. Long Branch students have created a sustainable biosphere in 

a recycled soda bottle with native plants from Lake Takanassee, the local lake on 

the southern board of the Long Branch community. 

Weather events such as Hurricane Sandy are studied to understand how the school 

community was affected. The school was used by the National Guard as a staging 

area in the aftermath of the hurricane. The school partners with the Sea Grant 

organization at Sandy Hook to have students study the environmental impact of sea 

grass on the dunes. At the end of the school year, students go to Sandy Hook to 

plant sea grass to replenish the grass, which is affected by storms. 

Special education students grow and harvest herbs and vegetables in their courtyard 

garden to cook, and sell healthy meals to staff members at Café 63, a student-run 

Café that produces an annual healthy cookbook to sell in June. Long Beach is 

eating right and making healthier choices with a farm to school program and healthy 

fruit and vegetable snack options in the lunchroom. Students compete once a year 

in an Iron Chef challenge sponsored by food service provider Sodexo in which 

students create their own healthy food plates from a list of given ingredients. Local 

community members judge and taste the teams’ healthy creations to crown one 

team the Iron Chefs of Long Branch Middle School. Long Beach attained the 

Bronze Level for the Alliance for a Healthier Generation in 2016. 

The school’s comprehensive health and physical education curriculum focuses on 

preparing the 1,115 students, 70 percent of whom are eligible for free and reducedprice lunch and 76 percent of whom are minority, to lead an active and productive 

lifestyle. Over 95 percent of students walk or bike to school.

New Mexico

Sandia Vista Elementary School, Rio Rancho, N.M.

LEED Silver where students know to do the right thing

Sandia Vista Elementary School, of the Rio Rancho Public School (RRPS) district in 

the windy high desert of New Mexico, actively has been employing parallel, 
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concurrent strategies to reduce its environmental impact, while involving its students 

in the process. The Montessori-influenced public school serves 631 students, 63 

percent of whom are minority, in a LEED Silver certified building.

Sandia Vista consistently participates the district initiatives called Do the Light Thing 

and EnerG3. It was also one of three pilot sites statewide for the Public Service 

Company of New Mexico’s HomeWorks program, which now is being offered to all 

fifth graders in Santa Fe, 

Albuquerque, and Rio 

Rancho public schools. As a 

result of this pilot, 100 

percent of Sandia Vista fifth 

graders received a 

HomeWorks kit to use in their 

residence, with the 

assistance of their teachers 

and families. The kit includes 

energy and water 

conservation tools including 

lightbulbs, a shower timer, an 

LED nightlight, a faucet 

aerator, and a low-flow 

showerhead. The school has reduced its energy use by 25 percent over five years, 

and has a Portfolio Manager score of 97. 

Sandia Vista’s art program and media center participate in a districtwide recycling 

exhibit contest. The school has upcycling, precycling, composting, and standard 

recycling programs, leading to a 43 percent recycling rate. The school oversees a 

unique food recovery program that repackages unused food for needy families. It 

also was one of three pilot locations for the district’s Safe Routes to School program. 

Sandia Vista uses 100 percent Green Seal certified cleaning products. 

A schoolwide campaign called Don’t Slack With Your Snack! encourages families to 

provide protein and vegetable based snacks instead of the typical sugar-filled juices 

and snack bars. A running club is offered four days a week, and dance parties are 

the highlight of Friday afternoons. The school nurse and physical education teacher 

coordinate a monthly Walk & Roll from a designated park, a half-mile from the 

school entrance. Students are incentivized with morning announcements, 

breakfasts, special costume events, and decorations for scooters, bicycles, and 

students themselves. The SVES SAFE Program, which serves students before and 

after school, provides life skills instruction, daily recreation with inside and outside 

games, nutritional information, educational environmental field study trips (often 

walking), guest speakers from local health agencies, Jazzercise, Zumba, Tai Chi,
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and interactive movement experiences. “The Just Be It! Healthy & Fit” curriculum is 

used, promoting healthy youth and family lifestyles. Presentations have students 

wash with glogerm on their hands and then place them under a black light to show 

students how to properly and thoroughly wash their hands.

A club that epitomizes the environmental ethic of the school is the SaVE (Sandia 

Vista Elementary) Earth Squad. The Squad was founded by several teachers and 

educational assistants and averages 25 students. Meeting topics rotate through 

recycling, upcycling, food reclamation, energy conservation, campus cleanup, and 

gardening. The school features a community xeriscape garden and greenhouse. 

Every grade maintains raised beds.

Sandia Vista has taken advantage of several 4-H Youth Development curricula, 

including Egg to Chick (providing eggs and incubators) for fifth graders, which 

includes four visits from the local 4-H agent; Just Be It!, which focuses on preventing 

childhood obesity and diabetes by teaching healthy eating habits, exercise, and 

hands-on culinary experiences; and Kids, Kows, & More, which introduces students 

to the means of their food production and agricultural products (cotton, honey from 

bees, wool). Disaster preparedness is another popular unit, in which each student 

creates a kit including a flashlight, Band-Aids, water, wipes, and information. The 

school employs NEED, Project Learning Tree, Project WET, and Keep Rio Rancho 

Beautiful professional development. Students engage in local walking field trips, 

spend time in their authentic arroyo classroom, and participate in the River Xchange 

program to explore major water resources topics over many months as part of the 

curriculum.

Ohio

Lakewood Catholic Academy, Lakewood, Ohio

Saintly stewards of the environment serve a Great Lake

Lakewood Catholic Academy (LCA) was founded in 2005, and serves students in 

preschool through eighth grade. The school is a member of the Cleveland Catholic 

Diocese, and located on nine acres of Lake Erie shoreline property, allowing 

students and teachers to take full advantage of the ecosystem of the Great Lake. It 

also neighbors Lakewood Park, a 31-acre park in the city. The park features a 

walking trail used by the physical education students and by the fifth grade students 

during their water walk, an environmental advocacy and fundraising project. 

The school replaced an old boiler with two energy efficient boilers, and all of the 

fluorescent light fixtures in the school with LED fixtures, many of which are motion-
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sensored. LCA renovated three restrooms over the past five years, installing lowflow filters.

Working with Lakewood Refuse and Recycle inspired students to begin a recycling 

program at LCA, and the school was the first in the city to participate in the curbside 

recycling program. The recycling program has grown over the years, and the 

students are committed to reducing waste whenever possible, including hosting 

waste-free lunch days in the dining hall. Overall, the Saintly Stewards have reduced 

garbage schoolwide by 20 percent. 

A partnership with Drink Local/Drink 

Tap teaches the students the 

importance of clean drinking water, 

which inspired them to host a 

fundraising walk to raise money for 

wells in Uganda, as well as 

participate in local initiatives that 

promote the use of tap water over 

bottled water. The school used a 

grant from the Ohio Department of 

Education and the Ohio Facilities 

Construction Commission for the 

sampling, testing, and replacement 

of drinking fountains, water coolers, and plumbing fixtures that may have elevated 

levels of lead.

Through many partnerships, the school is reducing its carbon footprint while 

educating students on how to be environmental stewards. Its partnership with the 

Cleveland Metroparks allows students to learn more about Monarch butterfly 

migration, Monarch waystations, and native plants that are butterfly food sources. 

The school was chosen by the Cleveland Metroparks as the recipient of an 

educational grant to build a Monarch waystation on the northern edge of the 

property. 

The school contracts with Lago Dining Services to provide a fresh salad bar and 

fresh fruit bar every day. LCA no longer fries any food, and all food is freshly made 

from scratch each day using a majority of organic, non-genetically modified 

ingredients. Students in kindergarten through fourth grade engage in schoolsupervised physical education and outdoor time for six and a half hours per week, 

and students in grades five through eight for three hours per week. Students also 

use an outdoor classroom and play on the school’s 43 different sports teams.
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Fifth and sixth graders use the adjacent park to conduct soil temperature tests. 

Many LCA teachers also take advantage of the newly completed Solstice Steps. 

These steps face the lake, and were designed around the summer solstice. In 

technology class, students participate in a unit where they learn skills needed to 

complete a long-term project to create environmentally friendly businesses. The 

students research various eco-friendly corporations and then use the information to 

create their own businesses. In seventh grade science class, students study global 

water systems, researching the effect of plastic pollution and its relationship to 

surface currents. They then use their data and information to create a newsletter to 

get the word out and to explain how plastic waste has accumulated to form the Great 

Pacific Garbage Patch, a giant landfill in the central North Pacific. Fourth grade 

students use STEM knowledge and problem-solving skills to learn about solar 

energy and create and race solar-powered cars.

Oregon

Portland Waldorf School, Milwaukie, Ore.

A LivingLAB for holistic, personalized, experiential learning

The Portland Waldorf School (PWS) is an alternative private school in Milwaukie, 

Oregon that serves early childhood through high school students. PWS provides a 

holistic education based on age-appropriate teaching practices that recognize 

students as individuals on a unique learning journey, academically, socially, and 

emotionally. PWS’s environmental education program assures that sustainability 

projects are woven into both the curriculum and extracurricular activities for all ages. 

Two years ago, the PWS community committed to funding and staffing an innovative 

environmental education program called the LivingLAB. More than just a garden 

program, the LivingLAB actively engages the students with a wide variety of 

sustainability-related projects that are integrated into a long-term site design that is 

being implemented by students in conjunction with their academic subjects. The 

school’s intentional work with harvesting the natural water flow on campus, 

remediating runoff water from its parking lots, promoting biking and public transit, 

recycling, gardening, composting, and encouraging best practices around reducing 

waste produced and energy use, including changing all lightbulbs to LED, qualified 

the school as an Oregon Green School in 2016. 

Daily food compost chores, tending to gardens with various themes -- including dye 

plants, food forests, wetland plants, native plants, medicinals, pollinator-attractants, 

and edible landscaping -- and regular use of a wood-fired oven for a variety of 

subject lessons engage students directly with ongoing activities that model 

regenerative practices and develop healthy habits. Nutritious cooking activities are 
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integrated into classes for all ages. Students constructed gravity-powered water 

pumps to irrigate gardens, a bike shelter, and a rainwater catchment system that 

flows into the early learning play, so that even the youngest members of the school

community can interact in a hands-on way with this resource-efficient technology. 

Water bottle filling stations, bioswales, and xeriscaping are employed to reduce 

environmental impact. Students pack waste-free lunches, bring reusable dishware 

from home, compost, and recycle. The school encourages handmade crafting using 

natural materials and products, which are available through the school store.

The natural features in the school’s neighborhood and bioregion receive regular 

attention, as students volunteer with the local watersheds doing native habitat 

restoration. PWS recently was recognized for this work by the Johnson Creek 

Watershed. Classes regularly 

volunteer with charitable 

organizations such as Habitat for 

Humanity, the Re-Building 

Center (which oversees resale of 

used construction materials), 

Annie Ross House (an 

emergency shelter), St. Francis 

dining hall (which feeds the 

homeless), and the Oregon food 

bank. Ninth grade students 

spend a week volunteering at 

local, organic farms in Oregon. 

