At the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year, Metropolitan Water District provided a grant to Grades of Green which helped our Youth Corps Eco-Leaders install a native garden on campus to save water! You can read the Manhattan Beach Sun article about their garden by clicking here, or you can view the PDF version here.
Interested in joining our Youth Corps Eco-Leadership Program and taking on an environmental activity of your own? Email us at info@gradesofgreen.org or call our office at (310) 607-0175 for more information! Applications for the 2017-2018 program are open until September 15, 2017.
6th graders Maxine and Elise started the 2016-2017 school year with a vision to create a drought tolerant garden at their middle school. The girls joined the Grades of Green Youth Corps Eco-Leadership program, and made their dream come to life! The power team worked with their administration for approval and to select a location on campus for the garden. After months of fundraising, creating a plan, meeting with district maintenance members to get the garden up and running, and researching the best plants to include in their garden, the M.E. Garden was born! The M.E. Garden stands for mindfulness and education. The drought tolerant garden was created to compliment the science teacher’s curriculum, and includes a variety of drought resistant plants that serve as pollinators, while being native to the area. Maxine and Elise followed the National Wildlife guidelines on creating a drought tolerant garden, and received a National Wildlife Certification for the garden! Interested in leading an environmental activity at your school like Elise and Maxine? Applications are now open for the 2017-2018 Youth Corps Eco-Leadership Program – click here to learn more!
Grades of Green student Sydney H. dreamed of installing water refill stations, also called hydration stations, at Manhattan Beach Middle School for years. While a student at the middle school, Sydney hosted three annually occurring e-waste drives to fund raise for the station. With the help of Grades of Green students at the school, two hydration stations were installed spring 2017, and a ribbon cutting celebration took place in May to celebrate the new eco-addition to the school. Now high school student Sydney visited the campus to participate in the ribbon cutting ceremony, and to be one of the first students to refill her reusable water bottle at a hydration station. The installation of the two stations will help divert over 80 millions tons of plastic waste from entering oceans each year. Talk about a big environmental impact! Interested in installing a hydration station at your school? Click here to get started!