Congratulations 2011 Green Schools!
1st Place - $2000.00
Jupiter Middle School of Technology
A Green School of Excellence - This is Jupiter Middle School of Technology’s third year in the program. They are continuing to implement past motto’s like “Eat your Greens”, and “All Hands on Deck” they have added many more initiatives this year including an organic garden and Mangrove Restoration projects. The Cheerleading Club held the first annual Flea market where everything from reused duct tape wallets to organic coffee was sold. Eco-fundraising by selling Equal Exchange organic and fair trade items continues at the Palm Beach Gardens Green Market every month. They were part of the Green Schools Conference, the Wyland Live Green Fair and the South Florida fair promoting their green projects
2nd Place - $1000.00
St. Andrew’s School
A Green School of Excellence - In it’s 2nd year in the program, St. Andrew’s School has reduced the quantity of indoor air contaminants that are irritating and/or harmful to the comfort and well-being of the students, faculty and staff by using products that contain no VOCs and no added formaldehyde. St. Andrews harvests rainwater from the roof to reduce consumption in high volume areas like flushing. This also reduces the generation of wastewater and potable water demand by 50% while increasing the local aquifer recharge. The use of solar tube and vertical light clerestory panels brings natural light deep into the spaces and helps with energy costs. Fluorescent fixtures turn off or dim as supplemented by the natural light. They have realized that being environmentally conscious is not just a one-time decision, but a continual process.
3rd Place - $750.00
Roosevelt Community Middle School
A Green School of Excellence - Roosevelt Community Middle School is also in it’s 3rd year in the program. Approximately 300 students at Roosevelt Middle School have a class specifically dedicated to Environmental Science who drive the environmental philosophy at the school. One change that was implemented this year was electronically delivered attendance over paper Scantrons saving tons of paper. Many of the prompts used to help the students increase their writing scores were environmentally themed and several poems and figurative language student created posters used nature as their source.
Bak Middle School of the Arts
A Green School of Excellence - This is Bak Middle School of the Arts’s third year to be recognized as a Green School, but first as a School of Excellence. Using pop-tops from soda cans to make bracelets that are hand made by the green team and volunteers, Bak sells the bracelets to raise money to use for other green projects like sculptures. They made sculptures from recycled objects that are placed around the school, combining art and being green. Their latest thespian production was showing how to care for the earth. During their annual Arbor Day celebration the entire school is invited to participate in dance, band, keyboard, vocal, strings, communications, theater and visual art performances celebrating the Earth.
Pine Jog Environmental Education Center Award - $500.00
J. C. Mitchell Elementary 
A Green School of Quality - J.C. Mitchell Elementary is another newcomer to the Green Schools Recognition Program. Two of the creative green projects happening included a Green Science Fair and Green Talent Show. They highlighted one Green Star of the week who shares their ideas for keeping the school environmentall friendly on the Monday morning annoucements. They also send out Green mini-lessons weekly so that the staff have at their fingertips new ideas of how to teach different environmental topics.
Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County Award - $500.00
Jupiter Farms Elementary 
A Green School of Excellence - Jupiter Farms Elementary is in it’s second year in the program. They take part in Project Nature scope, an on-going environmental education program was launched 19 years ago and is a perfect fit for the Green Schools Recognition Program. The environment effort has grown to become a core component of school life. Student members maintain three nature trains, numerous butterfly gardens and oversee numerous recycling initiatives. In an attempt to slash their trash, they have launched Project Café Greencycle, an expansive recycling program. One portion of this waste reduction is composing 100% of organic materials. They have also vigorously tackled their energy usage through Project Green Light.
Audubon Society of the Everglades Award - $500.00
Marsh Pointe Elementary 
A Green School of Quality - Marsh Pointe Elementary has been participating in the program for three years. The enthusiastic PTO and yearbook committee figured out a way to get their yearbook printed on recycled paper. Green Team members have planned the Eco-Palooza festival featuring recycled crafts, songs, and eco-friendly business partners. Field trips and curriculum are routinely infused with environmental conservation concepts throughout the year.
Florida Power and Light Award - $500.00
Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary 
A Green School of Quality - This is Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune’s initial year of participation with the Green Schools Recognition Program. They were awarded an Energy Conservation Award for reduction of energy consumption by at last 5% this year. They were in the top 20 schools in the district for the number tons of collected paper. They have a Green Ambassador Club where each student acts as a role model for the class to be as green as they can be. Through the Keep Palm Beach Beautiful grant, Bethune enhanced their school ground with flowering plants, had Steve Trash perform magic with a clear message about reducing/reusing and recycling to all the students, and provided resources for many years to come.