Bridging international with local efforts, one teacher involves her class with her work 

as a cultural navigator through the Catholic Charities refugee resettlement program, 

and the LivingLAB director actively forges relationships with leaders of international 

sustainability nonprofits in order to integrate lessons from global efforts with the 

school curriculum. 

The PWS math, science, and engineering curricula help students develop ethicsbased critical thinking skills before they engage directly with technology, so that they 

can do so responsibly and with a direct understanding of how human systems can 

support natural systems. Biomimicry, permaculture, and biodynamics provide 

important frameworks for students to understand topics such as appropriate 

technology, science, and nutrition with greater complexity. The LivingLAB provides 

opportunities for kinesthetic learners to engage directly through activities that 

demonstrate the concepts they are learning about in classes. Middle school 

students conduct a waste audit each year, and draw the community’s attention to the 

types of food packaging that they find in most abundance in the trash cans. 
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Portland lacks the racial diversity of many other metropolitan areas in the U.S., so 

PWS consciously and actively seeks ways to continue to be equitable and 

accessible to all. Though the school generously offers scholarships for low-income 

families, PWS recognizes that accessibility does not only involve finances. The 

school runs diversity trainings for the faculty and staff at the school to further its 

vision of an inclusive environment, and the school has established a successful 

foreign exchange program in the high school, staffed with faculty that support both 

the academic and social success of these English as a Second Language students. 

Care groups meet regularly to discuss students with special needs and 

circumstances, and all subject teachers, therapists, and specialists are involved with 

guiding each student toward success. In this type of respectful learning 

environment, each student can realize fully his or her potential.

Pennsylvania

Coebourn Elementary School, Brookhaven, Penn.

Learning about LEED

Coebourn Elementary is a new construction in the Penn-Delco School District that 

opened in January 2015. During construction of the Coebourn Elementary, the 

district opted for a hybrid geothermal HVAC system, replaced several dual-fuel large 

boilers with high efficiency gas fired boilers and domestic hot water heaters, and

installed heat wheels and reheat systems. Coebourn uses low-flow fixtures 

throughout the school. There is no irrigation system onsite; grass is watered by rain 

only. The site includes rain gardens and stormwater inlets. Coebourn has 

implemented and maintains a single stream recycling program with Waste 

Management as its partner. The fifth grade Compost Club has set a goal to create 

enough compost to fertilize the 

school’s new garden. 

Coebourn’s green committee 

established monthly green or 

healthy activities to bring 

awareness to the school 

community. The committee 

provides monthly instructional 

resources that go along with 

the monthly theme. Themes have included: healthy snacks; a plastic toy drive; 

reusable bottles; water consumption only; Jump Rope for Heart day; reusable lunch 

bags; Earth Day activities: outdoor classroom learning; Field Day; and creation of 

garden tiles and birdhouses, in partnership with Lowe’s Hardware. Physical 

Coebourn’s science curriculum includes a deep 

understanding and connections to life, physical, 

and earth sciences. Scientific explorations allow 

students to create a hypothesis and physically 

examine and test variables, as when students 

tested several types of fabrics to see which would 

best keep them dry in the rain.
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education at Coebourn Elementary is frequently outside, and students participate in 

two recess sessions per day. 

No-idling policies and IPM are strictly enforced.

Coebourn’s science curriculum includes a deep understanding and connections to 

life, physical, and earth sciences. The weather unit encompasses learning the 

details of different types of weather; and how to measure and identify weather by 

using tools such as thermometers, rain gauges, and wind socks. Scientific 

explorations allow students to create a hypothesis and physically examine and test 

variables, as when students tested several types of fabrics to see which would best 

keep them dry in the rain. In the living organisms unit, students create terrariums 

and aquariums to learn about how plants and animals depend on one another. Each

habitat is unique to the characteristics of the organisms and what they need to 

survive. They make connections between humans, animals, and plants, focusing on 

their individual needs. Fourth graders learn about electricity, as well as renewable 

and nonrenewable resources. In a course called Microworlds, students explore 

magnifiers, including the hand lens and microscope. In Ecosystems, students set up 

a terrarium for living organisms such as crickets, isopods, mustard, grass seed and 

alfalfa. Duckweed, elodea, algae, fish, and snails are introduced in the aquarium. 

The students connect the two habitats to create an “ecocolumn.” 

The curriculum includes sustainability education through classroom lessons,

schoolwide announcements, professional development at faculty meetings, and 

student-led presentations and lessons. In addition, the school facility is a teaching 

tool to learn about geothermal, electrical systems, and LEED certification, in lessons 

led by the district’s facilities director.

The School District of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Green futures for all of Philly

The School District of Philadelphia is a large historic urban public school system in 

Pennsylvania with 143,387 students, 78 percent of whom qualify for free and 

reduced-price lunch, over 300 buildings, and 25 million square feet of building 

space. The average school building’s age is 70 years. The student population is

diverse: 51 percent of students are African American, and 20 percent are Latino. 

Among them, they speak 24 languages. The school district aims to make every 

Philadelphia public school a green school by 2020, and the superintendent 

committed to this in May of 2016 when the district launched its first five-year 

sustainability plan, called GreenFutures. The plan aims to reduce energy 
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consumption districtwide, increase waste diversion from landfills, increase school 

green spaces, and create healthy indoor environments and healthy living habits. 

The district is a charter member of the Green Schools Alliance District Collaborative, 

and home to 19 registered National Wildlife Federation EcoSchools and a 2013 U.S. 

Department of Education Green Ribbon School. 

LEED certifications have been obtained for eight district schools. In 2011, the 

School District of Philadelphia received the USGBC’s Center for Green Schools’ 

Best of Green Schools Award for committing to all new schools being certified LEED 

Silver, and rolling out a plan to address the City of Philadelphia’s existing schools. 

The district currently tracks its energy use through EnergyCAP and ENERGY STAR 

Portfolio Manager, and has 

registered a 40 percent reduction in

energy use over five years. The 

district has contracted an energy 

services company to offer 

behavioral change 

recommendations, energy audits, 

and energy education.

The School District of Philadelphia 

has implemented a comprehensive 

recycling program at 42 schools,

and plans to implement full 

recycling programs at every school within five years. The first pilot of schools with 

comprehensive recycling programs is showing significant progress in waste 

diversion, with a 30 percent diversion rate being measured at some schools. One 

school has implemented a successful model composting program that serves the 

Philadelphia community in addition to its own school community.

Over the past five years, Philadelphia has constructed large green stormwater 

infrastructure projects at 31 schools, including surface and subsurface infiltration 

basins, porous pavements, rain gardens, storage trenches, bioretention swales, 

green roofs, and porous play surfaces. The district has committed to constructing a 

minimum of five major green stormwater infrastructure projects per year in the 

district’s sustainability plan, helping to manage stormwater runoff and provide 

educational opportunities and enhanced recreational amenities for students and the 

surrounding community. The district receives stormwater financial credits that 

reduce its utility costs for water supplied to schools.

To encourage healthy student hydration, during the summer of 2016, new bottle 

filling stations were announced as a standard for all Philadelphia public schools. 

The district invested $1,000,000 to install a minimum of three hydration stations for 
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every school. These are filtered for lead, chilled, and have a bottle filling counter to 

illustrate to students how many water bottles are saved from landfills by using the 

stations.

In 2011, the district was awarded the EPA’s Indoor Air Quality Great Start Award for 

establishing an indoor environmental quality program that was based upon the 

EPA’s Tools for Schools program. The district uses certified Green Seal cleaning 

products, with a $2,000,000 budget for its green cleaning program.

The school district serves 92,500 free lunches and 57,500 free breakfasts daily, 

including nutritious foods, with a focus on healthy hydration, farm to table, and fruit 

and vegetable of the month programs. In fiscal 2016, the district invested $102,000 

in commercial blenders to develop a fresh fruit smoothie program, and, invested 

$34,949 in increased spending on chicken products that are certified to have

responsible antibiotic use. One of Philadelphia’s most successful healthy living 

initiatives is EAT RIGHT NOW, which provides free nutrition outreach programs and 

services to all public school students, teachers, staff, administrators, and parents. 

EAT RIGHT NOW is based at both school and community sites, during school hours 

as well as after school, and involves nutrition education at various levels. 

Sustainability-infused curriculum, professional development opportunities for 

teachers and operations staff, and the intentional shift in organizational culture 

toward sustainability is a priority for the School District of Philadelphia. Through the 

GreenFutures sustainability plan, monthly Education for Sustainability meetings take 

place with a committee of district curriculum specialists and environmental staff, as 

well as external partners. So far, the Understanding the Urban Watershed 

Curriculum Guide has been added to the core curriculum, thanks to a partnership 

between the Fairmount Water Works, Philadelphia Waters educational branch, and 

the district’s curriculum office. Since 2015, five professional development 

workshops have been provided to teachers by partners from the National Wildlife 

Federation's Eco-Schools USA, The Philadelphia Zoo, The Franklin Institute, Keep 

Philadelphia Beautiful, and The Cloud Institute. Also, Asthma 101 training is being 

provided to teachers through the district’s Asthma Management Program, in 

partnership with the American Lung Association. Each of the sustainability 

professional development opportunities provided for teachers include credits that 

may be used to maintain teacher licenses in Pennsylvania.

Environmental science concepts are woven throughout the science curriculum from 

kindergarten through eighth grade. The units are sequenced to build concepts and 

skills toward taking high school level environmental science courses that cover

topics including the basic chemistry of our planet, biogeochemical cycles, ecosystem 

dynamics, evolution and biodiversity, and human populations.
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The Penn Alexander School infuses environmental responsibility and sustainable 

practices into many of its lesson plans, with students able to demonstrate their 

knowledge and understanding of the course content through the application of real 

world situations. The Baldi Middle School environmental science program is based 

on student-centered ecological investigation, which leads to monitoring of local 

watersheds, habitats, vegetation, wildlife, wetlands, and marine coastal 

environments. Sayre High School integrates principles of sustainability into teaching 

and learning by incorporating the Education for Sustainability model framework into 

the all-female maker’s and aquaponics programs. Lincoln High School’s 

Environmental Technology Academy is dedicated to educating students to be 

stewards of the planet, and to preparing students to be ambassadors for the 

environment, by building upon relevant experiences in conservation of built and 

natural environments. W. B. Saul High School of Agricultural Sciences is situated on 

a 130-acre campus and features amenities such as a nursery with greenhouses, 

small animal laboratories, an arboretum, and a working farm that houses poultry, 

dairy, swine, sheep, horses, a meat science program, field crops, and a pasture area 

for the livestock. Students from Saul High School are mentoring Fox Chase 

Elementary School to become a completely agriculturally based elementary school. 

