Geneva Day School Kicks Off a Green School Year

Dozens of excited children filled the school yard at Geneva Day School in Potomac on Friday evening, but this was not yet another recess period.  The Geneva Day School community gathered to begin the school year with a trifold celebration.

This year, the school's annual back-to-school celebration served as an opportunity to also commemorate the school's 45th anniversary and its certification as a Maryland Green School.

The Maryland Green School Awards Program, administered by the Maryland Association for the Environment and Outdoor Education (MAEOE), recognizes a school's commitment to "environmental best management practices and community stewardship," according to the MAEOE website.  All Maryland private and public schools are eligible to apply for the certification and must first document the environmental initiatives implemented at the school in a two year period.  Once recognized as a Green School, the school must apply for recertification every four years.

"This award recognizes what we have done for the environment in the past two years and how we build on that as we help our children become good environmental citizens," said Suzanne Funk, the director of Geneva Day School.

Some of the environmentally-friendly initiatives undertaken at the private pre-school over the past two years include the launch of an outdoor classroom, a 50 percent reduction in the use of paper towels, the installation of water fountains on the playground and the creation of a garden to cultivate milkweed. The milkweed has become a habitat for monarch butterfly caterpillars, which the kindergarten students at Geneva Day School harvest and raise to maturity in a classroom nursery.

"Less than one percent of monarch caterpillars survive to adulthood, so raising them in captivity helps the species," Funk said.  "The garden has become a weigh-station for the butterflies as they migrate, so our children are studying science as they help the environment."

The kindergarten class released several of the butterflies raised in their nursery during Friday's ceremony. 

Representatives from the offices of Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, US House Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and US Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) attended the ceremony to present the school with citations praising its green school programs. The ceremony culminated with the raising of the school's official Maryland Green School flag by members of the local Boy Scouts troop.

"A lot of people want to do [for the environment], but don't know where to start," said Karen McManus, the director of outreach and constituent services at Rep. Van Hollen's office.  "So for schools to set the tone, it makes it a lot easier for individual families to get involved."

Many parents said that they have made tangible changes in their homes and daily routines based on the environmental awareness their children have gained in the classroom.

"There is no better recycling police in my house than my five-year-old son, Connor," said Katie Brand, the president of the Parent Association at Geneva Day School.  "The environmental awareness that is being taught in the curriculum is giving the students the tools to motivate us as parents to change.  You can't argue with a kid who says 'Mom, turn off the light!'"

The school invited local green businesses and county agencies focused on environmental issues to participate in their celebration.  The Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection, the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC), the Montgomery County Department of Solid Waste Services and several local businesses marketing energy-saving products and services provided interactive displays that gave students and their parents more information on living a green lifestyle.

"The more you show the kids what they can do to help the environment, the more likely they are to grow up to become good environmental stewards," said Sandra August, a representative from WSSC.