Slow Foods Glades to Coast Award - $250.00
Unity School 
A Green School of Quality - Unity School is back for its second year in the Green Schools Recognition Program. Beginning in preschool, students are taught that we are all responsible for the quality of the environment. The students have responsibility for vegetable, herb, and butterfly gardens using rain barrels for watering. The administration holds a great commitment to enhancing the sustainability of the school as well as developing the students into responsible earth stewards. Every faculty member is encouraged to pursue staff development to enhance the curriculum to involve environmental education. And of course, the flagship event of the school has been the Peace on Earth Day Celebration for 25 years which includes all members of the community.
Clifford O. Taylor/Kirklane Elementary
This is Clifford O. Taylor/Kirklane Elementary’s second year in the program, but has also moved up from last year’s Green School of Quality to be a Green School of Excellence this year. Their green lifestyle is becoming second nature to the faculty, staff and students. Their Green Machines are responsible for energy monitoring, garden caretaking and being role models for their peers. They are having the Second Annual Parents Going Green Night where the students educated the parents about how to reduce their carbon footprint at home. Not only do the students have a green team, but the faculty has meetings to make sure they are working together for the green initiative to be seen through from grade level to grade level.
Jupiter Community High School
Jupiter High School is proud of it’s designation in the program for the 3rd year. It continues its strides with providing students with a robust slate of environmental courses and through understanding of principles of ecology and environmental conservation. A special focus of the experience is its field based Eco Studies program where they visit and study in Flatwoods, hammocks, scrub forests, ponds, marshes and other wetlands. Students presented at the 2nd annual Learn Green, A Green Schools Conference and Expo speaking on how their initiative of Green Tuesdays, which produced a CD of their green programs for other schools to use. It included ideas like a therapeutic Healing Gardens and Campus Composting. One more project was Operation Flush where the Green Team students went to every restroom and with stopwatch in hand timed the auto-shut off valve. Toilets that ran in excess of 12 seconds were reported and fixed.
Morikami Park Elementary School
In it’s third year in the program Morikami park has reached the highest level of green school accomplishments this year. They have gotten approval from their committee to focus more on the additional goals for the year: more recycling, environmental clubs, environmental curriculum, energy, water and recycling monitors, and an adoption of a more efficient energy plan. The team planted almost 800 trees in their Habitat Restoration project in their two acre field adjacent to their school. They teamed up with many community partners and have formulated maps for future visitors and selected plant species that would be best for the area.
Palm Beach Day Academy
Palm Beach Day Academy has participated in the program for 3 years. The establishment of the Green Team in 2008 was an amalgamation of faculty, parents, and students. It was designed to educate the school community and to organize projects and activities that everyone can participate in. From the introduction of earth friendly projects in pre-primary, through extensive environmental science units in the ninth grade, Palm Beach Day Academy has made a commitment to keep the dialogue going. As it says in their mission statement, graduates of Palm Beach Day Academy “will have gained an understanding of their responsibility for the health.
Pine Jog Elementary School
Pine Jog Elementary School has been a part of the program for 3 years now, providing a green living campus from which to grow and improve. This year next to their hydroponic garden, they added a verimculture learning station, the Can-O-Worms, providing observation opportunities and lessons on the decomposition of food and waste into natural nutrients. New monthly collection contests for students and teachers including greeting cards, shoes and candy wrappers have gotten students counting and packaging these materials to be sent to companies who reuse them. “Making Changes” was the first performance by the ACTivELY Green (Amateur Children’s Theater involving Environmental Lessons for Youth was given to the whole school population, parents and the community teaching about sustainability habits witnessed at the school
S.D. Spady Elementary School
In S.D. Spady Elementry’s 3rd year being a green school has also become an integral part of the school culture. They began a conscious effort to create more organized and structured learning recourses this year with spreadsheets of various links to online resources for lessons, photos, videos, articles and field trips as well as binders in each teacher work room with specific lesson plans and other ideas to share amongst each team. Green has been the focus for communications, fundraisers, family events planning and lessons. The students are studying, photographing, categorizing, comparing and recording the plant and animals species that live on our campus in an effort to create a School Yard Habitat Field Guide that will serve as an instructional resource for years to come.
St. Mark Catholic School
In it’s second year in the program St. Mark Catholic School has kept utilizes it’s surroundings as much as they can. Students do studies of the mangrove park estuary situated on campus. They use dendrometers to monitor growth, and then report the studies to scientists at Florida International University. They also monitor water conditions and report them to the World Wide Water organization. Annually they participate in the Great American Clean Up, ensuring the cleanliness of their school campus and mangrove park. The ongoing efforts no longer seem as much an effort as they do a habit.
