Friday, August 9, 2024
Two green schools in MPS now are award-winning green MPS schools! The U.S. Department of Education has recognized Nathaniel Hawthorne School and Milwaukee Parkside School for the Arts as Green Ribbon Schools for their environmental efforts.
Hawthorne, located at 6945 N. 41st St., and Parkside, 2969 S. Howell Ave., were among only 41 schools across the country to receive the award and the only two schools in Wisconsin. School representatives including Hawthorne Principal Shantee Jude-Williams and Parkside Principal Lila Hillman accepted the awards in Washington, D.C., in July.
The Department of Education says the winners were “honored for innovative efforts to reduce environmental impact and utility costs, improve health and wellness, and educate students on sustainability.”
At Hawthorne School
At Hawthorne School, nearly 36,000 square feet of pavement was removed and replaced with green space and recreational and educational areas. The green schoolyard has an outdoor classroom, bioswales, a gaga ball pit, plants native to Wisconsin, and a large underground cistern.
The schoolyard cistern manages about 84,300 gallons of stormwater during each heavy rainfall, which keeps the water from flooding the sewer system and prevents possible
pollution of Lake Michigan. A grant from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and the work of the Green Schools Consortium of Milwaukee helped make the green schoolyard possible.
Hawthorne has installed LED lighting in the school, uses computer power management settings, monitors energy usage and costs, and has removed energy-draining appliances. Hawthorne continuously monitors for lead, asbestos, and mercury, and monitors its indoor air quality.
Students absorb environmental lessons at school and away from school. Green and healthy concepts are included in the curriculum at every grade level, and students learn about vegetables and pollinator gardens and composting. Hawthorne students take part in a recycling program at school, and they give their families information on how to reduce their carbon footprint at home.
Students go on field trips with Nearby Nature, an environmental justice and equity initiative, and to Discovery World. They also learn from speakers from the Urban Ecology Center, a Hawthorne School partner and an educational nonprofit that connects people with the outdoors.
An after-school Green Team Club allows students and staff to participate in urban birding activities, learn about Wisconsin native plants and trees in the schoolyard, and learn how Hawthorne helps manage stormwater for the larger community.
Hawthorne serves about 300 students in preschool through 5th grade.
At Parkside School for the Arts
The Parkside community, which is committed to the environment, sustainability, and advocacy, has an enrollment of more than 850 students in kindergarten through 8th grade. Parkside has a gardening and agricultural program that emphasizes conservation. All of its students have access to the school’s aquaponics lab, along with new hoop houses and fork farms for growing vegetables, herbs, and flowers. In addition, classrooms adopt school gardens.
A part-time position was added to further enrich the love of science and nature in the Parkside community over the past few years. Students have learned how the aquaponic systems work and have studied the native fish of Wisconsin in the school’s lab.
During the school day, students learn about where their food comes from and engage in taste-testing activities to try new, healthy, garden-grown, and locally sourced foods. A partnership with AmeriCorps, which supplied a full-time position through its Farm to School program, made this possible.
Classrooms sign up year-round to work in the green spaces at the school, and lessons are integrated with the arts, involve multiple courses, and are based in projects to educate the whole child. Students have led the schoolwide compost initiative for more than six years.
Parkside, as a neighborhood school, encourages its students to walk and bike to school. Additional bike racks increase convenience, and a new, more-visible raised crosswalk on Howell Avenue at the school makes walking and biking safer.
Major school renovations over the past five years include energy-efficient windows, ceiling panels, water bottle filling stations, and an efficient motion-sensor LED lighting system. Parkside promotes wellness through a sensory room, mindfulness committee, student mindfulness activities, and sporting and club opportunities for students.
“This year’s U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools are leading school transformation in states that will help ensure all students in all communities have the opportunity to grow to become strong and healthy learners,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said. “These awards represent thousands of students and countless hours of hard work in schools and on college campuses, ensuring equitable access to healthy, climate-resilient learning environments where students are prepared for the sustainability challenges of the present and future.”
Other green awards
Several other Wisconsin educational entities were recognized by the Education Department as sustainability awardees. They are Northland Pines School District in Eagle River, one of only 10 districts chosen nationally; Creative Learning Preschool and Child Care Center in Madison, the only early learning center honored nationally; and the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie, one of only three postsecondary institutions in the country to be honored.