Highlights from the 2014 Honorees

Shadow Lake Elementary, Maple Valley, Wash.

The school uses a stormwater curriculum in which students study salmon habitats, including how stormwater is the number one source of pollution in the Puget Sound. Students learn what stormwater management engineers do and replicate the thinking processes they use when they problem-solve. Students investigate the role of the stormwater engineer, learn about runoff, examine maps, put on their engineering hats to look critically at the design of their school yard, generate ideas to improve runoff, and consider stakeholders with possible solutions. After evaluating solutions, the students select one to implement.

Students learn sustainability concepts by participating in activities that recycle and reuse resources. Waste-Free Wednesdays are one example of how students work together to reduce lunch waste. Students focus on recycling and composting every day, but work even harder each Wednesday to reduce waste to come as close to zero as possible during lunch periods. Each classroom has recycling containers, and students see waste-saving tips and statistics each week in hallway posters, parent newsletters, and morning announcements. Data is collected and shared; there is even an ongoing waste-bin competition between students and staff, which students often win! Student leaders present at teacher meetings and monitor lunchtime waste, recycling, composting, and TerraCycle containers, and give out raffle prizes of reusable lunch containers as incentives. Students also create garden art with non-recyclable bottle caps to keep them out of the landfill. Students who serve as Green School Ambassadors work before school to ensure that breakfast waste is managed efficiently for composting and recycling. Other students tend to the school’s worm farm, which produces vermi-compost to fertilize plants naturally.

Students create and maintain the gardens and trail, and become familiar with the natural environment not only on their campus but also on an adjacent nature trail and on field-trip visits to the nearby Shadow Lake Peat Bog. Fourth- and fifth-grade students in one class partnered with the Cedar River Watershed Project in the creation of an instructional video, in which students became the voices of raindrops experiencing the purifying effects of a rain garden. Fifth-grade students participate in an environmental camp experience at Camp Casey on Whidbey Island each spring. Shadow Lake engages the community with family work parties at least twice a year.

Students share Shadow Lake’s efforts and accomplishments on the Tahoma Sustainability Blog, in parent emails, and in weekly schoolwide announcements. Sustainability is woven into their curriculum, providing them with real-world examples and applications of how sustainability works. Environmental awareness is part of the culture at Shadow Lake and will continue to be refined and expanded.

Vancouver Public Schools, Washington

The Vancouver Public Schools Sustainability and Conservation Plan was developed to create a districtwide culture in which staff and students increase their knowledge and awareness of environmental concerns and implement practices that sustain the environment, both within and beyond the school district.

The district began addressing conservation concerns several years ago, starting slowly but accelerating efforts that culminated in June 2009. At that time, the board of directors approved districtwide policies and regulations to manage and support the conservation of natural resources. During the 2009–10 school year, all Vancouver schools established green teams, which identified ways to incorporate environmentally friendly procedures and practices into their daily operations. Each school’s program is based on the U.S. Department of Energy’s and Washington Green Schools’ philosophy for sustainable programs

In 2010, the district reviewed the principles guiding conservation at individual school sites and provided energy and waste management data to all schools. The schools have now incorporated Utility Manager, an online program that allows each school to track its utility use.

The list of partners working with students to integrate best practices varies from site to site and year to year, but some of the partners stand out for their long-time support and financial contributions to advance conservation efforts. They include Energy Trust (E-Trust), Energy Smart, Waste Management, Clark Public Utilities (CPU), Bonneville Power Administration, Clark County, and Washington Green Schools. These organizations recognize that students will become adults who may own property, own or manage businesses, or simply live, work, and recreate in Clark County.

In 2013, the district continued its “retro-commissioning partnership” with CPU and E-Trust. In retro-commissioning, the partners identify a building that needs retrofitting due to aging equipment and inefficiencies. CPU and E-Trust provide a joint building evaluation, which identifies specific facility improvement measures. After the improvements are completed, CPU and E-Trust provide rebates to Vancouver Public Schools based on future reduced energy use. The rebates help the district offset the cost of the energy-saving projects. Vancouver Public Schools intends to retro-commission all sites across the district through this exciting partnership.

In addition to making fresh fruits and vegetables available at all school lunches, Vancouver Public Schools nutrition services has obtained grants to help students living in low-income parts of the community learn about the benefits of eating fresh fruits and vegetables.

The districts’ schools practice a holistic approach to health, with the process and activities varying by site. Indoor and outdoor physical education, health, and outdoor recess are still pillars in the educational day. Several schools are leading the way with walking school busses, running clubs, outdoor learning labs, learning gardens (rain and food), and greenhouses that use the organic foods grown by students in their culinary arts programs.

Vancouver Public Schools provides opportunities to explore green careers through career software, which shows students, through specifically diagrammed integrated courses, the educational pathways they could take to become qualified for a variety of jobs. Students also are exposed to jobs in conservation through opportunities such as speed networking, guest speakers, company tours, job shadows, internships, and mentorships. In September 2013, students and staff were offered professional development and hands-on civic skills and connections through participation in Vancouver’s first annual STEM-fest.

In individual classes, students explored hydroponics as a way to provide sustainable crops to address world hunger. In math classes, students learned basic surveying techniques with support from a professional surveyor, and in social studies classes students have learned the effect of agricultural societies on the history of the world. Environmental information is also incorporated into health classes, where students study the effect of disease on societies, and the need for clean water and sustainable natural resources throughout the world. Students in the Vancouver Public Schools will continue to learn and appreciate the complexity of balancing society’s demands on natural resources with the need to sustain a healthy environment.