Berkshire Elementary
Berkshire is another new addition to our 2011 class of Green Schools. The school staff has become a No Styrofoam community. Staff can find and use only reusable cups for their morning coffee. The school has a Go Green Room that staff members or students can go if they want to find a lesson plan, any green information, or recycle something. The school has partnered with Spring into Action where they collect household items, clothes, toys and then donates them to people in need while keeping them out of landfills.
Cardinal Newman High School
Another new member of our cadre of Green Schools is Cardinal Newman High School. They took being Green as the new buzz word in business, law, politics, science, pop cultures and global communication. They wanted to bring Being Green into a way that students could identify with and take pride in their Green projects. They are working becoming new leaders in environmental stewardship through recycling, reducing, reusing and beyond.
Elbridge Gale Elementary
This is also the first year for Elbridge Gale Elementary to be recognized as a Green School. Since the name of their school is in honor of Elbridge Gale who was a horticulturist, it’s no wonder when you walk onto the school grounds one of the first things you see is their hydroponic garden system and the six raised soil gardens. Plantings and retention ponds provide authentic learning opportunities for Florida environmental plant studies while students observe seasonal changes. Green Messages are provided on their marquee, weekly newsletters and daily news shows.
Forest Park Elementary
This is Forest Park’s second year to be recognized as a Green School - moving from a Green School of Promise to a Green School of Quality. Each grade level has at least one 6 week where they teach the students to take action on conserving resources or caring for our planet encompassing all the disciplines. Instead of celebrating Earth Day, they celebrated Green Week where each day was devoted to a different way to help the environment. With the Green Seed Money they applied for and received from Pine Jog Environmental Education Center they purchased 20 blue 21 gallon bins to start recycling in the cafeteria, reaching over 2000 milk and juice cartons a day being recycled.
Grassy Waters Elementary
This is Grassy Waters’ third year to be recognized as a Green School. The school wide moral toward the overall recycling efforts have been vast. The 3C Club, which involves kindergarten through fifth grade students, is going to have YESS! (Young Energy-Saving Stewards) who will patrol the school to ensure that the school is not wasting energy. The 3C members will also assist teachers to keep a plant alive in every classroom to improve indoor air quality.
Greenacres Elementary
This is also Greenacres Elementary’s third year as a Green School. They were the first school in Florida to be recognized as a Project WILD school. A majority of the teachers are incorporating interdisciplinary conservation and environmental education into their curriculum. Recycling of paper, plastic cans, glass juice boxes, ink and toner cartridges, shoes, and glue are practiced every day. They also have a newspaper recycling program where it is encouraged to bring old newspapers from home to raise money increasing community alertness and involvement about recycling.
Jerry Thomas Elementary
Jerry Thomas Elementary joined the program this year for the first time. The Green Tiger Club has 147 students that participate in the afterschool club. Their cause is to develop student leaders and to teach the students about the environment, energy and recycling. The PTO, SWA and Jupiter Parks and Recreations have been valued partners on the path to Green their school. Students have been invited to participate in the development of a new eco-friendly local park.
Juno Beach Preparatory School
This is Juno Beach Preparatory’s first year of participation in the program. The school’s goal is to provide a cohesive and integrated curriculum that incorporates the study of ecology into every discipline. Hands-on experience of fieldwork as well as the theoretical basis of the subject area are implemented. Their Field School includes lessons on sustainable agriculture, genetic engineering, organic farming, conversion of forests to agriculture and environmental thinkers. They started a recycling grogram and their custodial staff makes sure the recycling is completed correctly.
Lighthouse Elementary School
This is Light House Elementary’s second year to be recognized as a Green School. They have been working diligently this year toward making their school more eco-friendly, and have moved up from last year’s Green School of Promise ranking. They have implemented Waste Not Wednesdays where students are encouraged to reduce and reuse an extra step further than the other days of the week. During Earth Week each classroom “adopted a spot” on campus to enhance. They also hosted an event called Treasure a Tree day where they took time to educate on the importance of taking care of the trees on their campus and elsewhere.
Northboro Elementary school
This is Northboro Elementary’s second year in the program. The students and staff have committed to many initiatives that have propelled them to higher standards for Going Green and Living Green. They have both the traditional and a hydroponic garden that students use to compare and contrast different lessons in gardening. The school is planning to develop a neighborhood Green/Craft market in collaboration with Hedrick Brothers Construction. Students are actively engaged in different projects such as the Wyland Water Conservation Mural painting, Pollution Coalition Energy Contest, and Everglades Experiences.
