Lakota Middle School in Federal Way was one of just 47 schools in the nation to be honored as a 2016 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School on Earth Day, April 22.
The fifth annual Green Ribbon Schools honorees were announced by John King, U.S. Secretary of Education, and Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
The selected districts and schools are being honored for their exemplary efforts in at least one of three Green Ribbon pillars:
• Reducing environmental impact and costs
• Improving the health and wellness of students and staff
• Providing effective environmental and sustainability education, incorporating Science, Technology, Engineering and Math; civic skills; and green career pathways
It was the last category in particular that earned Lakota the honor: In 2011-12, a group of Lakota Middle School students pushed to create the Integrated Environmental Sustainability Academy, a “school within a school” that advocates for environmental sustainability, a community garden and stewardship.
Federal Way Public Schools incorporated its students’ vision into the Integrated Environmental Sustainability Academy. The academy provides students with opportunities to construct their own understandings with clear awareness of, and concerns about, economic, social and ecological interdependence in their local, state, national and global communities through direct experiences in hands-on learning in a highly engaging place- and service-based environment.
“Lakota Middle School’s Green Ribbon award recognizes the Integrated Environmental Sustainability Academy’s efforts in providing our scholars real-world experiences in being good environmental stewards through project based learning,” said Federal Way Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Tammy Campbell.
The naming of Camelot Elementary, an Auburn school also in the Federal Way Public Schools district, as a 2012 Green Ribbon School, and the creation of the Federal Way Green School Coalition, gave momentum to the creation of the new academy at Lakota.
With a student population of nearly 800, of whom 50 percent – and rising – are eligible for free and reduced-priced lunch, the idea of becoming economically responsible and socially accountable, as well as providing food from garden to table, encouraged administration and staff to implement the new program.
Students learn all core subjects — language arts, math, science and social studies — by solving real-world problems through interdisciplinary, project-based sustainability learning with a service component. They design solutions to issues such as water and energy use, resource conservation, climate change, clean air, sustainable food and product design, all while seeking to maximize the health of their community, social equity and a sustainable economy.
The school’s 2015-16 service- and place-based project involves using the engineering design process and plan to design and create a rain garden to reduce erosion caused by stormwater and garden drainage.
“I am extremely proud of the hard work our students and Integrated Environmental Sustainability academy teachers have demonstrated,” Lakota Principal Craig Tutt said. “The environmentally-conscious determination of teachers and students stretch back several years, and it is awesome that they are being recognized for their efforts.”
The schools, districts and post-secondary institutions were confirmed from a pool of candidates nominated by 27 state education agencies. Fifty-one percent of the 2016 honorees serve a disadvantaged student body. The list of all selected schools, districts, colleges, and universities, will be available on the Education Department’s website.
