Department of Education Visits Two Schools in Massachusetts for Their ‘Education Built to Last’ Facilities Best Practice Tour

Special Advisor to the Secretary Donald Yu and U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools Director Andrea Falken visited U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools in Massachusetts on Tuesday, July 30th, to see and discuss the ways school facilities can enhance the conditions for learning.  

A large group of government and state officials, community members, green building professionals, students, teachers, and green school advocates attended tours at Manchester Essex Regional Middle High School and Quincy High School to see how they are incorporating sustainability into the built environment and the educational experience of their school communities. More information about the Green Ribbon Awardees is found below. 

Manchester Essex Regional Middle High School

Manchester Essex Regional Middle High School, a Collaborative for High Performance Schools building, constructed with recycled materials and energy-efficient design principles, is home to a 650 gallon rainwater collection tank and over 100 donated plants and trees.  The school achieved a 90 percent reduction in waste through the installation of a state of the art Lucidomatic waste sorting system and the implementation of a printing limits program through PaperCut software.  Manchester Essex, which has reduced its heating per square foot by nearly 58 percent over three years, meets 5 percent of its energy needs through on-site solar panels.  The edible schoolyard is a community-building and educational tool that offers students and parents the opportunity to work with the garden during the summer to raise awareness about local food and organic gardening.

Manchester Essex Regional School Green Scholars and their mentor Eric Magers

Quincy High School  

At Quincy High School, a career and technical school, the building’s design allows for collaboration among AP biology and environmental science students and their peers who are pursuing Nursing or Applied Medical Technology specialties.  Quincy collaborated with the city’s planning department to participate in the USGBC Center for Green Schools Green Apple Day of Service, which provided real-world instruction about the importance of energy reduction and implemented a National Wildlife Federation Cool Schools Energy Audit.  The school’s STEM wing is home to a greenhouse, where students are actively involved in learning how to grow their own food.  Culinary students are responsible for front- and back-of-house service at the wildly popular President’s Café, where student-grown herbs are used in recipes.  The school was certified by the Massachusetts Collaborative for High Performing Schools in 2009 and EPA ENERGY STAR in 2008.  The school has continued its efforts by retro-commissioning the building to ensure that it performs as intended. Quincy High School was designed by USGBC MA Chapter sponsor SMMA.

QHS's 66Kw Solar Array

One State, Three Awards, Many Amazing Projects

Time flies when you're building green. The USGBC Massachusetts Chapter launched its Innovation in Green Design Award program back in 2008 with the aim of publicly celebrating the most innovative green buildings and products in the Commonwealth. Hard to believe but the Sixth Annual awards program is already upon us. That means it's once again time to recognize those projects that have been innovative, yet have also blazed a trail others may follow. Another key aspect of the awards is to promote the triple bottom line, so we'll be looking for projects that make a positive impact environmentally, economically, and socially.

Plus, in addition to continuing to give out awards for Innovative Building or System and Innovative Product or Technology, we're very proud to present a NEW category: Massachusetts Green Building of the Year Award! If you have a great green project you want to tell the world about, please enter to win by this Friday, March 29, at 5 p.m. All Innovation in Green Design submissions should be dropped off or mailed to the USGBC MA Offices (Attn: Grey Lee at Space with a Soul - 281 Summer Street, 5th Floor, Boston MA 02210). Whether you enter the contest or not, join us to celebrate all of the state's green builders at our fabulous Earth Day event on Wednesday, April 10, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at 2 International Place, Boston, MA 02110. We'll have the awards ceremony, not to mention live music, delicious food and drink, and the opportunity to connect with your green building colleagues. See below for more photos of last year's ceremony.

 

 

Appreciating Members!

We had a great event on Tuesday night. The photos are forthcoming (thanks Carlos!!!)

And the winners of our various Member Awards were:

Most Likely to Send an Email at 3AM - Carrie Havey

Most Likely to Take Recycling Home from the Office - Dee Spiro

Most Likely to Be Completely Off the Grid in a Year - Laura Fitch

Advocate of the Year - Kathleen Arthur

Educator of the Year - Chris Schaffner

Mentor of the Year - Jim Newman

EPMA Rising Star – Laurel Kruke and Javier Burgos

AND, we had a special mention to our awesome previous Chapter Operations Manager, Suzanne Abbott, now at Vidaris. She showed up in style and managed to score the biggest contribution of the night - a $1000 sponsorship from Jack Mackin at Sterrit Lumber - Thanks you Suzanne, and thank you Jack!

It really was a great time had by all. Many of the old familiar faces, but also a whole slew of new folks. Thanks to all of those who signed up to become members due to the event. We are ambitiously kicking off a membership drive in the new year, so it's nice to see that our messaging and outreach is already starting to pay off. Thanks, once again, to all the members for joining the Chapter.

Thanks must also go to Rachel Zsembery and her team on the Special Events committee - Dee, Katya, Keith, Krista, Suzanne and Carlos. You all know how to make it happen, with style. Thanks again for all your hard work.

The night also meant the community had a chance to give back - our philanthropic beneficiaries this year have been the Jowney Elementary School in Brockton - combined, we brought in $667 for the kids for school supplies. We have partnered with the school as they have been working on greening the facility and engaging the students very well, and we want to continue to support their efforts.

Thanks again, everyone, I'm proud of this Green Building Community.

Grey