Palm Springs Middle School
We are welcoming back Palm Springs Middle School for it’s 3rd year in a row. The Green Rays and the environmental club have come a long way in their green endeavors. The students feel passionately about reducing the schools waste. They have recycled 3.89 tons of paper through mid November and was recognized as the top 210 Paper Recyclers by Facilities Management. On average they recycle 6650 pounds of paper each month and about 6000 pounds of aluminum and plastic each month. The Green rays have cleaned the Ocean Front Park through the organization Sand Sifters, and have been invited to participate in the Turtle Talk and Walk because of their hard work.
Plumosa School of the Arts
This is Plumosa School of the Arts premier year with the program. A goal of Plumosa is to be an advocate and leader in Environmental Education. They are working with hands-on approaches in helping make their school the number one green school in the county. They are training the staff in energy education and giving them opportunities to integrate the projects into their current curriculum. They are creating a sculpture garden in their outdoor learning area which is going to be the host of their new Spring Garden.
Poinciana Elementary School
This is the second year that Poinciana Elementary School has been a part of the Green Schools Recognition Program. Rather than just adding lessons to their curriculum that have ecological studies as a part of them, they have strived to make these ides as part of their core curriculum. They have worked to incorporate green lessons across grade levels, labs and specials. Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd graders plant and maintain vegetable gardens while learning about the properties of plants. 3rd grade harvest seeds from courtyard natural areas to learn about plant life cycles, and 4th and 5th graders conduct in-depth studies of natural ecosystems in their classroom and then go on field experiences to the ecosystems.
St. Ann Catholic School
This is also the first year for St. Ann Catholic School to be recognized as a Green School. Their journey to “green” has been entirely student led. The first goal of the Go Green Project was to start collecting recyclables at St. Ann for the first time since the school opened in 1923. To improve the schools sustainability the have replaced spray valves it the cafeteria and disconnected the lights in the vending machines. They had a Reusable Bag design contest and the winning design will be sold to St. Ann families and friends with the proceeds being donated to local environmental organizations. The entire faculty and staff were given reusable thermoses by the janitor! Sharing the Planet is one of the six themes used in each classroom to explore the relationships between living and non-living things and how humans share resources and opportunities with everything else on the planet.
Timber Trace Elementary
This is the 3rd year that Timber Trace Elementary has been a Green School. School sustainability being incredibly important to this school, teachers assign Computer and Light Helpers in every classroom to conserve energy. Students have taken field trips to learn different environmental aspects to Loggerhead Park, Jupiter River Center, the Everglades, the Anne Norton Sculpture Garden and Grassy Water Preserve. The monthly newsletter and school web page communicates the school’s green project and initiatives to every teacher, parent and community member involved with the school.
Wellington High School
Wellington High School joins the program this year, having two high school students head up the project. The revitalized on-campus Environmental Club has had a huge impact. With community sponsorship from Home Depot providing no VOC paint, a ceiling tile mural emulating the sky was created. The club got the entire school into the environmental sprit with the Homecoming theme being the four elements: where the freshman were Wind, the sophomores were Earth, the juniors were Water, and the Seniors were Fire.
West Gate Elementary
West Gate Elementary comes back for it’s second year in the green initiative. Every student knows the importance of being green since the daily “green” pledge is recited in their Code of Conduct. The teachers in kindergarten, first and second grades created a within school partnership known as Science/Nature Buddies. Each teacher in these grades partnered with a class from a different grade level where students use nature journals to make scientific observations, descriptive narratives as well as write poetry and draw illustrations. During the Earth Day celebration, students shared excerpt from these journals.
Academy for Positive Learning Boca Raton Elementary
This is the Academy for Positive Learning’s first year to be recognized as a Green School. Their garden/outdoor classroom has become the source of pride for their school. The garden and the produce coming from it is leading their school-wide healthy planet, healthy-eating initiative.
Beacon Cove Elementary
This is also the first year for Beacon Cove to be recognized as a Green School. Co-existing with a gopher tortoise population the students, faculty and parents have discovered the environmental interdependence and some human impact issues. Students have built bird houses, adopted animals and created projects with peers showing that they can help the environment.
Boca Raton Elementary
Another first year recipient of Green School recognition is Boca Raton Elementary. They hit the ground running with many green initiatives, including the Carpool Pick Up Line. Students who carpool get picked up quicker and therefore help the earth with fewer emissions given off with shorter car idling times.