The elementary school also is partnering with the Fox Chase Farm, a Philadelphia 

School District demonstration farm, to assist in integrating the agricultural curriculum 

into the classrooms and provide farm visits.

The many partnerships that Philadelphia has acquired through the development of 

its sustainability plan are the reason why the plan exists and continues to grow. 

Through monthly committee meetings for Education for Sustainability, consumption 

and waste, energy and efficiencies, school greenscapes, and health and wellness, 

Philadelphia not only is receiving guidance and expertise from partnerships, but also 

gardening workshops, school recycling outreach and support, composting 

cooperatives, and even funding for projects such as creating an mini-recycling 

facility, used to demonstrate how materials are sorted during recycling. 

The School District of Philadelphia, as a community, from superintendent to chief 

operating office, to school principals and facilities staffs, understands that green and 

healthy schools are where children learn best. 

Rhode Island

Moses Brown School, Providence, R.I.

Stewardship, simplicity, and sustainability at a Quaker school
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Moses Brown has been working hard in recent years to reduce its environmental 

impact and advance its sustainability goals. At the center of this effort has been an 

all-school sustainability committee, which works throughout the year to advance the 

school’s sustainability mission and goals, and is composed of faculty, staff, 

administrators, students, and parents. It includes teachers from all divisions, as well 

as the school’s business manager, head of operations, director of dining services, 

dean of students, academic dean, associate director of athletics; and head of school. 

In 2016, the upper school student environmental club was reconstituted as the 

Environmental Council, with greater responsibility and a more formal leadership 

structure. The student leaders of this council attend the monthly meetings of the 

sustainability committee. The sustainability committee offers mini-grants out of its 

budget to students or teachers with ideas for advancing the school’s environmental 

goals. 

Moses Brown recently installed a new boiler plant and solar panels. Ninety percent 

of the facility has motion-sensor lights, and the field house has been retrofitted with 

LED lighting. The majority of 

roof surfaces on campus boast 

PVC roofing membranes, the 

high solar reflectivity of which 

reduces energy waste and 

lowers monthly heating and 

cooling costs. Solar shades that 

track the sun's trajectory adjust to reduce cooling loads. Rain barrels are placed at 

strategic high-flow areas on campus; every downspout on campus is channeled into 

a retention system of five tanks, and three bioswale systems help to make efficient

use of land and water. 

All health services have been consolidated into a wellness department, chaired by a 

physical education teacher, which includes the school nurse, school psychologist, 

and athletic trainer. Students participate in a wide offering of sports, or fulfill a 

fitness requirement in other ways. Together with the athletic department, the 

wellness department has programmed recreational athletic opportunities for school 

employees, and also promoted fitness challenges. Faculty and staff are invited to 

mindfulness and meditation sessions, yoga classes, and running groups. Moses 

Brown has a full-time psychologist who provides mental health counseling and 

support for students, as well as consultation to teachers and families about social, 

emotional, and behavioral issues. All students in the eighth grade participate in a 

semester-long Personal Ethics and Resilience class aimed at building emotional 

awareness and coping skills.

The school partners with SAGE Dining to offer nutritious and healthy scratch-cooked 

meals. It sources much of the food locally in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, as 

Moses Brown has a full-time psychologist who 

provides mental health counseling and support 

for students, as well as consultation to 

teachers and families about social, emotional, 

and behavioral issues.
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well as from the school’s own garden. In addition, the cafeteria has been the site of 

some of the school’s most innovating environmental partnerships. For example, for 

several years the school has been partnering with Newport Biodiesel, which collects 

all of Moses Brown’s used cooking oil. In addition, Moses Brown was one of the first 

schools to partner with the Compost Plant, a company that collects and then 

composts all of the school’s preconsumer food waste. 

Environmental education is woven throughout the curriculum. For example, first 

graders take part in a farm-to-table unit where they learn about the path of food from 

seeds to what they eat every day. They partner with the upper school AP 

Environmental Science class to grow and eventually harvest various vegetables in 

the school garden. Fifth graders study climate change and the carbon footprint. 

They write letters to the Moses Brown head of school and head of operations 

detailing changes that they would like to see on campus in order to reduce the 

school’s carbon footprint. In eighth grade history class, the culminating unit focuses 

on climate change and the international community’s response. Seventh graders 

study water resources and learn about the lack of clean drinking water in much of 

the world. Environmental topics are woven through many upper school classes 

(e.g., by studying Thoreau’s Walden and in junior English). Students who take AP 

Environmental Science, along with the Environmental Council, often play a 

leadership role in advancing sustainability on campus. 

The school’s weather station and geographic location near Narragansett Bay provide 

countless opportunities for learning. All upper school students have service learning 

opportunities to help clean and mark the east side of Providence’s storm water 

drainage system. Younger students, including some as young as four years old, 

explore and study Moses Brown’s 33-acre campus as their own environmental lab, 

counting trees, identifying plants through leaf structures, and collecting bug samples. 

Students take field trips to outdoor settings, such as apple picking and to local farms. 

Middle school students begin the year with a four-day overnight trip to one of three 

outdoor education centers. 

Every year, the school programs events that are meant to educate and raise 

awareness of environmental issues. For example, each year during Earth Week, the 

entire school gathers for a worship meeting (a Quaker school practice) focused on 

the theme of sustainability. There also are learning opportunities for faculty and staff 

throughout the year. For example, last year Julia Gold, climate change program 

manager at the Rhode Island Department of Health, presented a workshop on the 

anticipated influence of climate change on the health of Rhode Islanders.

As a Friends school in the 21st century, Moses Brown is committed to the goal of 

environmental sustainability. The school is guided in its work by the Quaker 

testimony of stewardship, simplicity, peace, integrity, community, and equality, which 
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constitute the core of the school’s values, and speak to community members’ 

collective responsibility to each other, the campus, the local area, and the planet that 

all share.

Rhode Island College, Providence, R.I.

A community partner in building a sustainable future

Rhode Island College (RIC) is dedicated to enhancing the environment of those that 

learn and work on its campus, and is implementing many new initiatives that 

decrease costs, improve human health, and enhance sustainability learning. The 

college’s first sustainability efforts date back to the last decades of the 20th century; 

however, the growth and diversity of its current programming are a result of a more 

recent campuswide effort to make the college a model for sustainable practices and 

programs. Significant accomplishments include establishment of the Rhode Island 

College Green Team in 2009, and the development of many cost-saving initiatives 

by campus offices and divisions through waste reduction, recycling, energy 

efficiency, green cleaning, and sustainable grounds management.

Rhode Island College is serviced by a central heating plant that uses both light oil 

and natural gas. The plant provides steam for heat, hot water, and, in some cases, 

buildings’ steam absorption chillers for air conditioning. Buildings on campus are 

continuously being improved to incorporate more efficiency in lighting, heating, and 

cooling with operation and design. The school has worked with AMERESCO (an 

energy services contractor) to implement fuel and electrical efficiencies across the 

campus. 

As a result of improving the condensate return to the central steam plant from 

January 2011 to January 2014, RIC saved some 370,000 gallons of water. The 

college is replacing faucets, toilets, and shower heads with fixtures that use less 

water, and, working with AMERESCO, is also implementing water conservation 

measures in residence halls. 

Each year, graduates don caps and gowns that are made from recycled plastic 

water bottles, and collected after graduation to be repurposed a second time into 

carpeting. The college decreased its use of dumpsters by 55 tons from 2015 to 

2016, in large part by working with Goodwill Industries of Rhode Island, which 

helped to divert tens of thousands of pounds from the landfill by collecting the 

school’s used clothing and e-waste, including used batteries and printer cartridges.
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Having installed 12 water bottle filling stations, the college eliminated over 80,000 

plastic water bottles from entering the trash stream. Working with North Star, the 

college has taken books and journals that have been digitized off its shelves, 

recycling the material to be pulverized and repurposed into home insulation, 

diverting over 75 tons of materials from the landfill. Additionally, during a renovation 

project, over 90 percent of construction waste was diverted from the landfill, in part 

by offering classroom furniture to other state agencies or schools in the state. Any 

and all scrap metal that could be salvaged was put out to bid and sold to metal 

recyclers.

The Keefe Transportation Center offers transportation via Rhode Island Public 

Transit Authority to some 50 locations throughout the state. Zipcar also is available 

for short rentals, and the center 

has an electric vehicle charging 

station where electric vehicle 

owners can charge their vehicles 

for up to four hours.

Outside air is brought into all of 

the buildings, and air filters are 

changed out as determined by 

best practice standards. Carbon 

dioxide and radon sensors 

detect changes in the air quality,

and notify facility management of any potential problems. The custodial crew uses

nontoxic, Green Seal certified Genesan cleaning agents in all of the buildings on 

campus. The use of these products eliminates hazardous toxins discharged into the 

campus wastewater system, and the college grounds crew regularly plants native 

plants that survive on rainfall rather than irrigation.

The college offers multiple services, programs, activities, and supports that promote 

sound health and wellness practices, and takes a comprehensive approach to 

addressing physical, social, and mental health, known as the health triangle. For 

example, the college’s Health Services’ holistic approach emphasizes prevention, 

risk reduction, and education to assist in making lifelong healthy choices. Emphasis 

is on open recreation, personal fitness, health, and wellness, regardless of age, 

gender, race, or skill level.

All freshmen take a first year seminar class. These courses are housed in many 

different departments, and delve into a sustainability theme. For example, the 

anthropology course examines issues related to waste; biology examines issues 

related to air and water quality; and chemistry examines issues related to food 

production and safety. These classes are designed to teach students how to work 
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together solving current issues related to climate change. In addition, the college 

launched a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies in fall 2015, which takes an 

interdisciplinary approach, focusing on how humans interact with their environment 

and the essential and reciprocal relationship between humans and the natural world,

while exploring how to move toward a more sustainable future for human and natural 

systems. Environmental studies and sustainability programs have been developed 

for those entering the workforce in both undergraduate and post-graduate study. 

These programs include Green Business Practices, Urban and Community Farming, 

the Sustainable Communities Initiative, and the Green Business Forum.

Responding to labor market indicators that employment will grow in STEAM careers, 

the college has invested in new academic offerings, research investigations, capital 

improvement projects and business / community partnerships that support STEAM 

education. In addition to establishing several new degree programs, some of RIC’s 

other achievements in STEAM include the creation of the Rhode Island STEAM 

Center; the disbursement of funding to local colleges and universities to encourage 

new and innovative science projects and research programs; and the Summer

Undergraduate Research Fellows, a highly competitive program designed to 

increase research opportunities for undergraduates. 

