Become a Green School
We are excited to join you on your sustainability journey at your school! By joining Oregon Green Schools, you are joining hundreds of schools throughout the state that are working to improve their communities. Continue reading to learn how to certify as an Oregon Green School…
1. Choose a Certification Track
Certification covers a range of sustainability areas. Due to Covid-19, we are recommending that new schools applying in 2020/21 start with the Walk and Roll to School or Gardens and Grounds tracks as they can be completed mostly outdoors.
Waste, Reuse, and Recycling
There are many opportunities for waste reduction, reuse, and recycling within schools. As you certify in this area, your students will assess how much and what types of garbage and recycling your school is currently generating and come up with an action plan for how you can reduce waste and recycle better using the included activities and resources.
Green Lunchrooms
Turn your cafeteria into a classroom!
Across America, 30-40% of the food produced is lost or wasted. School cafeterias and lunch programs can serve as a real world learning environment for students to understand the issues surrounding wasted food and the connection between food and its environmental impacts.
Assess how much food waste your school cafeteria or lunch program is currently generating and come up with ideas for how to reduce waste and improve nutrition, health, and well-being at your school. Detailed instructions for conducting a waste audit as well as curriculum resources are provided.
Water Conservation and Pollution Prevention
(Coming Soon)
Walk and Roll to School
Have fun getting to school every day!
While we were all working and learning from home, many of us created new habits of walking and rolling around our neighborhoods. We want to help your students continue as they begin commuting back to school by walking, biking, and rolling to school with their friends! With more feet, bikes, wheelchairs, scooters, etc. on the street, we can create better communities and better neighborhoods.
Collect information about how your students are getting to and from school to understand the transportation culture of your community. Education lessons are provided to teach safe walking and rolling to your students. Get started on your path to Safe Routes to School!
Energy Conservation
(Coming Soon)
Gardens and Grounds
Studies show that time spent outdoors for learning during the school day is critical to the intellectual, emotional and physical health of students.
Providing students with quality opportunities to directly experience the natural world can improve students’ overall academic performance, self-esteem, personal responsibility, community involvement, personal health and understanding of nature.
As part of the Oregon Green School Network of schools, we want to award your school for efforts in connecting students with the natural world either through outdoor environmental education, schoolyard habitats or school gardens.
Each certification track will follow the same format:
- Investigation and Interview
- Audit
- Classroom Activities and Connections
- Green School Spotlight: Share your green team/green school successes and goals with the school community
- Goals and Action Plan: Set goals for improvement and complete the Action Plan
2. Apply
When you are ready to become an Oregon Green School, please request an application below. A unique link to our online application system will be created and emailed to you from our Program Coordinator. Remember to have fun, engage your students, and come up with realistic and ambitious goals to make a difference at your school and within your community.
COVID-19 NOTE: We understand that completing certain aspects of the OGS application process may not be possible while maintaining Covid-19 health and safety best practices. We have done our best to modify our applications to accommodate current health and safety protocols but please don’t hesitate to reach out to mail@oregongreenschools.org if you are struggling to complete any portion of the application due to Covid-19 restrictions. We are happy to troubleshoot and modify the process to meet your school’s needs during this challenging time.
With that in mind we want to make sure you are still able to pursue certification as an Oregon Green School. We are recommending that new schools applying in 2020/21 start with the Walk and Roll to School or Gardens and Grounds tracks as they can be completed mostly outdoors.
If your school is currently certified with OGS, your certification will remain valid until the predetermined expiration date (three years to the month from certification). Certifications expiring in 2021 will have until 2022 to renew.
3. Get Certified
Once completed, your regional coordinator will review your application and submit it to Oregon Green Schools for approval at which point you will receive your certificate.