Calusa Elementary
We are pleased to add Calusa Elementary to the list of new schools that applied for recognition this year. They focused on incorporating the Florida Science Standards into all of their disciplines. They tried to address multiple learning styles including improving environmental attitudes, promoting good nutrition, increasing physical activity, teaching patience, improving social skills and classroom relationships in all of their green projects.
Cholee Lake Elementary
This is also Cholee Lake Elementary’s first year to be recognized as a Green School. Each grade level has a special green unit, including their Pre-K students tending to their own pumpkin patch. All classes use the school grounds to study weather, habitats and other environmental topics.
Citrus Cove Elementary
Citrus Cove continues its Green School’s focus with many new initiatives. They have ten recycle or reuse programs up and running. They are expanding their outdoor learning areas with four new areas and are creating a contest for classes to name these areas and design signage. Citrus Cove has also been awarded the Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful Education and Beautification Grant for Elementary Schools to help them expand their efforts in becoming a greener school.
Crestwood Middle School
Another new member of our 2011 class of Green Schools is Crestwood Middle School. Having a large population of Haitian students, Crestwood Middle School took the tragedy of the Earthquake in Haiti and linked lessons to deforestation and other ecological disasters. The students learned from real-life experiences of the importance of environmental issues.
Diamond View Elementary
Another new member to our growing list of Green Schools is Diamond View Elementary. Campus beautification of the school has been a green goal. The primary and intermediate classes have taken on the challenge of reviving the butterfly garden to great success while the kindergarten classes have added native plants to the front of the school. Fifth grade have created a vegetable garden through a fundraiser with Growums, where students sold a variety of garden kits.
Hagen Road Elementary
This very first application received this year came from new Green School, Hagen Road Elementary. Teachers have embraced their outdoor areas for green projects. First grade made recycled art projects, kindergarten students planted flowers and fourth graders are litter patrols to keep the their school beautiful.
Hammock Pointe Elementary
We are also happy to add Hammock Pointe Elementary to our 2011 Green Schools. Teaming up with the Palm Beach State College Ecology Club they have taken their lessons on farming and local sustainability and built a vegetable garden. Their goal is to do scientific studies of the building of each garden bed and the plant growth.
Hillel Day School
A returning member of our Green Schools Recognition Program is Hillel Day School. This school has taken everything, big and small into consideration. Some large projects include composting, plating an organic garden and a school wide “green day” celebrating the birthday of trees. But the students haven’t forgotten about the little things that matter like making sure pencils are being used all the way to bottom, not being lost or wasted.
Loggers’ Run Middle
Logger’s Run Middle School is one of the growing number of middle schools joining the Green Schools Recognition Program. On a school wide basis students have initiated a “Green Minute” weekly segment on their television announcements where environmental issues and topics are discussed. The school participates in a Recycling Contest, where each grade level collects a different item to recycle, and the grade that collects the most wins a pizza party!
Palm Beach Gardens Elementary
Palm Beach Gardens Elementary is also being recognized as a Green School for the first time. This school has utilized many community partners. Several outside groups have come into the school to teach the students about different areas of conservation including Kids Ecology Corp, SWA, and the Loxahatchee River Center. Boy Scouts and different High School Groups have donated their time to help with projects right along with the students in the school.
Royal Palm School
We are also pleased to have Royal Palm School join our Green School ranks. This school tries to reduce, reuse and recycle everything they can. The students take wheelchairs that are no longer suitable, sort the parts and then other students repair wheelchairs to an almost brand new status. They also recycle bottle caps that are sent to France where they are redeemed for money to buy wheelchairs for handicapped students. Food waste from the school kitchen goes to feed their worm farm, which then the worm castings are used to fertilize the plants in their agricultural area.
Sandpiper Shores Elementary
Another new Green School is Sandpiper Shores Elementary. The school year started with a bright note where they introduced their Green Mascot to students and staff during the first Spirit Rally of the year S.M.A.R.T. (Sandpiper’s Most Active Recycling Teammate) which was an instant hit. They created the job of a Green Patrol where the students wore a recycled sash while working for the Green cause.
Wellington Landings Community Middle
Our final Green School of Promise recipient, also being recognized for the first time, is Wellington Landings Community Middle School. Students exhibit their commitment to the environment by maintaining a Zen native plant garden that they planned and planted with the help of local vendors, master gardeners and landscape architects. The Zen garden has become an outdoor learning area for every subject in the school.
