 U.S. Department of Education Assistant Secretary for Management Holly Ham congratulates the 2017 ED-GRS honorees.
ED Honors 2017 School, District, and Postsecondary
Sustainability Awardees in D.C.
On
July 19, the 2017 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools, District
Sustainability Awardees, and Postsecondary Sustainability Awardees received
accolades at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. for their sustainable, healthy
facilities; wellness practices; and sustainability learning. National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration Education Director Louisa Koch, ED’s Assistant Secretary
for Management Holly Ham, Director of the Campaign for Environmental Literacy James
L. Elder Jr., and Director of the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building
Council (USGBC) Anisa Heming congratulated the awardees. They also announced
the relaunch of the Green Strides Tour, which will head to Georgia this fall.
You can view video and photos
from the ceremony and reception. Read the press
release and the ED-GRS Director’s closing
remarks. We invite you to share ceremony photos and impressions with
us on Twitter (EDGreenRibbon)
using hashtags #EDGRSCeremony or #EDGreenRibbon.
ED-GRS and its Green
Strides outreach initiative share promising practices and resources in the
areas of safe, healthy, and sustainable school environments; nutrition and fitness;
and environmental education. As part of
its Green Strides outreach, ED conducts an annual tour intended to spotlight
the work of past and present honorees and bring more attention to their
practices. This year’s tour will take
place September 19-20 in Georgia. It will highlight outdoor learning in its
many forms, from school gardens to field studies to citizen science to forest
schools, and provide opportunities to expand traditional learning into the real
world to create change for the betterment of our society and the
environment. See the tour schedule here. >>>>
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The National Council on School
Facilities, the 21st Century School Fund, the Center for Cities+Schools at the
University of California at Berkeley, and the Center for Green Schools at the USGBC
launched “Adequate & Equitable U.S. PK–12 Infrastructure, Priority Actions
for Systemic Reform,” a report from the Planning PK-12 School Infrastructure National
Initiative. >>>>
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While schools are on summer break, take inspiration from
the 2017 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools for ideas for the
coming year. View the honorees and read
about their work on Green Strides.
 Southern Sandoval County Arroyo Flood Control Authority sponsors a program called River Xchange, through which Sandia Vista Elementary School students learn about storm water management, and both national and local water quality and quantity issues.
Sandia Vista Elementary School is a
Montessori-influenced public school that serves 631 students in an LEED Silver-certified
building. Sandia Vista participates in the
district initiatives Do the Light Thing and EnerG3. The school has upcycling, precycling,
composting, and standard recycling programs.
It also oversees a unique food recovery program that repackages unused
food for needy families and 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 students with protein- and vegetable-based
snacks. A running club is offered four
days a week, and dance parties are the highlight of Friday afternoons. The school’s Sandia Vista Elementary Earth
Squad meets to strategize on recycling, food reclamation, energy conservation, campus
cleanup, and gardening. The school
features a community xeriscape garden and greenhouse, with every grade
maintaining raised beds. Sandia Vista
has taken advantage of several 4-H youth development curricula, including units
involving the incubation of eggs, food production and agricultural products,
and disaster preparedness. Students
engage in local walking field trips, spend time in their arroyo classroom, and
participate in the River Xchange program, which allows them to explore major
water resources topics over many months as part of the curriculum. >>>>
 Omaha Northwest Magnet High School Horticulture Students educate Alternative Curriculum Program students on how to care for the plants in their community garden.
Omaha
Northwest Magnet High School partnered with University of Nebraska Omaha
Service Learning and its environmental sustainability class to engineer and
build a rain garden that captures and filters storm water runoff. This helps to address the challenges posed by Omaha’s combined sewer systems. The rain garden also acts as a habitat for
declining species, such as Monarch butterflies and bees. Students tag Monarchs and participate in the
Monarch Watch program to monitor migration patterns and population
numbers. The project won the Nebraska
state title for the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest, earning Northwest High
School $20,000 worth of Samsung technology.
Northwest students partner with Keep Omaha Beautiful to clean and label
storm drains so that trash does not get into the water and have made a how-to
recycling video for their peers to reduce trash going into landfills. Students also participate in the Chytrid
Fungus Citizen Science project.
Northwest students have built a community garden and aquaponics system
that grows fresh produce for the community.
The school tracks 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. Northwest High School’s health and wellness
team and student health center provide care to at-risk students. >>>>
 Students in Duval County's Sandalwood High School Green State Club participate in a shoreline cleanup.
Duval County Public School system has created
friendly competition between schools that then strive for continuous improvement
in their conservation efforts. Duval
instituted a Green Champions Network, made up of teachers and staff who
voluntarily facilitate green teams to incorporate sustainability concepts at
their schools. They also have an award-winning teacher supply depot that repurposes
donated materials into supplies. The
district allows employees to charge electric vehicles while at work and uses
native landscaping, rain barrels, cisterns, and smart irrigation to save
water. As a result, the district has
reduced annual utility costs from $26 million to $20 million and energy use by
32 percent. The district also has a 42 percent recycling rate. Healthy facilities are maintained by using
integrated pest management 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 offers salads
daily with dark, leafy greens—often grown in Duval school gardens. The district recognizes the work of
outstanding teachers by offering a Green Champions award. Duval conducts an annual environmental
science professional development course.
