Green Apple Day Encourages Sustainability at Boston Public Schools

For the third year in a row, volunteers, parents, students, staff and community partners all rolled up their sleeves to green Boston schools and bring attention to “where we learn matters”.

It’s all part of the international Green Apple Day of Service, created in 2012 by the U.S. Green Building Council and the Center for Green Schools as a way to promote green school initiatives and green, healthy school building improvements. On and around Green Apple Day, which was officially September 27th this year, thousands of schools and community partners from around the globe came together to make local agriculture, alternative transportation, energy efficiency and healthy school improvements happen on school campus’.

Eighteen Green Apple service and educational projects will take place across the Boston Public School (BPS) district this year, engaging hundreds of student and community volunteers and leveraging thousands of dollars in mini grants and corporate donations.

Nathan Hale Elementary School will use their $150 mini grant from BPS Sustainability Program to plant a small organic orchard on their grounds and with a $400 grant from NSTAR, McKinley Middle School students teamed up with YouthBuild to install smart power strips and learn about ways to save energy in the classrooms.

YoutBuild builds a laptop charging cart for McKinley MS.
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YouthBuild helps McKinley save energy by plugging electronics into smart power strips.

The Dante Alighieri Montessori School in East Boston is reducing its carbon footprint this year with new energy and water efficient upgrades to their school, recycling programs in the classroom and cafeteria and by planting their schoolyard with vegetables, bulbs and shrubs.

New water filling stations at the Alighieri School.
Students helping plant and water at the Alighieri School.
Parents, students and siblings planted hundreds of spring bulbs and cleaned up the schoolyard at the Alighieri.

Thanks to four new Green Apple hand dyers donated by Excel Dryer, Brighton High School students will be saving 60 trees annually and reducing the districts paper towel budget by $3000 a year!

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BPS labeled Green Apple hand dryers!

Boston Green Academy, Boston Latin School, Curley K-8 School and Manning Elementary School also received $400 mini grants through the Massachusetts Chapter of US Green Building Council to fund energy, environmental health and schoolyard projects.

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Viridian Energy partnered with Curley School on Green Apple.
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Al Vega from MassCOSH, a green partner at the Curley, also came out for Green Apple Day of Service!

You can learn more about Green Apple Day of Service from USGBC or watch a great video about the event featuring Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education at US Department of Education.