The college has worked closely with the Rhode Island Beekeepers Association in 

developing the Rhode Island College Bee Education Center, consisting of a threehive apiary, a pollinator garden, an outdoor classroom, and a TV weather station. In 

2016, over 600 students in kindergarten through 12th grade from all over the state 

came to the Bee Education Center on field trips to learn about the importance of 

honeybees to agriculture. 

The college is actively engaged in the Rhode Island Environmental Educators 

Association, a collaborative network of individuals and organizations committed to 

environmental education; the Providence Sustainability Roundtable, which brings 

business and higher education together to share best practices in sustainability, 

overcome obstacles to sustainability in the city, and participate in ways to lower the 

city’s collective carbon footprint; and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental 

Management and the Rhode Island Tree Council, which host workshops for 

landscaping companies. 

Rhode Island College’s strength is in its commitment to exploring sustainability 

options with on- and off-campus partners. The addition of a sustainability 

coordinator in 2012 has accelerated campus and community initiatives. While many 

challenges still exist, the school is well on its way to becoming a sustainable campus 

and community partner in building a sustainable future.
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Virginia

Centreville Elementary School, Centreville, Va.

Student audits advance every area of sustainability

Centreville Elementary School, part of the Fairfax County Public Schools, is part of 

the 10th largest school district in the nation, and enrolls approximately 900 students, 

from prekindergarten through sixth grade, with a minority population of 28 percent. 

Centreville is ethnically diverse, with over 55 languages spoken by students both at 

home and at school. Centreville’s environmental program empowers students to 

make choices and share their passion for the environment, while affording them 

hands-on experience with nature, sustainability, environmental literacy, and service 

learning. Centreville uses the environment as a primary vehicle for student learning, 

giving them multiple experiences that have them solving real-world problems 

through creativity, collaboration, 

communication, and critical thinking.

Centreville installed a new chiller,

which provides the school with more 

efficient delivery to the air conditioning

system, water bottle filling stations, 

and rain barrels. The school also has made an effort to keep lights off when 

classrooms and buildings are unoccupied and to conserve water. The school

switched from Styrofoam trays and bowls to paper, and has begun a schoolwide 

composting program, run by student members of the Green Team. Centreville 

received ENERGY STAR recognition in 2015. Sustainable landscaping in Fairfax 

County Public Schools is enhanced by a partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, and by participating in the district’s own Urban Wildlife Habitat Program. 

This program engages students in planning, constructing, using, and maintaining a 

wildlife habitat on the school grounds to increase biodiversity, conserve water, 

minimize mowing, and serve as an outdoor classroom. The school works in 

conjunction with the Virginia Bluebird Society in maintaining a bluebird trail on 

grounds.

The school has received the EcoSchoolsUSA Green Flag, the highest honor in this 

National Wildlife Foundation (NWF)-administered program, and participates in its 

Cool School Challenge. As part of this program, students conduct audits in the 

areas of energy, water, waste, biodiversity, health, habitats, food, and transportation, 

and then create action plans based on the results of these audits. They devise 

public service announcements and youth-oriented Ted-style talks on the 

environment, implement new processes, work on outdoor education lessons to 

share with teachers, meet with custodians, write letters to the principal, and interview 

Students conduct audits in the areas of 

energy, water, waste, biodiversity, health, 

habitats, food, and transportation, and then 

create action plans based on the results of 

these audits.
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the cafeteria managers to gather information and get approval for new initiatives. 

The school also benefits from sustainability interns from George Mason University in 

nearby Fairfax, Va., who help to lead efforts. 

The school is home to three outdoor classrooms, a walking trail, and an impressive 

array of gardens. Each grade level has a garden, including: two raised-bed produce 

gardens; a butterfly garden; a topographically correct, scaled-to-size garden of 

Virginia with plants native to each region; a peach garden; two hydroponic tower 

gardens; and a greenhouse. The school initiates a green hour, during which

students enjoy several hours of weekly outdoor education, as well as garden work. 

Centreville students raise trout for release in native Virginia habitats, and used as a 

connection to science content across the grade levels, looking at systems and life 

cycles, comparing and contrasting, and examining the environmental issues that 

affect the watershed.

All of the environmental work at Centreville is tied directly to the Virginia Standards 

of Learning. Centerville takes advantage of EcoRise environmental lesson plans 

and audits, and participated in the Virginia Governor’s Environmental Project Based 

Learning Challenge. Each year, Centreville participates in the NoVA Outside 

Environmental Action Showcase hosted at George Mason University. Students 

participate in sharing their environmental projects. Several sixth-grade teams 

participate in the wind power competitions, and students in grades three through six

participate in the recycling and upcycling challenges. 

The school principal and STEAM/outdoor specialist search for teachers with an 

environmental education background when hiring, and careful planning and 

collaboration takes place on each instructor team. In second grade, students learn 

about the butterfly life cycle, as well as adaptations of animals, to correspond with 

their class butterfly garden and certified Monarch waystation. A fourth-grade 

science unit, which is integrated with social studies on Virginia ecosystems, hosts 

lessons outside on school grounds, and focuses on human effect on the 

environment.

Centreville promotes healthy eating and fitness with its PTA-run Boosterthon 

fundraiser, during which students run laps to earn money for their school, and 

receive healthy lifestyle lessons. The school partners with a local farmer to offer an 

organic market one day a week during dismissal. Students from grades three 

through six plan the gardens, take care of the gardens from planting to harvesting, 

run the store, order merchandise, take inventory, keep books, and use a cash 

register and scale. Each day, students receive a 30-minute recess, as well as 

physical education classes twice per week, at 40 minutes per session. The school 

supports Jump Rope for Heart and Girls on the Run participation.
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Discovery Elementary School, Arlington, Va.

A Net Zero eco-action learning accelerator

Discovery Elementary School is the largest Net Zero Energy elementary school ever 

built in the U.S., and the first in the Mid-Atlantic region. Discovery is on track to be 

LEED Platinum certified by the USGBC. From the earliest stages of project 

planning, the design team and Arlington Public Schools identified Net Zero Energy 

as a primary goal for Discovery, so considerations for site footprint, solar orientation, 

building construction, and energy use were given top priority. With a capacity of 650 

students in grades prekindergarten through fifth, the 97,588-gross square foot 

building is designed for an Energy Use Index (EUI) of 23 kBtus per square foot per 

year, one-third the EUI of an average elementary school. Discovery’s sustainable 

features include 1,706 roof-mounted solar panels; three-ply built up roof with two 

layers of ENERGY STAR cool roof coatings; a geothermal well field; solar preheat of 

domestic hot water; 100 percent LED lighting; ideal solar orientation and shading; 

and exterior walls with high thermal mass using insulated concrete forms. 

Discovery’s solar photovoltaic array became operational in January 2016. Since 

April 2016, the school has been operating as a Net Zero energy building. For fiscal 

2016, Discovery achieved a net EUI of 11.7 and an ENERGY STAR score of 100. 

Operating at an energy cost of $0.39 per square foot in its first year, Discovery’s 

energy cost is one-third the cost of other elementary schools. 

Discovery’s Eco-Action Team is a group of students, parents, teachers, and 

administrators committed to stewardship of the environment inspired by the NWF 

Eco-SchoolsUSA program. The team supports a variety of initiatives, including 

incentive programs to reduce lunch waste; collection of uneaten lunch food for 

donation; programs to promote walking, busing, biking, and carpooling to school; 

offering items like reusable lunch boxes, water bottles, and coffee mugs through the 

PTA; production of student videos on environmental topics; outdoor education 

through gardening and park cleanups; working toward the NWF Eco-SchoolsUSA 

Green Flag; and making it all fun by creating celebrations and having a “green” 

superhero visit the school to promote and reward green practices. 

Discovery has several outdoor learning environments, including a butterfly garden 

for Montessori and kindergarten classrooms, an outdoor garden that uses rain 

barrels for its water source, and an outdoor exploratory lab. The outdoor exploratory 

lab is intended to allow students to study the natural processes and plant and animal 

species found in two bioretention basins. The east bioretention area features a 30’ x 

10’ deck for class gatherings and work sessions and the west bioretention area 

features steps that may be used as amphitheater-style seating. Additionally, a 

second-floor outdoor solar lab provides flexible learning spaces to learn about the 

renewable energy sources onsite.
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The Discovery Energy Dashboard integrates solar, geothermal, water, and

environmental management systems, along with interactive real-time statistical 

analysis and long-term data tracking. Lunchroom trash is weighed on a daily basis, 

as is the number of pounds of food donated. Safety patrols and support staff count 

the number of walkers, bikers, bus riders, and car drop-offs daily to help track 

internal transportation statistics. 

Discovery participates with 

Arlington Transportation Partners 

(ATP), which measures 

performance toward reducing 

transportation footprints, earning

the school Gold Award status with 

that organization.

Teachers use Discovery’s extensive 

environmental signage in lessons. 

Because the school is divided 

thematically along environmental 

themes, the spaces used by 

Discovery students reflect the very 

real world beyond the classroom 

walls. For example, students in the 

Forest Hallway study among the six 

most common trees in Virginia. In 

the Galaxy Hallway, students are 

well versed in the basic structure of 

the cosmos. In the Atmosphere 

Hallway, students can identify the various types of precipitation. In addition, these 

teaching tools foster a love of, and appreciation for, the natural environment.

Students at Discovery use iPads and MacBook Airs as their two primary digital tools. 

Students in prekindergarten through first grade use class sets of shared iPads, 

stored in dynamic charging stations that provide electricity only when necessary, 

lessening plug load. Students in second through fifth grades are issued personal 

iPads for use at school and at home. These devices are the cornerstones of 

personalized learning at Discovery, and whenever and wherever possible, students 

and teachers use digital content, create materials digitally through the Google 

Classroom and Google Apps for Education platforms, and use curated digital 

content that provides both privacy and data instead of using traditional paper-based 

texts and materials.

School leadership redesigned the dining commons to enhance hygiene habits by 

requiring all students to proceed through a handwashing station prior to entering the 
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area. Teachers are encouraged to take brain breaks with students frequently. 

These can include a ride down the indoor slide, a walk outside, dance, or movement 

routines and games. Teachers are offered professional development on ways to 

increase students’ movement. Each month, Discovery staff members participate in 

a monthly step challenge to promote the use of their devices to ensure active 

lifestyles for adults. Monthly recipe challenges invite staff to bring healthy, nutritious 

meals to share. An annual Biggest Loser challenge combats obesity. 

Discovery has a robust school garden program and strong ties to local farms. After

gathering materials and advice from farmers at Virginia’s Goat Hill Farm, parents, 

staff, and students prepared raised beds and planted herbs and vegetables during 

the first spring that the school operated. The Eco Action team planted seeds and 

strawberry plants from the farm, and families took turns watering and caring for the 

beds over the summer. Students were able to eat the garden’s food at lunch and at 

home. Discovery is a pick-up location for a community-supported agriculture 

program in which dozens of Discovery families participate.

