Grades of Green is proud to recognize our outstanding students and schools across the globe for their amazing accomplishments this year. These student leaders have conserved thousands of gallons of water and tons of waste, and have inspired their communities to take action to protect the earth. The winning students will be selected for a prestigious Environmental Leadership Award during VERTE, Grades of Green’s annual gala, on May 5th. Read more about these inspiring students below, and join us at VERTE 2018 to celebrate their achievements!

Student Environmental Leadership Award Nominees

Annemarie, USA

For the past six years, Annemarie has been part of Grades of Green’s Youth Corps. She has implemented a variety of environmental activities in her community, including a Greening Special Events Activity to ensure people use green supplies and reusables instead of single-use items; a Campus Composting Activity to make her church’s pancake breakfast for 500 people a waste-free event; and a Waste Sorting Station Activity at her church that composted all food waste and diverted more than 60,000 pounds of waste from a landfill. This year, Annemarie is working with her Marlborough High School community to roll out waste sorting stations. Annemarie was selected to be the co-chair of the Youth Corps for the 2017-2018 year and has demonstrated extraordinary insight and leadership, which has helped boost student engagement. She received early acceptance to MIT, where she will study engineering.

Younes, Morocco

Younes is a Grades of Green student leader from Casablanca, Morocco. He created a student environmental club at his school, George Washington Academy (GWA), last year and helped lead and implement a record 11 Grades of Green Activities! This year, he engaged his school community in environmental activism by entering GWA in Grades of Green’s Water Challenge, where he helped direct a club of 16 student leaders. Younes and his team created a school-wide event to motivate students to switch to reusable bottles, decreasing the single-use plastics heading to our oceans and waterways. Younes conducted classroom presentations and created educational posters to spread awareness about the importance of water solutions. His team also held a blind-taste test between bottled and tap water to dispel the myth that tap water tastes different, which ultimately encouraged students to drink filtered tap water at school.

School Environmental Leadership Award Nominees

Mott Hall III, New York, USA

Mott Hall III’s Grades of Green Team was incredibly successful at diverting waste at their school. With their “can-do” attitude and fun New York humor, the team diverted 50 percent of the school’s cafeteria waste to recycling bins within one month. After implementing a waste audit, their Grades of Green Team was able to identify what items were recyclable and focused their campaigns on targeting those articles of trash.

Malezi Community Centre, Nairobi, Kenya

Malezi’s Grades of Green Team of 25 student members was a standout competitor in the Spring 2018 Global Water Challenge. During their Water Action Week, Malezi’s Green Team converted cement bags that were locally available into trash collection bins and placed more than 100 bins around the community. Malezi’s ability to mobilize the community, their ingenuity and resourcefulness, and their passion for making change make them a true inspiration!

Our Lady of Guadalupe School, California, USA

Dede and Viveca are 8th graders who formed a student-led Grades of Green Team. They have personally led “walking assemblies” to the entire school to introduce the Trash Free Lunch Challenge. They also filmed two educational videos to educate the campus about how to sort waste and how to pack a trash-free lunch. This dynamic duo also inspired their 4th grade schoolmates to start their own water challenge.

St. Roza College School, Kampala, Uganda

St. Roza’s Grades of Green team has shown immense dedication to water conservation as two-time participants in Grades of Green’s Water Challenge. They innovated a handmade irrigation system and collaborated with other Grades of Green Teams to create conservation solutions. St. Roza used the grant money from winning the Water Challenge to build a 40,000 liter well that provides water not only for the school but also for their community.

Inspired by our environmental leaders’ achievements? Come celebrate by joining us at VERTE!
The VERTE Gala fundraiser will be held at 200 N. Sepulveda Boulevard, El Segundo, California 90245. The Cocktail Party begins at 6:00pm followed by dinner at 7:30pm and the stage program at 8:15pm. An after-party follows the stage program at 9:15pm.
To purchase tickets click HERE.