2022 Green Schools Profiles

Students: 8 Staff: 8 Mentor: Katy Glynn Project type: Stormwater Management Location: Chicago, IL Grade levels: Early Childhood The Urban Prairie Waldorf School early childhood and woodworking teachers collaborated to create a water pump using a wine barrel and a hand pump, used to store water for outdoor gardening. Since the preschoolers spend much of their school day…

Students: 397 Staff: 11 Mentor: Brianna Galvan Project type: Waste Reduction Location: Oak Park, IL Grade levels: K-5 William Beye Elementary School’s project won the first place award in the elementary school category for the 21-22 cohort of the Illinois Green Schools Project. Beye students focused on reducing waste in the lunchroom through sorting recycling, composting…

Students: 18 Staff: 3 Mentor: Francisco Sobral Project type: Waste Reduction Location: Chicago, IL Grade levels: K-6 Barry’s project encouraged students to reuse and recycle in creative ways, including building bird feeders, toy marble rollercoasters, lava lamps and miniature cars using recyclable items, collected from around the neighborhood. They also created posters educating the entire school on…

Students: 15 Staff: 2 Mentor: Kitty Knauz & Emily Lanyon Project type: Various Location: Chicago, IL Grade levels: 7-12 Whitney Young worked on a multi-part plan to create sustainable change in the school while educating students and staff about being more environmentally friendly. Students formed a school Green Team to raise awareness among their peers through…

Students: 27Staff: 3Mentor: Ajit NaikProject type: Energy & Justice at SchoolLocation: Chicago, ILGrade levels: 8 Academy for Global Citizenship won the Theme of the Year award for the 21-22 cohort of the Illinois Green Schools Project. Eighth grade students in AGC’s Sustainability Design class conducted a school-wide waste audit and identified ways to improve. Using…

Students: 15 Staff: 1 Project type: Waste Reduction Location: Chicago, IL Grade levels: High School Solorio’s Zero Waste Club noticed the excessive usage, waste, and incorrect disposal of single-use plastics in the school lunchroom, so they created a plan to enact systemic change locally within the Solorio school building and throughout the Chicago Public School System. Students…

Students: 20Staff: 85Mentor: Mike Denz, Alyson Sternquist & Ron RichardsonProject type: VariousLocation: Oak Park, ILGrade levels: 9-12 Oak Park and River Forest High School’s project won the first place award in the high school category for the 21-22 cohort of the Illinois Green Schools Project. The OPRF Environmental Club students created project teams to focus…

Students: 45Staff: 7Mentor: Stephanie RichardsonProject type: Native Food GardenLocation: Morris, ILGrade levels: Daycare Prairieland children, staff, and families worked together to build a multicultural garden. Families donated seeds and soil based on the foods they eat at home, and children and staff used recycled products to help with the starts of the plants. Two classes…

Students: 12 Staff: 4 Mentors: Damon Henrikson & Chris Philbrick Location: Vernon Hills, IL Grade Level: High School Vernon Hills High School’s project was unique in the sense that they had already begun a Zero Waste program at Vernon Hills High School in their student cafeteria, however, there was no strategic plan in place for…

Students: 75 Staff: 10 Mentors: Brian Meade, Jason Klinker, & Kelly McCaffrey Location: Chicago, IL Grade Level: High School Students worked with architects from FGMA to design a living wall installation in Uplift’s newly opened Innovation Lab. The wall is a collection of individually designed planter modules that interconnect for one watering system. The goals…