The district provides students with opportunities to participate in a
variety of environmentally focused field trips.
Students may choose a sustainable schools area of interest to study in
depth. The district is also home to an
eco-architecture program and two coastal science academies. >>>>
Since it began in 2012, the Green Apple Day of
Service has inspired almost a million people in over 70 countries to support
sustainability at their schools. This year, individuals will choose their own day
of action, and the Center for Green Schools will provide them with
unprecedented support. This event gives students hands-on experience with
sustainability and strengthens civic leadership, environmental literacy, and
project management skills. Those who register
early will receive guidance on specific dates and project types; prizes and
recognition for their work; and information on how to access matching funds for
their schools’ projects. >>>>
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Captain
Planet Foundation’s small grants fund environmental stewardship and
service-learning projects that engage children in critical thinking, research,
inquiry investigations, and real-world environmental problem solving.
Grants provide educators with the funding needed to purchase equipment,
materials, or supplies. >>>>
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Keep
America Beautiful offers two fall events to educate and engage school
communities: 1) Recycle-Bowl (Oct.
16–Nov. 15) school registration opens Aug. 1, and
2) register to organize an America Recycles Day (Nov.
15) event. >>>>
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The
Green Strides Webinar Series Continues All Summer
The Green Strides Webinar Series promotes sessions that provide free
tools to
reduce schools' environmental impact and costs; improve health and wellness;
and teach effective environmental education. Consult the webinar calendar, and submit suggestions of free webinars related to school,
district, and postsecondary sustainability to ed.green.ribbon.schools@ed.gov for listing. (Note: All times listed are
EDT.)
Aug.
2, 3–4 p.m. Greening the Heart of Postsecondary
Education (AASHE)
Aug.
2, noon–12:30 p.m. Ask the Expert (EPA)
Aug.
2, 6:30–7:30 p.m. Talk With a Scientist—Mike MacFerrin (NASA)
Aug.
3, 2–3 p.m. Trending Topics in Farm to
School: Farm to School in Native Communities (National Farm to School Network)
Aug.
3, 4–5 p.m. The
Solar Eclipse: Sun, Earth, Moon Relationships (NASA)
Aug.
8, 1–2 p.m. Portfolio Manager 101 (EPA)
Aug.
9, noon–12:30 p.m. Ask the Expert (EPA)
Aug.
9, 6:30–7:30 p.m. Searching for Habitable Worlds with
Kepler (NASA)
Aug.10,
1–2:30 p.m. Engaging the Campus to Improve
Recycling Participation
(CURC)
Aug.
10, 6–7 p.m. Exploring Beyond the Planets: Eyes
on the Universe
(NASA)
Aug.
16, noon–12:30 p.m. Ask the Expert (EPA)
Aug.16,
6:30–7:30 p.m. Exploring Beyond the Planets: Understanding
Asteroids (NASA)
Aug.
22, 1–2 p.m. Portfolio Manager 201 (EPA)
Aug.
23, noon–12:30 p.m. Ask the Expert (EPA)
Aug.
23, 4–5 p.m. Exploring Beyond the Planets: NASA
and Star Wars—The Connections are Strong in This One (NASA)
Aug.
24, 6–7 p.m. Solar Eclipse 2017: So it Rained—What
Did You Miss? (NASA)
The AASHE
Conference and Expo brings together some 2,000 campus administrators,
sustainability staff, students, faculty, businesses, media, and others to
explore more than 400 educational sessions, workshops, tours, and keynote
addresses that advance sustainability in higher education. This year's theme, “Stronger in Solidarity,” will
focus on how the campus sustainability community can break down walls, build
bridges, and continue to make progress toward a healthy and equitable future
for all. >>>>
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For more than four decades, the North American
Association for Environmental Education has convened one of the leading annual
conferences for environmental education professionals, including classroom
teachers and teacher educators, nature center staff, climate science
researchers, and everyone in between. Averaging 1,000 participants each year,
the event is designed to promote innovation, networking, learning, and the
dissemination of best practices. This
year’s conference on the theme “Imagine a World” is in San Juan, Puerto Rico. >>>>
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The
Association for Learning Environment’s mission is to connect those with a
passion for creating the best possible learning spaces to empower students to
succeed in a rapidly changing world. These spaces encourage innovation, critical
thinking, collaborative teamwork, and other skills. This year’s conference includes
educational sessions, keynotes, and a showcase of state-of-the-art tools that
move learning into the future. >>>>
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EDspaces is the gathering place for architects,
facility planners, designers, administrators, and dealers to learn about trends
in school facilities, and experience the latest products and services to
enhance student learning. >>>>
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Greenbuild
is the world's largest conference and expo dedicated to green building. It
features three days of inspiring speakers, invaluable networking opportunities,
industry showcases, LEED workshops, and tours of the host city's green
buildings. >>>>
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Connect With Green Strides
Green Strides: Resources for School Facilities, Health, and
Environment
U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools
Facebook: @EDGreenRibbonSchools
Twitter: @EDGreenRibbon
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