Discovery is a National Wildlife Federation Eco-School, and uses its Green Flagpursuing Pathways structure both to teach students about and advance 

sustainability in energy use; water consumption; carbon footprint reduction; 

improving human-powered transportation modalities (including annual schoolwide 

participation in International Walk and Bike to Work Day); reducing waste output 

(including significant reduction and elimination of paper-based technologies); 

outdoor learning opportunities (including regular trips to the Arlington Outdoor 

Education Association's Outdoor Lab); regular daily recess (including free play 

outdoors for all age levels); biodiversity, such as dedicated entomological gardens; 

use of environmentally safe and preferable natural products and cleaners; and 

students growing their own food.

Albemarle County Public Schools, Virginia

An ENERGY STAR partner with environmental studies academy

Albemarle County Public Schools (ACPS) serves 13,792 students in preschool 

through grade 12 in Albemarle County, Va., the sixth largest county by area in the 

Commonwealth of Virginia. A diverse locality of 726 square miles in the heart of 

Central Virginia, Albemarle County is a blend of primarily rural but also suburban 

and urban settings. ACPS has a longstanding commitment to environmental 

stewardship, formally beginning with an environmental management policy and 

environmental management system established in 2006. Through identification of 

environmental impact of school operations, the division has made progress steadily 

on reaching goals to reduce negative environmental impact, and has benefited from 

cost savings along the way. 
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Energy efficiency and conservation are a top priority in reducing environmental 

impact. Initiatives include increasing communication with schools about energy and 

water usage, coordinating energy team meetings, upgrading lighting, installing 

ENERGY STAR-qualified appliances, enhancing building automation systems, and 

upgrading equipment. Efforts are tracked and benchmarked with ENERGY STAR 

Portfolio Manager; 22 schools have earned the ENERGY STAR certification; and the 

district became an ENERGY STAR partner in 2008. 

The district’s first major renewable energy installation was completed in February 

2012 to include a 42 kilowatt solar photovoltaic array, a Skystream wind turbine, and 

a solar thermal system. This installation sparked student interest in renewable 

energy, which developed into student-led advocacy for more solar in the division. 

Their successful campaign led to the installation of one megawatt of solar 

photovoltaic cells through a solar power purchase agreement pilot in August 2016. 

These installations provide more than 20 percent of the electricity needs for these 

schools, which is enough electricity to power 125 homes. 

The district also is pursuing an energy performance contract to upgrade all 

classroom lighting to LED, which will result in improved learning environments for 

students and teachers with the added benefit of energy savings. ACPS consistently 

has achieved carbon dioxide emissions reductions as a result of energy 

conservation, and also has improved controls and scheduling, and upgraded to more 

energy efficient equipment. ACPS’ average annual avoided utility costs are 

approximately $230,000. 

ACPS has taken some steps toward reducing heat island effect. The green roof at 

Albemarle High School covers the administrative section of the building. Several 

schools have white roofs to reflect sunlight and heat away from the building. Many 

schools use highly tolerant and native plants in biofilters to retain and treat 

stormwater runoff. Recent Green Apple Day of Service projects at two schools 

involved students in planting native species in school biofilters. Outdoor classrooms 

are used throughout the division, and have evolved to include school gardens, views 

of solar panels, and math gardens. 

Every school and support facility has a recycling program that accepts cardboard, 

paper, metals, and plastics. Division recycling includes electronic waste, 

rechargeable and alkaline batteries, fluorescent bulbs, TechnoTrash (CDs, diskettes, 

cords, et cetera), and construction and demolition debris. Additionally, many 

schools participate in a commercial composting program to increase diversion rates 

for organics. By recycling construction and demolition debris, it avoids 

approximately $15 per ton in tipping fees. To facilitate instruction and reduce paper 

waste, ACPS provides laptops to every high school and middle school student. 

Elementary school students have a laptop to every two students. Paper towels and 
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toilet paper are made from 100 percent recycled content, with paper towels using 50 

percent postconsumer content.

School nurses and counselors are employed at all schools. The BeWell Albemarle 

program for staff provides opportunities to understand and follow an active lifestyle 

that promotes a culture of good health and wellness through education, wellness 

activities, and self-improvement. ACPS implemented an IPM program in 2008, and 

is proactive in reducing other environmental contaminants and asthma triggers. 

During Farm to School Week, each nutrition manager prepares a local menu each 

day. Schools partner with local farmers to learn about farming and taste seasonal 

fruits, vegetables, and meats. These partnerships have led to permanent menu 

changes. About half of 

ACPS schools host onsite 

gardens or greenhouses. 

Finished compost from 

the commercial 

composting program is 

used for the onsite 

gardens. The Kohl’s 

Growing Up Healthy 

Program is an innovative collaboration between the University of Virginia Children’s 

Fitness Clinic, the Social Issues in Medicine course at the University of Virginia 

Medical School, and the Albemarle County Extended Day Care Program. In the 

program, University of Virginia medical students teach kindergarten through fifth 

grade students about healthy nutrition and lifestyle habits to maintain a strong body 

and mind.

Through project-based learning, built and natural environments are enhancing 

student knowledge and understanding. A highlight of ACPS’ environmental 

education is the Environmental Studies Academy, which offers students several 

environmental focus areas and spearheads environmental and sustainability 

education in the division. The academy model allows ACPS to roll out initiatives to a 

small group of students to test concepts developmentally before implementing them 

divisionwide. Academy students serve as mentors, role models, and guides to 

numerous middle school and elementary students. 

The district developed an Environmental Art class, along with an English class that 

focuses on Environmental Law and Policy, which will be implemented in the fall of 

2017. ACPS also is developing a combination Biology/Environmental dual class that 

focuses on data collection and experimentation. The Math, Engineering, and 

Science Academy, known as MESA, focuses on clean energy and sustainability as 

an umbrella topic during students’ junior year, and students perform various 

The district’s first major renewable energy 

installation was completed in February 2012 to 

include a 42 kilowatt solar photovoltaic array, a 

Skystream wind turbine, and a solar thermal system. 

This installation sparked student interest in 

renewable energy, which developed into student-led 

advocacy for more solar in the division.
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research projects around energy topics including a comprehensive life cycle analysis 

that explores competing products from cradle to grave. All fourth graders attend 

Camp Albemarle at a nature preservation area, and learn through stations and 

volunteers coordinated by the Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation.

Albemarle County Public Schools recently was recognized by the Virginia School 

Board Association when it received top prize in the Green Schools Challenge. The 

division received one of five nationwide school district scholarships from USGBC’s 

Center for Green Schools. As a result, ACPS will receive ongoing support from the 

Center for Green Schools over the course of the next year, including access to 

Learning Lab classroom resources, and will benefit from connections with a broad 

network of school sustainability leaders.

Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia

Ten million in energy savings in two years

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is the 10th largest school district in the nation 

by enrollment, with over 220 facilities, including 198 schools and centers, and a total 

area larger than four Pentagons. The district's comprehensive environmental 

education and sustainability program has been expanded into a systemic 

collaboration, dubbed Get2Green. Get2Green’s mission is to promote student 

learning and action using the environment as a foundation, which is aided in part 

through a partnership with the National Wildlife Federation’s EcoSchoolsUSA 

program. Get2Green is driven by students, employees, businesses, and the greater 

community through a variety of initiatives. These initiatives are aligned with the 

FCPS strategic plan. 

Through the FCPS Sustainability Team, stakeholders meet biannually to support 

and strengthen existing programs, create new and innovative initiatives, expand 

student involvement, and provide greater community outreach. Get2Green has 

created competitive programs running divisionwide awareness campaigns, provided 

annual student internships with authentic sustainability experiences, and voluntarily 

engaged 150 schools in student-driven stewardship activities such as recycling, 

building wildlife habitat, conserving energy, and growing food. Many schools in 

FCPS, such as Flint Hill Elementary and Centreville Elementary, have implemented 

the NWF Cool School Challenge by sending teams of students to all public areas of 

the building to conduct audits. Action plans are developed based on the results of 

these audits, and executed with constant data analysis as part of the work the 

students are doing. 
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To further facilitate this work, a Get2Green web site was launched in summer 2016 

that features several sustainability-related dashboards. The dashboards provide 

data on energy, recycling, and Eco-School USA progress in a way that encourages 

student and teacher engagement and competition among schools. This interactive 

web site was created as a way to inform students, employees, and the community 

about the effect FCPS schools have on the natural world, and how to reduce it. It 

has already proven to be a useful tool for learning, teaching, researching, and 

empowering change. In 2016, a 

group of interns from FCPS high

schools worked with Get2Green to 

expand the resources on the web 

site. They visited classes at all 

grade levels to demonstrate the use 

of the web site and collect feedback 

to optimize functionality. They 

garnered enthusiasm for 

participation in a districtwide energy 

conservation challenge taking place 

in spring 2017, and performed 

facility audits with staff. They also 

developed an innovative marketing 

campaign to promote the challenge 

using social media platforms. 

The Department of Facilities and Transportation Services (Facilities) is setting an 

example for students and the community by investing one third of every project 

dollar into sustainability infrastructure, such as geothermal, rainwater cisterns, LED 

lighting, variable refrigerant flow mechanical systems, water source heat pumps, 

biofilters, solar hot water heaters, highly reflective roofing, and pervious pavers. 

Through Get2Green and FCPS’ partnership with the energy conservation company 

Cenergistic, FCPS has realized $10 million in energy savings in two years. During 

this same period, FCPS experienced an 11 percent reduction in greenhouse gas 

emissions. In 2015, 146 schools earned ENERGY STAR certification, the most of 

any school district in the nation. 

FCPS has low-flow water fixtures and drought-resistant native plants, as well as

sensors in bathrooms, rain barrels, and cisterns to conserve and collect water. 

Examples of customized projects during 2015 include restoring a wetland, vernal 

pool, and rain garden at Belle View Elementary; planting native gardens in new 

courtyards at Westgate Elementary; and creating a native garden of more than 

1,500 square feet at Quander Road School. The Schoolyard Stewardship Mini 

Grant program run by Facilities provides funding to schools to implement projects 

that engage students in topics such as biodiversity, energy, school grounds, 
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sustainable food, transportation, and water. The program resulted in 51 projects 

during 2014 and 2015 that included native habitat gardens, edible gardens, 

pollinator gardens, outdoor classrooms, raised planting beds, and a “GroLab” with 

garden plants, compost tumblers, and resource material for students.

FCPS has long embraced alternative methods of transportation to schools, including 

walking or bicycle routes for students living within a set proximity from the school. 

The district sponsors bus pass programs for use on public transit, in addition to the 

county school bus system. For the past several years, the FCPS safe routes to 

school program has helped promote walking and biking to school through pedestrian 

and bike safety lessons for over 15,000 students. Through the program, the district 

also has developed and distributed signage to schools for Kiss and Ride areas that 

discourage car idling and promote walking. FCPS has implemented green cleaning, 

IPM, and healthy school environment practices that improve air quality and reduce 

asthma triggers.

