Okay, besides this new online news initiative, what else is Benjamin doing to be green? We’re glad you asked because The Benjamin School is now officially a “Green School of Excellence.” Here’s how it happened…

Pine Jog Elementary School in West Palm Beach, Florida, is known for their “green” (eco friendly) practices. They have even been on the cover of TIME for Kids Magazine lauding their green campus. Their buildings are all LEED certified. (LEED, standing for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design,” is a set of rating systems for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of green buildings, homes and neighborhoods. See the last issue of The Neersyde, specifically the article “It’s Not Easy Being Green,” for more information). They became the first LEED building in the state, and they have been running the Green School Recognition Program since 2008. The Recognition Program invites local schools to fill out a very lengthy green application in order that the schools might win a level of green recognition for their sustainable, environmental practices. The goal of completing this application is to achieve a level of green recognition. The number of schools applying varies from year to year. This year the Green School Recognition Program recognized 70 schools. The first year it was 21 schools, and it has grown every year since.

There are three levels that an applying school might earn: a Green School of Promise, a Green School of Quality, and a Green School of Excellence. One has to earn 40 – 59 points for a Green School of Promise, 60 – 79 points for a green school of quality, and 80 – 100 points for a Green School of Excellence. The green application is a six-part rubric with from 3-6 subcomponents in each category. Each category offers a number of points for schools’ green practices in these categories. A perfect score would be 100. Some of the practices include: school grounds enhancement, green innovation, school sustainability, and green curriculum integration. Also, labeled pictures depicting each green practice must be provided with every practice enumerated on the application. Director of Education at the Pine Jog Environmental Center, Susan Toth said, “We solicited judges all over Palm Beach and Martin Counties to help us with our application. Some of our judges work for construction companies or are architects. Others are nonprofit educations.” This year, The Benjamin Middle School took on the task of becoming a “green” school once again.

In 2008, Middle School Science Department Chair Gabriele St. Martin filled out the application all by herself which was an incredibly daunting task, but she only entered green practices that the Middle School was implementing. That year we were ranked as a “Green School of Quality,” and Ms. St. Martin indicated that this time around it would be prudent to involve the entire school’s green practices in the application. TBS didn’t reapply until this year because it was an overwhelming task to gather all of the information, and Ms. St. Martin needed help. This year she employed the help of Middle School Curriculum Coordinator Cristina James and Educational Technology Department Chair Nicolas Crisafi. Dr. James spent hours collecting the information, Ms St. Martin edited and organized it, and Mr. Crisafi formatted the 44-page document as per the technical requirements of the document.

Their work definitely paid off. Benjamin received the highest score this year, resulting in earning the highest level: Green School of Excellence! Having a “Green Day” in February helped our school with getting the highest ranking. It taught students about many green ideas including: how FPL (Florida Power and Light) protects alligators, honey bees, the Everglades, learning about animals from Busch Wildlife, and many more fun filled activities. But , more to the point, the many green practices which are implemented by science faculty throughout the school are the reason we earned our status! As a result of our high score, Pine Jog invited three guests from The Benjamin School to the sixth annual Green School Recognition and Awards Luncheon at the West Palm Beach Marriott on May 9, 2014. Our main school rivals: Oxbridge Academy and Pine Crest School were also Green Schools of Excellence. In total, there were 33 schools that were Green Schools of Excellence. Benjamin is very proud of its accomplishments and hopes to continue to maintain its green school rating for years to come. This seems more feasible because applicants for green recognition who achieve the highest level of “excellence” are allowed to fill out a more abbreviated application for the subsequent three years, so the application process will be easier and shorter. However, there are many awards one can win at the Green Recognition Banquet each year, but to be eligible, a school may not have just filled out the shorter version of the application. So, The Benjamin School will probably continue to fill in the entire application. There is even talk of having students take on this task as a writing assignment!

Although we received top honors, Ms. St. Martin is not resting on her laurels. “There is always room for improvement,” she said, “and I think the idea of continually striving to become more green and sustainable is the whole idea behind the Green Schools Recognition Program. It was never meant to be a ‘one win’ idea, but rather a look at the changes schools have made over time to ‘green’ their practices.” There are still many ideas for improving green practices. For instance, this years eighth grade banquet is going green. Instead of having water bottles there will be reusable pitchers, and flowers made out of plastic bottles. Theses plastic recyclable flowers now can be used for a long time, year after year. The Benjamin Middle School is also putting together a “Sustainability Committee” consisting of teachers, alumni, administrators, and anyone that is involved with Benjamin who can help make it a greener school. Dr.James will be chairing this committee as her position affords her the time to “wrestle with the logistics of putting into play the great ideas of Mrs. St.Martin, Mrs. Bickel, Mrs. Sukhu, and others dedicated to greening our school.”