Grades of Green is an excellent asset to the southern California community and beyond. This nonprofit is a leader in environmental education and are teaching the next generation to be environmental stewards. The education Grades of Green provides is indescribably valuable as these students grow up with the important sustainability values already instilled in them. Not only are students learning from the programs Grades of Green provides, but they are doing so in such a fun way that gets the students' friends and families involved creating a village of environmentalists.
I also cannot rave enough about the Grades of Green staff. I have volunteered on a few occasions with the nonprofit, and each time I have the pleasure of working with such friendly, personable and passionate women. The founders and staff are inspiring, and together they make a huge difference for our community.
As the Assistant Principal of Will Rogers Middle School in the Lawndale Elementary School District, I had the honor of spearheading the Trash Free Lunch Challenge (TFLC) in the 2014-2015 school year and collaborating with Grades of Green.
Being the first year we participated in the TFLC, the training and support provided by Grades of Green was instrumental to the success of our recycling program. Not only did they provide resources and ideas for the development of our recycling system, but they helped Will Rogers launch the TFLC through an informational and motivational assembly. Since Will Rogers had 965 students, Grades of Green was flexible and accommodated the needs of our school by providing us three different assemblies (one per grade level). The knowledge and enthusiasm displayed by the Grades of Green staff was infectious and students were eager to begin the TFLC. After the assemblies, the Grades of Green staff stayed through both of our lunches to train and support students and staff members. Their dedication to our school and our success was imperative.
Throughout the year, Grades of Green continued to support our school. Our program manager continuously emailed monthly newsletters and tips to share with staff members, students, and our community on how to protect and save the earth. This form of communication was instrumental in educating parents and community members of the importance of recycling and how they could assist. It also continued to inspire students to keep the momentum of recycling and gave them the opportunity to share information at home. Many students shared that due to the Grades of Green Assembly, they were inspired to begin recycling at home and urged their parents to support this movement.
I am proud to say that Will Rogers won the Trash Free Lunch Challenge in the middle school category. We were able to reduce the amount of trash collected during lunch from twenty-eight bags to three bags. I can truly say that this triumph would not have been possible without the support and encouragement from Grades of Green. Not only did they provide us with significant support last year, but have offered to support us again this year to train our incoming students and reiterate the importance of reducing waste and recycling to our continuing students.
Students are learning the impact they can make on the earth through reducing their amount of waste and recycling, which makes them feel valued and important. Grades of Green is wonderful!
I am a sixth grade teacher at an elementary school in Inglewood, CA. The Grades of Green team guided me on how to make the changes necessary for our school to drastically decrease the amount of waste our school created in the lunch area and in the classroom. With the help of Grades of Green, our school achieved numerous incredible accomplishments. We created a Super Sorter Team of 50 students, reduced our lunch trash bag count from 25 bags per day to seven bags per day, devised a way to redistribute uneaten fresh fruits and vegetables, composted and used the compost in our LEAP garden, sent a teacher on the Earth Watch Institute’s Expedition to Canada to research the effects of global warming, and won the Trash Free Lunch Challenge!
Our school’s cultural climate has changed as a result of Grades of Green. They began by throwing us a kick-off assembly in which they presented fun and interesting facts about the waste we Americans create and how we can change this. They taught us hands-on how to sort our lunches to reduce trash. They provided us with kid-inspired, eco-friendly prizes and incentives. Through constant communication, they referred us to resources to help us get recycling cans for every classroom, swap out trash dumpsters for recycling bins, and acquire additional composters. They sent us links to the upcoming institutes and trainings that could help us improve our program. After we won, the Grades of Green threw us the celebration of all-time. Our students felt so honored when the local media, district representatives, local government officials, and retired Laker Steve Nash came with Grades of Green to recognize the hard work our students put in, and presented us with a check for $1000 which we are using to improve our program next year. We felt a sense of community pride for our effort and accomplishment. Working with Grades of Green has been a wonderful experience!
Grades of Green comprises all aspects of stewardship. They practice what they preach by working
daily in their lives to protect the natural resources of our planet. They inspire others to implement programs and practices to live sustainably. I am continually impressed with their dedication and service toward our environment.
Grades of Green has made notable contributions to protecting California’s natural resources by inspiring thousands of students each year to live sustainably and pack trash free lunches. I have had the pleasure to work with Grades of Green at two different elementary schools in Claremont, California. At both schools, with the inspiration, support, and leadership of Grades of Green, sustainable trash free lunch practices were put in place to save tons of trash from heading to landfills. At my current school, last year during the Trash Free Lunch Challenge, our students reduced our trash production for 500 students at lunch time from 18 full trash bags to just TWO bags. At a local level, this was impressive for our school. In a larger context, with numerous schools changing lunchtime practices, Grades of Green has done a truly remarkable job at protecting and enhancing our environment. The partnerships that Grades of Green makes between public organizations and private entities are astounding. The connections made between private organizations, individual donors, and public schools are lasting and meaningful as we have all rallied behind Grades of Green and their worthy cause.
As an educator who values organizations that have a positive impact on our environment, I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to work with Grades of Green!
During the 2014-2015, El Segundo Middle School participated in the organization’s Trash Free Lunch Challenge with tremendous success, vastly reducing the school’s environmental footprint and fostering environmental stewardship in students.
Throughout the challenge, Grades of Green provided the highest level of support for our students, including free and motivating assemblies, initial and ongoing consultation, free prizes for students, assistance with our student-led Green Team, and press releases to recognize and reward our efforts.
The program’s success resulted largely from Grades of Green’s understanding of how to support schools and students. They communicate a meaningful message in an engaging way to students and provide meaningful materials to help create a culture of environmental stewardship within the school. They understand the needs and complexities of schools systems and are flexible to best support implementation.
Prior to the Trash Free Challenge, our school had tried to implement various homegrown recycling initiatives, but none sustained over the years. The organizations is commendable due to its insights into the way environmental programs should work and its leadership in creating sustainable programs in schools such as our own. Our student Green Team will grow during 2015-2016 and our environmental efforts will continue in the future. We are grateful to have this program in our community!
I found out about Grades of Green several years ago and have seen their progress as an organization move forward with forward thinking ideas. Grades of Green is more than just a waste reduction program. G of G id about reducing, Reusing, Recycling Earth resources, so we can leave a better planet for our most precious resource....our children.
Review from Guidestar
I’ve worked with Grades of Green for over two years on one of their key programs, the Trash Free Lunch Challenge (TFLC), and now I am serving on the Board of the organization. I’m very impressed with the organization. Their staff is dedicated and hardworking; they are passionate and committed to their mission of empowering youth. They are extremely effective in inspiring young people to lead environmental efforts that make a difference in their schools and communities. In the TFLC, they were able to help schools save money and significantly reduce their waste by engaging the student body, school staff, and parents in reducing, reusing, recycling, and composting. Grades of Green is a young nonprofit that has achieved leaps and bounds in its short time in existence. I’m excited to see what this organization will continue to achieve in the future.
Grades of Green is a unique, passion driven organization that takes the environment seriously.. They have a major impact on our future by teaching real life, easy change skills to school aged children in fun to learn and duplicate ways... powered by the children themselves. This organization really has it's hands and heart in the right place, WITH OUR YOUTH, helping to change the environment one child at a time.
Christyna
Review from Guidestar