Of the 198 schools and centers in FCPS, 160 have earned awards through the 

USDA’s HealthierUS School Challenge, with 24 schools earning the Gold Award of 

Distinction for excellence in nutrition and physical education. There are vegetable 

gardens at 78 FCPS schools. Schools incorporate their gardens into the curriculum 

by weighing what they grow, doing cost/benefit analyses, studying the growth cycle 

of plants, and conducting research to create informational signs. The produce 

grown in a school’s garden is used in culinary classes or for salad parties, added to 

the cafeteria inventory, or donated to local food pantries or low-income families at 

the school. FCPS has achieved the American Heart Association’s Gold Award 

annually since 2009 for being a Fit Friendly company.

A decision was made early in Get2Green’s existence to not develop or adopt a 

specific curriculum for environmental education. Instead, Get2Green works to 

integrate the environment as a concept across existing content areas. Examples of 

this include a first grade science unit focused on the cardinal and other birds through 

which students design bird habitat; a second grade science and social studies unit 

focused on the Monarch butterfly that asks students to build a butterfly habitat; and a 

fourth grade science and social studies unit focused on Virginia ecosystems with 

lessons hosted outside that focuses on the human effect on the environment. In 

total, FCPS has over 100 elementary science lessons that ask teachers to take 

students outside for investigations, and a guide to these lessons is available to 

teachers.

At the secondary level, FCPS Life Science students in seventh grade participate in a 

Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience by visiting a local stream and 

conducting a variety of qualitative and quantitative tests, which they subsequently 

use to evaluate the field site’s health. Students use scientific equipment to test 
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water quality, examine macroinvertebrates, understand watershed characteristics, 

and identify the best management practices for storm water runoff. The district

introduced outdoor backpacks in fall 2016 to facilitate outdoor education for students 

in all grade levels. These backpacks contain binoculars, magnifying glasses, and 

bird guides to make it easy for teachers and students to conduct lessons outside. 

Teachers were required to complete a workshop on using the backpack and on 

using the outdoors as a classroom for a variety of lessons before receiving the 

equipment.

The Eco-Schools program asks schools to create student-driven eco-teams with 

staff and community support, have students audit the school and community around 

a number of environment-related pathways to gain baseline data, develop an action 

plan, measure the action plan’s success with additional audit data, and continue an 

iterative process of improvement. This process fits perfectly with districtwide work in 

project-based learning, STEAM, and inquiry learning in science and other subjects. 

Of the 90 FCPS schools registered as Eco-Schools, 33 have achieved an award. 

Twelve schools have achieved Green Flag status, the highest achievement a school 

can earn through Eco-Schools, and three have earned double Green Flags. FCPS 

has more Green Flags than any other school district in the country.

Washington

Lakeridge Elementary School, Mercer Island, Wash.

A curriculum that consistently brings nature into the classroom

In 2009, Lakeridge Elementary School, serving nearly 500 students, enrolled in the 

King County Green Schools certification program. Over the course of six years, it 

attained recognition as a level one, two, three and then four Green School in this 

comprehensive program, which encompasses waste reduction, energy conservation, 

water conservation, transportation education, and environmental education on all 

levels. 

Lakeridge Elementary, along with the entire school district, participates in an energy 

benchmarking program run by Smart Buildings in Seattle. Lakeridge’s maintenance 

and operations department uses this program to obtain energy use numbers and 

find ways to reduce usage further. All indoor and outdoor lightbulbs were replaced 

with LED lights. Students learn the importance of monitoring energy use and turning 

off computers, appliances and other equipment when not in use. Many classrooms

have light timers and sensors. Water conservation consists of student educational 

campaigns, and recently added low-flow faucets in bathrooms and classrooms are 

reducing water usage by approximately 20 percent. The school received ENERGY 

STAR certification in 2014. 
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In fall 2016, Lakeridge ran a food waste reduction campaign during which students 

created posters all around the school teaching students about the effects of food 

waste, and helped weigh food compost after each lunch for several weeks. 

Students made announcements every morning over the loudspeaker and in the 

lunchroom with facts about food waste and its heavy environmental impact. As a 

result, Lakeridge reduced food waste by 15 percent. The Lakeridge PTA is active in 

supporting the green team by educating parents about sustainability, with lessons 

about everything from packing waste-free lunches to running zero waste classroom 

parties and school events. The PTA provides room parents with compost bins and 

party supplies, making every effort to run zero-waste events.

The district conducted extensive water and air quality testing to confirm Lakeridge 

had no lead, radon, or other possible contaminants, and the school continues to 

actively implement an air quality 

management plan. The school 

participates in the HealthierUS 

School Challenge, has a 

coordinated school health plan, 

and participates in a farm to 

school program. The garden 

club helps to educate students 

about nutrition and sustainability, and its produce is used in the school cafeteria. 

Parents volunteer to run a walkers club daily after lunch. No candy is used as a 

reward. A full-time, licensed youth and family services mental health counselor 

provides social and emotional support, education, and enhancement to students, as 

well as consultation to staff, parents, and administrators.

Every September, Lakeridge hosts re-education on being a green school, this year 

featuring a new, student-created video. The school offers an Earth Week 

celebration that involves a different activity each day. Student green team members

share daily green tips, go around the school daily to collect recyclable materials from 

all classrooms, visit classrooms frequently to promote conservation practices, and 

have started a contest to engage students in conservation actions. The PTA has 

appointed a green team to their board of directors to ensure that environmentally 

smart policies are followed at all times. 

Environmental and sustainability topics are integrated into Lakeridge's science 

lessons. Students attend a three-day NatureBridge environmental science program 

in the Olympic National Park, which offers the opportunity to learn hands-on science 

in an International Biosphere Reserve. Students also monitor the dynamic Elwha 

River system, collect and identify macroinvertebrates in Barnes Creek, and study the 

adaptations of local mammals. Students spend time learning about Puget Sound, 

which includes marine ecology and the effect of human interaction with the 

Students attend a three-day NatureBridge 

environmental science program in the Olympic 

National Park, which offers the opportunity to 

learn hands-on science in an International 

Biosphere Reserve.
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environment. They participate in field experiences at local beaches and the 

waterfront aquarium. They visit a salmon hatchery, where they learn about and 

acquire salmon eggs, and raise them until they are ready to be released into the 

water. Students visit the Mercer Slough to learn about the effects of environmental 

changes on plants, animals, and the air we breathe. 

All grades have the opportunity to work and plant in the school garden. Second 

graders raise caterpillars to butterflies and learn about releasing them to migrate 

south, while learning how air quality changes migration patterns. Kindergarteners 

raise chicken and duck eggs until they hatch, while learning about the life cycle and 

meeting farmers who adopt the birds and take them on to the next part of their lives.

Green Gables Elementary School, Federal Way, Wash.

Wheelchair accessible gardens allow all students to benefit

Green Gables Elementary School is an active partner with the King County Green

Schools program, now at level three, demonstrating results achieved in waste 

reduction, recycling, energy, and water conservation. Environmental stewardship is 

woven into every aspect of the Green Gables school day, from the classroom, to the 

lunchroom, to the playfield. 

Green Gables was the first school in the district to initiate comprehensive recycling 

and composting, increasing its recycling rate from 50 to 61 percent. Because of 

these changes, in 2009, Green Gables traded its eight-yard garbage container for a 

six-yard container. Green Gables sets heating and cooling points at 68 to 70 

degrees, with a programmable HVAC system for weekend and vacation shutdowns. 

Energy and water use are benchmarked using EPA ENERGY STAR Portfolio 

Manager, with the school being certified in 2001. The green team reviews that data 

and implements practices in the school, including a conservation practice checklist 

placed on each classroom door. The school has decreased its energy use 15 

percent and greenhouse gas emissions 16 percent over five years. In order to 

ensure consistent low-flow water rates, fourth and fifth graders tested the water flow 

of building faucets and reported findings, ultimately repairing four fixtures. Over a 

single year, Green Gables decreased its water use from a monthly average of 39 

centum cubic feet to 32 centum cubic feet. The school collaborated with the city of 

Federal Way and the nonprofit organization Friends of the Hylebos to install two rain 

gardens. Green Gables was the first school in the district to construct an organic 

wheelchair-accessible garden. In order to minimize water usage in the garden, the 

school installed a drip line watering system. 
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Every staff member is involved in the promotion of personal health and fitness. 

Green Gables celebrates an annual walk to school day. With the support of the 

physical education teacher, staff members track steps walked and set personal 

fitness goals for themselves. A weight reduction program has increased individual 

weight loss success rates. Produce from the Green Gables garden is distributed to 

school families, many who do not have access to fresh organic foods. Before- and 

after-school fitness activities routinely are available to students and staff. Students 

participate in the Great Breakfast Challenge, the Walk a Mile Club, PTA-supported 

walk-a thons, and the annual Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser. Curricular programs 

include: Fit Kids: Healthy Choices, Healthy Lives, The Great Body Shop, Beecher's 

Pure Food Foundation Kids Workshop, and From Seed to Table: A Free Farmers 

Market. Throughout the year, air and water quality is monitored. The Capturing 

Kids’ Hearts initiative, positive behavior interventions, and restorative/mindfulness 

practices are used in order support the social/emotional wellbeing of staff and 

students. Students spend at least 150 minutes each week in physical activities, with 

at least 50 percent taking place outdoors.

Green Gables’ environmental education is project-based, integrating experiential 

learning with core standards. Curricular highlights include raising and releasing 

salmon, use of the school garden as a living laboratory, and weaving next 

generation science standards into thematic units of study. The school’s green team 

has created and performed in a variety 

of plays and videos to promote 

selected environmental goals. 

Educational and outreach efforts 

include presentations on the "4 Rs" 

and a weekly litter patrol. The annual 

Earth Day celebration includes an art-based multimedia assembly on environmental 

issues and solutions. For the past six years, King county has presented assemblies 

focusing on waste reduction, recycling, and stewardship. Following these 

assemblies, King county provides classroom lessons on topics including garbology, 

habitat stewardship, and recycling leadership. 

Each year fifth-grade students go to Islandwood, an outdoor education center, to 

learn about watersheds, water conservation, and pollution prevention under the 

mentorship of University of Washington graduate students. Other field experiences 

include trips to Mount St. Helens, Issaquah Hatchery (FISH Program), Sound 

Experience, FOSS Waterways, and the West Hylebos Park. Students visit the 

Nisqually Wildlife Refuge to observe its many ecosystems. Students also visit an

education center, where they perform experiments on water quality and habitat

restoration. 

