The Maryland State Board of Education, along with State Superintendent of Schools Dr. Carey M. Wright, has honored the three nominees for the 2025 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools Award.
The U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School Program recognizes schools that conserve environmental resources, reduce costs, feature environmentally sustainable learning spaces, protect school and community health, foster wellness, and offer environmental and sustainability education. The Maryland nominees for this year’s award were:
- Berwyn Heights Elementary School, Prince George’s County Public Schools, which made significant strides towards its zero-waste goal through recycling, composting, and other waste reduction strategies. Berwyn Heights was selected to participate in electric bus servicing. Students play a key role in the school’s composting program, which collects breakfast and lunch waste, and the fifth grade operates an indoor worm composting bin.
- Bodkin Elementary School, Anne Arundel Public Schools, which reduced electric usage by 41
- percent over a 13-year period and implemented a 110-gallon rain barrel, saving approximately 1,150 gallons of water annually. The rain barrel is used to water the school gardens maintained by students in grades 2 through 5. In addition, the school holds Waste Free Wednesdays to encourage composting and reduce the number of trash cans filled.
- Redland Middle School, Montgomery County Public Schools, which participates in the Storm Drain Art Program hosted by the county’s Department of Environmental Protection. The school composted 4.49 tons of waste in a single year and operates a solar photovoltaic (PV) system, which has generated the equivalent of 66,025 trees planted since 2017. The Redland School Energy and Recycling Team/Green Club, Gardening Club along with such activities as “Green Day” and participating in the county’s “Paint the Plow” snowplow decorating contest also help raise environmental awareness.
MCPS recently shared the following:
🎉 Congrats to Redland Middle School 🎉 It’s one of only three schools in Maryland nominated for the U.S. Department of Education’s Green Ribbon Schools Award…