Cover Letter for St. Albans City School’s Application for
a National Green Ribbon School Certification
St. Albans City School is extremely proud of our school, our students and our community. Our efforts to green our School preceded our knowledge of this award. It was only after the entire City School community undertook a Green Challenge that we learned that State and National Recognition was possible. We happened to be doing the right thing at the right time.
Our School, with the support of the taxpayers, has invested time, energy and money to make our building the safest and most comfortable facility in the State for our staff and students. Over the last four and a half years we have worked extremely hard to reduce our carbon footprint for the future of our students and the world.
Our undertaking has involved totally retooling a building that was constructed in the 1960’s when energy was cheap and carbon footprinting non existent. With an increased awareness, brought about by concerned students, citizens and staff, we undertook the Greening of our school. We insulated the windows with thermal shades, re-roofed (with added insulation) the entire building, and installed the most up-to-date heating and cooling system available. The once old-fashioned electrically heated School has become a model of natural gas heating and cooling technology that can be controlled by our Building Supervisor on his laptop. Temperatures, airflow and carbon dioxide levels are monitored and controlled for health and efficiency on a daily/hourly basis. As a result, the environmental impact of the School is smaller and the building more comfortable to be in. Our school structure, with its new found efficiency, is now open to the public on a regular basis (afternoons, evenings and on weekends). Through efficiency we are able to provide more opportunities for the students and the community at large.
While the majority of our Green School effort has been accomplished through public funding and professional support, the most important part of our transformation has come about by changing our behaviors. It was once said that “Participation in the solution brings true ownership of the product”. This statement is definitely true in our case. Our students, at their creative best, have been a true part of the solution. They are “into” being green. It was a group of our middle school students that did a science project that ended up saving the school over one million gallons of water per year by showing us the value of a waterless cooling condenser. It was a group of students that suggested the necessity for a compost plan that led to a school-wide program that sends 100% of our compostable food stuffs to a local organic farmer. It was the entire student body that spends time each year greening up our school grounds. It is also a group of 7th and 8th graders that over two years have been working with IBM engineers and the local Solid Waste District to ‘invent’ a method of compacting school milk cartons efficiently The goal is to recycle rather than throw away roughly a 1000 milk cartons a day. We have a school wide Energy Committee, run by students that meets on a regular basis with experts from Energy Efficiency Vermont to review staff and student practices and behaviors. Their plan is to further decrease our energy use. This student committee reviews monthly utility bills and reminds staff to use the insulated window shades and to ‘Unplug” everything on the weekends. New student initiatives are forming weekly as the students have assumed ownership in this very important process.
The building is not the only area that has been tuned, our School has improved food options and expanded options for physical activity. We were serving whole grains, increased vegetables and fruits and decreased calories before the federal requirements. We renovated our sports fields, added a new playground and outdoor basketball court, and a series of student and teacher developed exercise videos for days when it is too cold or wet to be outside. We have student projects underway to add a ropes course, and increase the sustainability of fresh fruits offered daily through fruit trees grown on our property.
Yes, we are greener, healthier and more comfortable, but the biggest accomplishment is not in reducing the power consumed by our School, but in increasing the power wielded by our students. We feel confident that by making our school green, the passion and creativity of our students has been harnessed to make the world greener along the way. It is for this reason, among the verifiable tangibles, that we would like our students to have their efforts recognized with this prestigious National Green Ribbon School Certification. It would mean ‘the world’ to them and they deserve it. While their efforts have been altruistic, an award of this stature would be a wonderful addition to the personal satisfaction of a necessary job well done.
When we look within, we sometimes are given cause to change behaviors, or in some instances to acknowledge the good decisions that we have made. Your consideration has caused us to ‘feel good’ about our efforts. The winning of this award would possibly spark the greater things that pride and achievement bring to solution seekers.
Thank you
Our School, with the support of the taxpayers, has invested time, energy and money to make our building the safest and most comfortable facility in the State for our staff and students. Over the last four and a half years we have worked extremely hard to reduce our carbon footprint for the future of our students and the world.
Our undertaking has involved totally retooling a building that was constructed in the 1960’s when energy was cheap and carbon footprinting non existent. With an increased awareness, brought about by concerned students, citizens and staff, we undertook the Greening of our school. We insulated the windows with thermal shades, re-roofed (with added insulation) the entire building, and installed the most up-to-date heating and cooling system available. The once old-fashioned electrically heated School has become a model of natural gas heating and cooling technology that can be controlled by our Building Supervisor on his laptop. Temperatures, airflow and carbon dioxide levels are monitored and controlled for health and efficiency on a daily/hourly basis. As a result, the environmental impact of the School is smaller and the building more comfortable to be in. Our school structure, with its new found efficiency, is now open to the public on a regular basis (afternoons, evenings and on weekends). Through efficiency we are able to provide more opportunities for the students and the community at large.
While the majority of our Green School effort has been accomplished through public funding and professional support, the most important part of our transformation has come about by changing our behaviors. It was once said that “Participation in the solution brings true ownership of the product”. This statement is definitely true in our case. Our students, at their creative best, have been a true part of the solution. They are “into” being green. It was a group of our middle school students that did a science project that ended up saving the school over one million gallons of water per year by showing us the value of a waterless cooling condenser. It was a group of students that suggested the necessity for a compost plan that led to a school-wide program that sends 100% of our compostable food stuffs to a local organic farmer. It was the entire student body that spends time each year greening up our school grounds. It is also a group of 7th and 8th graders that over two years have been working with IBM engineers and the local Solid Waste District to ‘invent’ a method of compacting school milk cartons efficiently The goal is to recycle rather than throw away roughly a 1000 milk cartons a day. We have a school wide Energy Committee, run by students that meets on a regular basis with experts from Energy Efficiency Vermont to review staff and student practices and behaviors. Their plan is to further decrease our energy use. This student committee reviews monthly utility bills and reminds staff to use the insulated window shades and to ‘Unplug” everything on the weekends. New student initiatives are forming weekly as the students have assumed ownership in this very important process.
The building is not the only area that has been tuned, our School has improved food options and expanded options for physical activity. We were serving whole grains, increased vegetables and fruits and decreased calories before the federal requirements. We renovated our sports fields, added a new playground and outdoor basketball court, and a series of student and teacher developed exercise videos for days when it is too cold or wet to be outside. We have student projects underway to add a ropes course, and increase the sustainability of fresh fruits offered daily through fruit trees grown on our property.
Yes, we are greener, healthier and more comfortable, but the biggest accomplishment is not in reducing the power consumed by our School, but in increasing the power wielded by our students. We feel confident that by making our school green, the passion and creativity of our students has been harnessed to make the world greener along the way. It is for this reason, among the verifiable tangibles, that we would like our students to have their efforts recognized with this prestigious National Green Ribbon School Certification. It would mean ‘the world’ to them and they deserve it. While their efforts have been altruistic, an award of this stature would be a wonderful addition to the personal satisfaction of a necessary job well done.
When we look within, we sometimes are given cause to change behaviors, or in some instances to acknowledge the good decisions that we have made. Your consideration has caused us to ‘feel good’ about our efforts. The winning of this award would possibly spark the greater things that pride and achievement bring to solution seekers.
Thank you