Green Gables was the first school in 

the district to construct an organic 

wheelchair-accessible garden.
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The garden design and planting schedule were researched and created by students, 

and every classroom has a plot to maintain. Students also planned a farmers 

market, before which they researched the nutritional value of foods and created 

recipes to give to attendees. Storming the Sound with Salmon is a unique program 

that allows students to raise salmon from egg to fry. In this program, students 

research the salmon lifecycle, habitat, and environmental threats (both natural and 

human-made). Salmon's role within indigenous cultures of the Pacific Northwest is

central to this study.

Wisconsin

Houlton Elementary School, Houlton, Wisc.

Big school sustainability efforts on the prairie

Houlton Elementary School focuses its energy in three critical efforts: 1) student 

leadership, 2) health and wellness, and 3) environmental sustainability. Houlton 

Elementary received a HealthierUS School Challenge Silver award in 2012-13 as 

well as a monetary award through the Healthier Together initiative from the Hudson 

Hospital Foundation. It was recognized as a Sugar Maple School by Wisconsin 

Green & Healthy Schools in 2015. The commitment this suburban public school, 

serving 225 students in grades kindergarten through five, with 35 staff, has made to 

these initiatives is so strong that it continues as administrators change, truly 

demonstrating that sustainability is an integral part of the school’s culture. 

Houlton students have opportunities to be active in different leadership groups, each 

advised by a team of adults passionate about supporting students in becoming 

independent and responsible thinkers, collaborators and problem-solvers, and 

positive role models. Among those student leadership groups, three directly support 

efforts to be Green and Healthy: R3 (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) Squad, Health and 

Wellness Crew, and Garden Club. R3 Squad members accept responsibility to 

educate students about recycling, and remind classmates about procedures. The 

R3 Squad plans special announcements (Green Tips) and competitions (cleanest 

recycling materials and garbage) to raise awareness about recycling for America 

Recycles Day and Earth Week. For example, on each day of Earth Week they focus 

on conserving an item: White Out Day (use no paper), Yellow Out Day (use no 

lights), Blue Out Day (use less water), Black Out Day (use less electricity), et cetera. 

The Squad manages the composting schedule, assuring that students take 

responsibility for monitoring and emptying the compost bucket into the compost bin 

near the gardens. The school also made site changes to reduce environmental 

impact by planting native species to reduce erosion and increase biodiversity, and 

restored part of the school acreage to its natural prairie state. 
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The Health and Wellness Committee meets monthly. Items for purchase in the 

Student Leadership Council’s School Store meet USDA guidelines for nutrition, and 

the school promotes alternative ways to celebrate birthdays, including a favorite 

board game or physical activity. Students participate in recess twice a day. The 

school tracks participation in an annual three-month long Family Fun and Fitness 

program, and local businesses donate prizes, such as gift cards, passes, and 

pedometers, to recognize student and family efforts to be physically active together. 

Monthly Minute to Win It physical activities are integrated into all-school meetings. 

The schoolyard includes lowimpact games like bowling and 

cornhole so that students with 

limited mobility also can enjoy 

the outdoors. The parent group 

fundraised over $40,000 to put 

toward a new playground 

structure with handicappedaccessible standalone pieces. 

The structure is on track to be 

completed by June 2017. A 

healthy-eating recipe contest 

engages families to submit 

recipes for posting on the 

school’s web site. Students

voted on their favorite recipes, 

and three were prepared and 

served for lunch by nutrition 

services. 

The school has constructed a larger and more functional greenhouse to support 

larger gardening projects year-round. The garden club is active March to November; 

students take turns working with volunteers during lunch recess to prepare soil, turn 

compost, plant seeds, pull weeds, and harvest vegetables. Each grade level has a 

gardening project supporting core curriculum, and families volunteer to weed, turn 

and screen compost, and harvest vegetables each week of the summer when school 

is not in session. A recent baseline assessment regarding student consumption of

fruits and vegetables and a variety of foods across the food groups showed a 

significant disparity between the other five elementary schools and Houlton. When 

asked to what the school attributed their students’ healthy eating habits, the teachers 

responded without hesitation, “It’s the gardens!” The nutrition services manager 

added, “When students know the vegetables on the lunch line are from the gardens 

they planted and worked, they are eager to eat them!” Additionally, pictures in the 

cafeteria aligned with MyPlate help students make healthy choices. The nutrition 
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services manager works with the custodian and master gardener to assure compost 

is managed well. 

Houlton has worked collaboratively with the township, local foundations, state 

agencies, and community volunteers to develop a long-range plan for enhancing 

outdoor learning spaces with gardens, a classroom, a restored prairie, a challenge 

course, and nature and fitness trails that will connect with a larger trail part of the St. 

Croix River Crossing Project. In addition to the grade-level garden work, culminating 

with fifth grade students focusing on a prairie restoration project and a rain garden in 

a low, wet area of the gardens, the school’s curriculum develops different aspects of 

environmental literacy through integrated units of inquiry. Fifth grade students 

attend Camp Sandstone Audubon Nature Center in the fall, where they learn about 

nature conservation, wildlife preservation, and water quality. Other outdoor learning 

opportunities include writing outdoors, observation and scientific variables, 

experiments, study of biomes and habitats, field trips to county and state parks, tree 

farms, and an apple orchard. Houlton has developed a partnership with the Willow 

River State Park, from which a naturalist has come to the school to share resources 

and begin an after-school Nature Club.

Kromrey Middle School, Middleton, Wisc.

A sustainability star in new construction and old

Located within the Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District, Kromrey Middle 

School is an example of what happens when a school district and community 

embrace sustainability. The vision and concept for the new Kromrey Middle School 

building, constructed in 2013, was a direct result of the recognition received within 

the district for other sustainability initiatives. During design and construction, the 

school chose to invest dollars that could have been spent on LEED certification into 

additional green technology. 

The school was awarded ENERGY STAR certification in 2016 with a score of 91,

and U.S. Middle School Design Project of the Year 2016. In addition to the new 

facility, the Kromrey community is working to transform the habits of students and 

staff. In 2015, the school received the Wisconsin Technology Education Association 

Middle School Program of the Year, and was named Best Place to Work by Madison 

Magazine in its annual rankings in 2015. 

In the third year occupying the new building, the 170 staff members are transforming 

the educational program to enhance learning for the 1,150 students in grades five 

through eight, and to use the building and school site as a teaching tool. Kromrey is 
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working to create a permanent shift in school culture toward daily healthy habits and 

sustainability practices. 

Kromrey has a history of reducing environmental impact. Even before construction

of the new facility, the school achieved ENERGY STAR recognition in its old facility 

each year from 2008 ― 2013. Many steps have been taken to create a modern 

facility that incorporates sustainable practices and features. The new building has 

geothermal heating and cooling, solar hot water, and LED or fluorescent lighting plus 

daylighting to reduce the need for artificial lighting. More than a quarter of the 

landscaping is native, and building materials were sourced locally wherever feasible. 

There are many places inside and outside the school for students to gather in 

natural lighting and with views of nature, including an outdoor amphitheater and a 

living wall on the edge of a nature conservancy. The school has received 

recognition as a Sugar Maple 

school, the highest recognition 

possible from Wisconsin Green & 

Healthy Schools. The Student 

Council, comprising approximately 

60 students from diverse 

backgrounds, is working with 

students and teachers to 

incorporate everyday environmental 

impact reduction techniques and 

make the best use of the resources 

of the new facility. 

The school wellness committee 

promotes the motto of “Rest – Eat –

Move” (REM) in order to motivate 

students and staff. Wellness 

activities are offered for Kromrey 

staff both at the school and at other 

district buildings. Mindfulness techniques are embraced and used in classrooms 

and staff trainings. All students are taught with the REM elements in mind in their 

physical education classes as well as in athletics. A district teacher supports 

Kromrey staff individually or in teams in stress reduction, resilience, self-care, and 

mindful practices, and helps staff incorporate mindful movement and relaxation into 

academics. Movement and breathing lessons that help calm and focus the mind 

and body are used in classroom content. The Center for Investigating Healthy 

Minds is conducting a research study with the fifth grade at Kromrey on using 

mindfulness techniques in the curriculum. 
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Excellence in environmental education has always been a goal at Kromrey, and the 

new building is advancing that goal. The school’s proximity to Pheasant Branch 

Conservancy provides teachers and students an opportunity to work with 

environmental and conservation agencies to incorporate environmental education 

and outdoor learning. Since moving into a building with views of the adjacent nature 

preserve, teachers are writing curriculum to learn about and connect with the 

environment. English classes go outside for observations related to writing poetry or 

observational writing. In the summer of 2016, Kromrey staff partnered with Friends 

of Pheasant Branch Conservancy to develop outdoor inquiry units for fifth and sixth 

grade. All sixth grade students spend two days at Upham Woods Environmental 

Learning Center. Classes ranging from Choices and Careers to Technology and 

Engineering to Social Studies address environmental sustainability.

Washburn School District, Wisconsin

Crazy Creek chairs and clipboards for outdoor learning in any subject

Environmental responsibility, sustainability education, and health and wellness 

initiatives are part of the community culture around the Chequamegon Bay of Lake 

Superior. In 2005, the city of Washburn, Wisc. became one of the first 

ecomunicipalities in the United States, part of a grassroots initiative growing in a 

portion of northern Wisconsin. Washburn School District has embraced this initiative 

and made sustainability an integral part of the school culture and curriculum, with all 

schools being recognized as Wisconsin Green & Healthy Schools by 2009. The 

Washburn school board has developed strategic goals, including embracing the 

Wisconsin Green & Healthy culture. One of the innovative practices of Washburn is 

the creation of a Green and Healthy school coordinator position to propel major 

district sustainability initiatives forward. This includes oversight of all district 

environmental projects, review of district curriculum, integration of school gardens 

with the district food service program, and professional development for all staff. 

The district serves 587 students, 43 percent from economically disadvantaged 

households, in prekindergarten through 12th grade, with 94 staff in two buildings. 

Washburn also includes an early learning center for children from eight weeks old to 

school age, which serves another 40 children with eight educators. 

In order to reduce Washburn’s environmental impact and lower costs, the district has 

implemented a variety of energy-saving initiatives such as upgrading lighting, 

switching from electric to natural gas hot water heaters, districtwide recycling, and 

composting of garden waste. A team of students have created a community 

outreach recycling program where they collect shiny paper from the school and 

businesses and bring it to a recycling center. To reduce transportation emissions, 
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classrooms take walking field trips instead of using buses whenever possible. 

Students in the ecology club choose an environmental topic each year and educate 

their peers with ongoing projects, culminating with an expert guest speaker during 

an all-school assembly on Earth Day. Algebra classes conducted calculations of 

alternative transportation use to school. Washburn uses innovative invasive species 

removal techniques in its prairie restoration project, including using goats to eat 

invasive vegetation.

Health and sustainability go hand in hand at Washburn. The district partners with 

community organizations, including the Alliance for Sustainability, University of 

Wisconsin―Extension for nutrition education services and agriculture agents, and a 

variety of local farms that provide local produce and milk in the cafeteria. Washburn 

was one of the first school districts in the state to adopt the AmeriCorps Farm-toSchool program, which provides an innovative approach to improving childhood 

nutrition and decreasing obesity by creating healthy eating habits and increasing 

access to local foods. 

Through this program, 

Washburn students plant, 

harvest, and cook from 

the school garden every 

year, and have planted 

fruit trees that will provide apples. In elementary and middle school, students and 

staff alike enjoy the annual All School Walk Around the Block as part of Week of the 

Young Child, as well as a walk-a-thon, which is the main PTA fundraiser. Thirty 

minutes of daily outdoor recess is provided for elementary and middle school 

students, and brain breaks get the students moving for an additional 20-30 minutes 

per day. Students regularly engage in snowshoeing, skating, cross-country skiing, 

and canoeing. The Washburn Portrait of a Graduate program focuses on creating 

physically, socially, and emotionally healthy students. Sixty percent of students walk 

to school, and the high school recently created a cycling club.

Washburn removed old asphalt and replaced it with a bioswale, pollinator garden, 

high tunnel greenhouse, outdoor lunch area, compost area, aquaponics lab, and 

Monarch oasis. The district is home to a forested 40-acre Environmental Learning 

site. The school grounds include a 6,400 square foot vegetable garden and orchard, 

a steep sledding hill, a forested area for interpretive play, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

habitat restoration site, a pond, and an outdoor classroom that overlooks Lake 

Superior. These spaces are within walking distance for students of all ages. 

The district aims to cultivate environmental stewardship, foster human health, and 

develop ecological sustainability through place-based education for the students of 

Washburn and community. Wisconsin Green & Healthy standards are imbedded 

into the Washburn core curriculum, and are listed on standards-based report cards

Students grow tall milkweed and common milkweed 

to sell to people in the community who want to start 

their own butterfly gardens.
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for prekindergarten through fifth grade students. The school gardens provide handson opportunities for teachers to enhance their curriculum outdoors, especially in 

environmental and cultural topics, while also building relationships with students. 

Examples include the Agripreneur Program, aquaponics lab, Monarch butterfly 

study, and the addition of several sustainability-based classes. Students grow tall 

milkweed and common milkweed to sell to people in the community who want to 

start their own butterfly gardens. Students participate in Adopt a Beach and Adopt a 

Highway programs, Monarch butterfly tagging and release, an annual leaf 

identification project each fall, and an insect collection in the spring. The ecology 

class does water quality testing, habitat analysis, and population density study. 

Educators have access to an outdoor classroom kit, including a set of Crazy Creek 

chairs and clipboards, to allow classes that wouldn’t normally need to go outside to

teach their content to spend time outdoors.

The University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, Stevens Point, Wisc.

Sustainability as a unifying thread for postsecondary goals and achievements

At the University of Wisconsin (UW) ―Stevens Point, all efforts unite to bring to life 

the institution’s mission statement: “Through the discovery and dissemination of 

knowledge, UW-Stevens Point stimulates intellectual growth, provides a liberal 

education, and prepares students for a diverse and sustainable world.” The school’s 

mission, vision, and core values are advanced through a strategic plan, A 

Partnership for Thriving Communities, which targets four broad outcomes to help 

communities become vibrant, healthy, prosperous and sustainable. The strategic 

plan makes it very clear that sustainability is a campuswide initiative. 

As a signatory of the American College and University Presidents' Climate 

Commitment, the Talloires Declaration, and the White House’s American Campuses 

Act on Climate pledge ― and also as a gold-rated member of the AASHE STARS 

program ― UW-Stevens Point has a strong commitment to developing a sustainable 

future and working toward carbon neutrality. The school’s 2011 carbon neutrality 

plan provides momentum for achieving the first benchmark target in 2020, and 

carbon neutrality before the planned 2050 goal. Progress thus far in reducing 

carbon emissions allowed the university to participate as one of only 13 higher 

education institutions in the Chevrolet Campus Clean Energy Campaign, with 

proceeds from the sale of carbon credits used to grow the campus sustainability 

program.

Energy conservation initiatives achieved through an energy conservation program 

have helped reduce the UW-Stevens Point carbon footprint while reducing the utility 
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budget. The school takes responsibility for the environmental impact of electricity 

use by purchasing renewable energy credits. UW-Stevens Point is on the EPA’s 

Top 30 College and University list of largest green power users, and is the first 

university in the state to get 100 percent of its electricity from clean energy sources.

Many initiatives help to reduce environmental impact, while reducing costs. A 

campuswide composting program and a recycling center reduce landfill waste while 

saving dollars. Efficient water use is supported through dual flush toilets, water 

bottle refill fountains, a computer-controlled irrigation system, rain gardens, a green 

roof, and innovative stormwater systems on newly constructed parking lots. These 

initiatives help students become more aware of what the university is doing to be 

more sustainable, and how they 

can make decisions to lead a more 

sustainable lifestyle. The Student 

Greenfund uses student fees to 

fund sustainability-based projects 

on the campus and at its field 

stations.

Campus administration has taken a 

proactive leadership role in 

sustainability by participating and 

promoting sustainability programs 

on campus and in finding the 

necessary financial resources to move sustainability projects forward. School 

leadership not only talks the talk, but also walks the walk, emphasizing the 

importance of and commitment to sustainability as key aspects of the university’s 

goals and success.

Another core value at the university is promoting community health. The university

is the birthplace of the National Wellness Institute. The school supports both 

workplace wellness and student health through the Pointers Achieve Wellness 

(PAWs) program, an employee assistance program, a Student Health Promotion 

Office that employs student health advocates, a campuswide smoking ban, a cardio 

center, the Health Enhancement Center, intramurals and an outdoor rentals 

program, and Schmeeckle Reserve, a 280-acre conservancy area on campus, with 

five miles of trails and boardwalks, a 24-acre lake, and a large diversity of habitats 

that support numerous wildlife species. The university also offers several healthy 

and sustainable eating programs, including the College of Professional Studies 

Café, which promotes a sustainable food culture.

The school’s facility services team is a leader in sustainability, and provides a 

healthy work environment. The Academic Custodial Work Unit is GREENGUARD 
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certified to ensure healthy, high-performance cleaning that helps keep staff and 

people in the buildings healthy. The grounds department runs composting and 

recycling programs, and manages the grounds using more organic-based fertilizers 

than synthetic-based fertilizers. Maintenance protocols meet indoor environmental 

air quality requirements that cover ventilation, low-emitting materials, chemical and 

pollutant source control, daylight and views.

Another way UW-Stevens Point promotes healthy living and a sustainable lifestyle is 

through a daily campus announcement program. Each day students are notified of 

activities, including concerts; craft making; movies and documentary showings; 

cultural, diversity and inclusivity discussions, that are relevant in today’s society, as 

well as outdoor recreational trips, and organization meetings and speakers. These 

opportunities are a chance for students to improve their understanding of how 

personal health and wellness benefit them individually and as a member of society.

The university has committed to educating students, faculty, staff, and community 

members toward a more comprehensive understanding of sustainability, as well as

how they can help society move toward a more sustainable future. After completing 

the school’s General Education Program, each student understands that responsible 

global citizenship involves personal accountability, social equity and environmental 

sustainability. UW-Stevens Point prides itself on its tradition of developing 

sustainability-based knowledge within the student body, and on the trails that those 

students are blazing into the future.

The four colleges of the university engage in sustainability education in a variety of 

ways. The Doctor of Education in Educational Sustainability program developed by 

the School of Education has an anticipated start date of fall 2017, pending Higher 

Learning Commission approval. The College of Natural Resources (CNR) offers 

programs in natural resource disciplines, resource management, and environmental 

education. The CNR uses the Central Wisconsin Environmental Station, Treehaven 

and other managed properties as teaching field stations. For over 25 years, the 

Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education has worked to advance 

environmental education literacy through programs like the K-12 Energy Education 

Program and K-12 Forestry Education Program.

Educating students of all ages in sustainability principles is a primary goal of UWStevens Point. The Central Wisconsin Environmental Station is home to the 

Tomorrow River Community Charter School, a 2014 U.S. Department of Education 

Green Ribbon School, whose programs help further environmental education with 

the next generation of students. The elementary school is focused on sustainability 

and environmental education, and created a place where UW-Stevens Point 

students can practice their preservice teacher and interpretation classroom training 

in the field.
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With a new science building scheduled to open in 2018 to meet the demand of 

students for advanced skills and knowledge in chemistry and biology, UW-Stevens 

Point will further demonstrate commitment and leadership in STEM education. 

When completed, it will meet LEED Gold standards. The university also promotes 

STEM education through events like STEM Exploration Days for middle schoolers 

and the STEMStravaganza.

The university partners with community organizations like Central Waters Farmshed, 

Friends of Schmeeckle Reserve, and the Portage County Public Library to host or 

conduct sustainability-based events for students and the community as a whole, 

such as the Schmeeckle Candlelight Hike, Central Wisconsin Farmer’s Tribute 

Dinner, greenhouse workshops and a local farmers market. Students are 

encouraged to become more involved with the community in order to develop an 

understanding of how they can make more sustainable decisions in their day-to-day 

lives on and off the campus. Students, university employees, and local community 

members all benefit from the knowledge, experiences, and community events that 

go along with receiving a liberal education at UW-Stevens Point, and community 

engagement strengthens the institution’s strategic plan.

The University College Academic and Career Advising Center provides 

comprehensive career planning and job search resources to students and alumni. 

The CNR Academic and Career Advising Center provides similar resources more 

specific to green jobs and holds an annual career fair for students.

In short, sustainability is a thread in all UW-Stevens Point activities and operations, 

from those related to facilities and grounds, to curriculum and instruction, to health 

and wellness in and around campus.
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Acknowledgements

Here at ED, the Green Team continues to evolve, as we recruit new members and 

say goodbye to others who have moved on. Over the past year, ED employees 

Melissa Apostolides, Kathrina Bridges, Malissa Coleman, Ashley Gardner, George 

Alan Smith, Jennifer Padgett, Elaine Venard, and Bernice Williams all have pitched 

in to keep this project running on the very slimmest of budgets. This program would 

not be sustainable without their invaluable assistance.

Of course, this entire award would not be possible without the participation of some 

30 state education agencies and their hardworking partners, which have built their 

own green teams to oversee statewide competitions that select schools, districts, 

and postsecondary institutions to nominate to ED. They are a most dedicated group 

of facilities, health, and environmental education professionals, who support the 

work of the schools, districts, and postsecondary institutions in states across the 

nation.

Finally, thanks to Adam Honeysett, ED’s managing director of state and local 

engagement, for his unfailing support of ED-GRS and its director.